Former EA Exec Starting iPhone Gaming Company
posted July 1st, 2008 11:33 PM EST by arn in Interview, News
Gamasutra recently interviewed former EA executive, Neil Young, who plans on forming a new iPhone-focused gaming company. The company will be called Ngmoco.
Young says "It feels to me like the time is right to really innovate, both in terms of the business and the games that can get made for mobile platforms."
When questioned about the appeal of the iPhone platform, Young talks of the performance of the iPhone being up to par with the PSP. In addition, the iPhone's set of standard features, including location aware, touchscreen, accelerometers, always on and always connected to a network opens the doors to unique possibilities.
The interview provides some interesting insight into the App Store from a business perspective and the future potential:
We're at this moment where there's an opportunity to lead both in terms of the type of software they we make and give to people in mobile phones, specifically, starting with the iPhone. And from a business standpoint, there's an opportunity to lead in the growth of the industry. And not incremental growth, but dramatic growth. And that's, from a business standpoint, why I'm excited about the device.
Ngmoco plans on both commissioning both original games as well as funding independent developers. They seem to be taking iPhone development seriously with the goal of leveraging the strength of the platform.
I don't really think the right path to go down is to immediately start thinking about how to build bigger, better, higher-end, more traditional gaming experiences. Rather, not to obviate or ignore those things, but rather try to take true advantage of what's in the system. So if you saw a game on the iPhone, you'd say, "Wow, this is only a game that can function on this platform."
