GDC: Mobile games need to buck up

EA's Senior VP of Mobile Mitch Lasky gave a stirring keynote to kick-off the Game Developers Conference that included: "There are too many bad [mobile] games. The fact is, most games suck. It's the greatest danger to the future of this business." Lasky, the former CEO of Jamdat, which EA nabbed for $684 million late last year, also said that "it's too late for mid-sized publishers who are barely profitable and don't own hits." Harsh words befitting an executive at one of the largest game publishing houses, but they ring true.

By Lasky's estimate, the top 20 games generate 93 percent of revenues for the industry, but service providers insist on offering up to 400 games each. He also claimed content providers have transitioned from 2D to 3D, but the shopping experience has not changed at all. Carriers' reps pushed back on that saying its the content providers that need to better their games, and Sprint's game executive said, "We reject about 30 games a month because so many of them are offering the same gameplay over and over again." Hopefully, all this finger pointing will galvanize the sector. Lasky said a multiplayer networked game like Warcraft would "blow the lid off this industry." Anybody working on that?

For more information on GDC and mobile gaming:
- see this article from CVG.com
- see this article from CNET.com
- and this interview with Lasky from The San Jose Mercury News