Windows Phone games often arrive after other platforms. Here's why

Last calendar week we revealed that Gameloft, one of the largest mobile game publishers in the globe would exist bringing 15 new games to both Windows Telephone 8 and Windows 8. Since and so, a scrappy footling site has reported that "time to come [Gameloft] Windows Phone titles volition exist released day and date with iOS and Android ones." Release date parity is something that Windows Phone gamers accept long clamored for.

Well, I hate to take the wind out of anyone'south sails, just Gameloft has informed u.s. that the "day and date" story is definitely wrong. Read Gameloft'south official quote and our detailed analysis later the intermission!

Lost in translation

The incorrect site'due south actual source is a German site called PhoneSeven.de. The German site interviewed a European Gameloft PR representative named Gregory Wintgens about the 15 games announcement. The PhoneSeven article is very curt and extremely written in German, but Google translate tells the states the word centered around Gameloft's hopes to release Windows Phone games closer to the iOS and Android versions of those games.

The Google translated text however does not specifically say that Gameloft's Windows Phone games will first releasing on the aforementioned dates as the pb platforms:

"The real goal, however, lies a fiddling further in the future. then the versions will get a like release engagement."

Similar is not the same every bit exactly the same day of release, wouldn't you say?

 Fact checking

Peradventure a translation error occurred somewhere along the line. Could Gameloft take really announced a want for day-and-date releases of games across Windows Phone, iOS, and Android? We reached out to Gameloft ourselves, and they provided this response:

"Gameloft has announced 15 additional games coming to the Windows platforms over the next 12 months. We are working to minimize the release delta with other platforms and offer Windows users our newest and best games, withal these titles will not be 24-hour interval and appointment with iOS and Android releases"

That settles that.

Delayed releases were already in the cards

First, let's await dorsum at the upcoming titles Gameloft announced by name concluding week:

• Asphalt eight – Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8
• Despicable Me: Minion Blitz – Windows Telephone 8 and Windows 8
• Dungeon Hunter four – Windows Phone 8 and Windows viii
• Total Conquest – Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8
• Six Guns – Windows Phone eight and Windows eight
• Kingdoms & Lords – Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8
• UNO & Friends – Windows 8

Detect that with the exception of Total Conquest (pictured above), all of these games take already been released on other mobile platforms. A simultaneous Windows Phone release would exist impossible.

That doesn't mean the remaining 8 unnamed games couldn't possibly exist released at the same time every bit their iOS counterparts. Information technology'due south just not in Gameloft'southward all-time interest to push for that notwithstanding.

Why delayed releases will continue

Permit's briefly look at how porting works. Unless a game is designed with a multiplatform engine like Unity and that engine has mature support for Windows Phone, a developer can't only release a Windows Phone version with minimal attempt. Gameloft games (as far as nosotros know) are created primarily with in-house engines and make occasional minor use of cross-platform middleware like Havok Physics.

Microsoft originally claimed that porting games from iOS to Windows Telephone would be a fast and easy process, with Fairway Solitaire (pictured higher up) supposedly taking just 2 weeks to translate to Windows Phone. That game actually took months to bring to release though, and multiple developers have since told united states of america that porting is no small feat of piece of work.

The best comparison one of them made is that it an iOS game tin be ported to Windows Phone in about half the time it takes to make a brand new iOS game – and that'southward if the game doesn't use Xbox Alive. If it does, double the porting time at minimum.

In other words, it tin have 1 or more than months of try to port a game. The bigger the game, the more work required. To become release appointment parity, Gameloft would have to delay the iOS and Android versions to friction match the Windows Telephone version's release, losing potential sales from those platforms in the procedure.

If a platform is large enough to correspond a significant portion of a game's potential sales – for instance, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 have similar worldwide install bases – then property on to one version until another version is ready makes sense. Windows Phone has a much smaller user base, and and so games won't typically be ported until the lead version has already been released.

Chin up - nosotros're growing

There'southward no one to blame for the electric current climate of releasing Windows Phone ports after iOS and Android versions. All major publishers: Gameloft, EA, Ubisoft, etc. exercise it because that's the about profitable course of action for them.

When a relatively high profile game like Angry Birds Star Wars II is appear for a simultaneous release, there's a expert risk that Nokia or Microsoft greased a few palms to make it happen. And that game doesn't exactly accept much work to port; it'southward a physics conundrum. Rovio surely uses an in-house multiplatform engine for its Angry Birds games anyhow.

As gamers, all we can exercise is buy the games that major publishers release on Windows Phone and Windows 8. Spend a niggling on In-App Purchases in complimentary to play games. Someday, the profits these publishers take in from our game purchases will reach a level that indicates our platforms are prepare for simultaneous releases. Until and so, let'due south assistance mobile Windows platforms grow!

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/why-windows-phone-games-come-later

Posted by: youngiriplard1942.blogspot.com

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