Mobile gaming is on the rise, there’s no denying that, and with the increase in new titles popping up every other hour, it’s safe to say that this industry is not going anywhere any time soon. Things become even more interesting when you add a popular title that’s highly anticipated to the mix, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing with EA’s confirmation that they’re planning to bring their highly-cherished franchise, Battlefield 4, to the world of mobile gaming.
The announcement comes from EA Labels president Frank Gibeau, who, incidentally, also happens to be heading the mobile development division of Electronic Arts. In an interview with The New York Times, Gibeau claimed that Electronic Arts is working on a mobile version of its highly anticipated first person shooter, Battlefield 4. To quote Frank’s exact words,
“We are working on a mobile game of Battlefield that will be high-end and high-performance. It’s our bet that we can successfully pull that off. But we’re embarking on something no one has ever done before — to get these games to inter-operate between platforms. Will it work? It already has in some cases. Will it work for all franchises? Not all franchises will make the transition. Battlefield might be a little harder.”
Gibeau didn’t reveal a lot of details at this point.
It won’t be a first that a company as big as EA is venturing in the mobile arena. They’ve tried their hand at both casual as well as hardcode gaming for popular smartphone and tablet platforms such as IOS and Android, and it looks like the gaming giant is planning to capitalize on successful franchises even further. Real Racing 3, Dead Space and Mass Effect are just some examples that have proved to be very successful for EA, alongside the not-so-long-ago released FIFA 14, which unarguably provides the best football experience on a portable gaming device such as a high-end iPhone or Android.
Even with all the previous success, making Battlefield 4 for mobile gaming a success might not be as easy. First-person shooters don’t really provide the best of gaming experience on a touch-screen control mechanism, and even though Battlefield 4 for PC and consoles has received a lot of press and hype even before it launched (thanks to EA’s beta program for the game), it can be tricky to emulate a really valuable experience for Android and iOS. Then again, from time to time, we’ve seen that even just the franchise name can prove sufficient for success, so let’s wait to see how it plays out for Electronic Arts.
(Source: NewYorkTimes)
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