id Software Goes Mobile - Doom... In Your Pocket

[fitbabits]

id Software, they of DOOM, Wolfenstein, etc. fame, sends word that they have partnered with Fountainhead Entertainment to form id Mobile.

Mesquite, Texas, November 15, 2007 – Emmy® Award-winning developer id Software and Fountainhead Entertainment announced today that the two developers have joined forces to create a new division of id Software, id Mobile. This new division, which will develop games for cell phones, the Nintendo DS™ and PSP® (PlayStation ®Portable), will be headed up by Fountainhead Entertainment Founder and former Director of Business Development at id Software, Katherine Anna Kang, who will serve as president of id Mobile.
Click the headline for the full release.

[fitbabits]

Mesquite, Texas, November 15, 2007 – Emmy® Award-winning developer id Software and Fountainhead Entertainment announced today that the two developers have joined forces to create a new division of id Software, id Mobile. This new division, which will develop games for cell phones, the Nintendo DS™ and PSP® (PlayStation ®Portable), will be headed up by Fountainhead Entertainment Founder and former Director of Business Development at id Software, Katherine Anna Kang, who will serve as president of id Mobile.

id Software, in tandem with Fountainhead Entertainment, have developed award-winning mobile games, including the popular action-fantasy saga, Orcs & Elves®, Orcs & Elves II™ and DOOM RPG™. The announcement of id Mobile comes on the heels of the release of the highly anticipated Orcs & Elves for the Nintendo DS and Orcs & Elves II, the sequel to the 2006 Interactive Achievement Awards Mobile Game of the Year. id Mobile is currently developing Wolfenstein for the mobile platform along with a follow-up to the hugely successful DOOM RPG.

“Worldwide, mobile gaming has the potential to eclipse conventional gaming platforms,” said John Carmack, technical director and co-founder, id Software. “The resource constraints of mobile platforms reward technical and design virtuosity, making it a place where we can leverage the historic strengths of our company.”

“id Software is known for doing things that don’t conform to the status-quo and as a result, they’ve lead the gaming industry forward through their original ideas, technical prowess and the uncanny ability to see into the future; with id Mobile, that tradition continues,” said Katherine Anna Kang, president, id Mobile. “id Mobile is poised to shake up the emerging mobile gaming space.”

According to DFC Intelligence, the Nintendo DS is in line to become the best selling game system ever. Theresearch firm estimates that revenue in portable gaming has more than doubled in recent years.

“While mobile gaming has enormous potential, it continues to suffer from a lack of emphasis on quality entertainment, innovation and fun factor,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. “With id mobile we will leverage our brands, technical capabilities and design skills to continue to bring award winning content to these exciting platforms.”

About id Software:

id – defined by Freud as the primal section of the human psyche; id Software, located in Mesquite, Texas, was founded in 1991. From inception to present day, id Software has relentlessly provided technical, design and artistic leadership as an independent game developer and technology provider. Transcending the games industry, id’s iconic brands such as Wolfenstein, DOOM, QUAKE and Enemy Territory have become staples of popular culture for generations of gamers. More information on id Software can be found at www.idsoftware.com.

About id Mobile:

Privately held, id Mobile is committed to developing cutting-edge games for the mobile and handheld platforms, including cell phones, the Nintendo DS and PSP (PlayStation Portable). Rooted in the rich id Software legacy of technical and design innovation, the company is building a library of popular brands and award-winning games, including Orcs & Elves. More information about id Mobile is available at www.idmobile.com.
Wise move, given the popularity of mobile gaming.

[Abash Alarmist]

I can't believe that id is an Emmy award winning company...

[TheFlyingOrc]

DOOM WILL NEVER BE IN YOUR POCKET!

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b350/theflyingorc/DrDoomChap.gif

[Thumper]

I'm holding out for Doom3 mobile.

[archon]

www.idmobile.com work for anyone? It looks like the site isn't up yet...

[KingGorilla]

id Software, they of DOOM, Wolfenstein, etc. fame,

Oh, THAT, iD Software. I was confused by the thread title.

FYI, if you hack your Ipod you can run Doom on one of the Linux installs. Doom is freaking everywhere.

[kaddar]

John Carmack does whatever the fuck he wants. John Carmack could program himself out of prison.

[Tyrant]

"Check out my sweet ass new phone!"

