Not so long ago, Jesse and I put on our thinking caps, pulled out our BFGs and assumed our best fake lawyer poses — before engaging in a heated debate over whether the technology-laden Apple iPhone would give the incumbent Nintendo DS and Sony PSP a run for their money. In that duel, I represented the iPhone; and I did so entirely by choice. I firmly believe that the device has the potential to upend the portable market if game developers give it a fair shake.
So yesterday, when the Wall Street Journal reported that the iPhone version of Super Monkey Ball had sold over 300,000 copies, you’d think I’d be ecstatic, right?
Think different.
Don’t get me wrong, I am happy — happy that a video game is pulling substantial numbers on a piece of hardware not wholly dedicated to its playback. I’m happy that Other Ocean Interactive is enhancing their reputation as a developer of solid mobile ports. Despite the occasional nightmare about casting magical monkey excrement spells, I’m even happy that Sega found a new home for its Super Monkey Ball franchise.
What I am not is convinced — not for a minute — that this success means that the iPhone now has “a justifiable claim to being a viable gaming platform,” as Sega’s U.S. president Simon Jeffery so succinctly told the Journal.
That’s because, in my honest opinion, a certain number of sales were practically guaranteed… and in almost every way, Sega’s Super Monkey Ball port is the antithesis of what I believe would make the iPhone a contender.
Let’s take a look at the numbers. In its first month, Super Monkey Ball sold 300,000 copies at $10 a pop, for a total of $3 million in sales. Even after Apple takes their 30% cut, $2+ million is still a very respectable sum, and if iPhone development is anywhere near as easy as Monkey Ball producer Ethan Einhorn led us to believe (two weeks from memo to demo) then Sega could already be pulling in money hand over fist. “That’s a substantial business,” said Jeffery, and I won’t question that.
What I question is whether 300,000 is a substantial number. By the end of June, Apple reported that customers had bought up 6.1 million iPhones worldwide, and at least one analyst estimates that the new iPhone 3G has sold 3 million more. Factor in the undisclosed number of iPod Touch units which are — as far as most current games are concerned — a iPhone with fewer bells and whistles, and you have a portable machine that might well be pulling close to the PlayStation 3.
So, what does a quality PS3 title sell? According to NPD, the PS3 version of Devil May Cry 4 racked up 233,000 copies when it launched in February, while Army of Two pulled 224.9K in March. Forgetting that those months are typically considered slow for game sales, and even disregarding the fact that those numbers are for the U.S. only (as opposed to Super Monkey Ball’s 300K worldwide), every single copy of those games cost six times that of the $10 Monkey Ball and still managed to attract a sizable audience while competing with their own dominant Xbox 360 counterpart.
Monkey Ball, meanwhile, had all the pins lined up. Launching alongside arguably the biggest consumer gadget in history, Sega’s accelerometer-driven puzzle platformer was the centerpiece, if not the poster child, of the iTunes App Store. Bright, colorful, simple, familiar, and technologically attractive, it was the perfect purchase for iPhone users, gamers or no, who wanted to show off what their new gadget could do. Or acquaint themselves with the long-obscured 3D potential of their original iPhone or iPod Touch. Or see how a known gaming franchise translates onto the iPhone platform. Or — perhaps — have fun actually playing iPhone games. But despite all these excellent reasons for purchasing the title, even at $10 Super Monkey Ball has only sold 300,000 copies.
“So what,” you might say. “Of course the iPhone’s not going to sell as many games on average as a dedicated game system. It’s a phone, not a PlayStation.”
My point exactly.
Or, I should say, Jesse’s point — the point I continue to hope was wrong. If Monkey Ball had bowled over the iTouch crowd with a stellar attach rate, then we might have proof that the device is a viable gaming platform. But with likely less than one out of every 30 iPhone users picking up the system’s most highly touted launch title, and no notion of whether they actually picked it up to play (or as a showpiece for friends, family and impressing the ladies), all those 300,000 purchases prove is that a well-marketed, well-timed application that makes use of technological gimmicks can bank serious dough with little effort on the part of the developer.
And as such, I worry about the future of iPhone gaming. It’s going to be hard to justify the expense of an ambitious triple-A iPhone title when Sega has “proven” that all it takes to print money is a port with tacked-on motion control, we may see boatloads of shovelware rapidly find their way to the platform. On dedicated gaming systems, some might argue, shovelware’s not such a bad thing. Inexperienced developers can build muscle pumping out cheap ports which will find at least some seed in a vast gaming audience, before leveraging that experience to create a worthy title of their own.
But even the most two most recent, most shovelware-friendly systems — Nintendo’s Wii and DS — command an audience 100 million strong that bought their machines for the express purpose of gaming. When the barges of shovelware hit the iTouch platform neither the benefit of that audience nor Monkey Ball’s superb timing and placement, they may not find the venture as lucrative as they’d hoped.
iPhone has so many strengths, and I eagerly await a game that combines the system’s 3D capabilities, accelerometer control, multitouch screen, onboard music, internet connection and location awareness into something truly unique and impossible to create anywhere else. But by definition, that experience is impossible to find in a port; and if publishers don’t see the value in that investment, they may not create such a game to begin with.
For now, I’m pinning my hopes on Kroll. Let’s hope Digital Legend’s risk pays off with a higher pricepoint — or a reception far greater than 300,000.
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