"Ah, but does it play Doom?"

"It does!"

"That's not how the joke is supposed to work. *throws the other person's phone on the floor*"

":-/"

[Pretzel]

Wise move, given the popularity of mobile gaming.

What? It's not THAT popular. If you were saying this about a small startup, ok, but id Software? Has ANY mobile game made even 5% of the sales a AAA title can make?

I'm sure they make some money here, but I really just think this is more of a lark for Carmack. A throwback to the days he worked at Softdisk. In terms of ROI, id's time could be spent better developing another title rather than managing a company making mobile games.

[Scaryfaced]

All that's left is to crop the DOOM pick into someone's pocket. Quickly, to the photoshop!

[jeffool]

For the record, the current Doom cell phone game was worth the purchase, and for the record, surprisingly great on battery life compared to games like Tetris. It made me wonder if the game was just done that well, or if button presses, rather than screen drawing, is the biggest drain on power in cell batteries.

[boratika]

What? It's not THAT popular. If you were saying this about a small startup, ok, but id Software? Has ANY mobile game made even 5% of the sales a AAA title can make?

This new division, which will develop games for cell phones, the Nintendo DS™ and PSP® (PlayStation ®Portable)
Emphasis mine.

Maybe this will lead to more (decent) FPSs on the DS. Hunters was a goo start, but it just petered off from there.

[KingGorilla]

What? It's not THAT popular. If you were saying this about a small startup, ok, but id Software? Has ANY mobile game made even 5% of the sales a AAA title can make?


Do you mean revenue or profits? Because small scale, mobile, and casual game development is probably the most purely profitable business in games today.

[Nessus]

I was actually *just* playing shareware Doom (not even illegal!) on my phone (an HTC TyTN, I love it so much). Wish the emulator had a landscape option. Anyone who codes a WM5 program, or even a WM2003, and doesn't include a landscape mode option should burn in hell.

Other than the lack of MIDI music, the emulation is perfect.

[firecut]

All the more money for Armadillo's to get building rockets to get us to Mars and open a portal to....... ;) Go John!

[51|RandoM]

What? It's not THAT popular. If you were saying this about a small startup, ok, but id Software? Has ANY mobile game made even 5% of the sales a AAA title can make?

I'm sure they make some money here, but I really just think this is more of a lark for Carmack. A throwback to the days he worked at Softdisk. In terms of ROI, id's time could be spent better developing another title rather than managing a company making mobile games.

You might want to rethink your position. It IS that popular and there IS that much money to be made.

Used to be I would count the people playing DS or PSP on the subway during my commute. Both of those groups are now outnumbered by people playing cellphone games.

The market is huge, the development costs are low. Even better than the Wii since you don't have to compete with Nintendo's properties. :)

[Mr.Green]

Games sell for a lot less too. You might wanna add that to your math.

[51|RandoM]

Games sell for a lot less too. You might wanna add that to your math.

They sell for less but the margin isn't as different as you'd think.

What is the difference in selling a $5 game and pocketing $4 and selling a $50 game and pocketing $5? Not a whole hell of a lot... except that you'll sell a lot more of the $5 game even if it isn't that great.

[Mr.Green]

They sell for less but the margin isn't as different as you'd think.

What is the difference in selling a $5 game and pocketing $4 and selling a $50 game and pocketing $5? Not a whole hell of a lot... except that you'll sell a lot more of the $5 game even if it isn't that great.

And is it what's happening really? I'm honestly asking because I wasn't on the impression that DS games pushed more copies than console games save for a few blockbusters like Pokecrack. I guess cartridges probably also cost more to produce than DVD's.

Anyway, we can speculate all day long but none of us can tell for sure.

[KingGorilla]

You are talking about something that is not tracked by an impartial body. THQ has mentioned that some of their more popular licensed titles(Star Wars for example) have sold as many as 300-400 thousand each. And that they make double the investment on such projects easily. Lucas gets a cut, and then the carrier, and then the Publisher. And these are ideal because they basically get free advertising for such things as part of the contracts. How many times have you seen a movie tie-in commercial for like Taco Bell and it tells you all the cell phone gizmos and games that are there too?
It is an all around license to print money. Low investment, high yield, low out the door costs. They don't even pay costs of bandwidth or delivery, the carrier does.

It is not just the revenue made, but the costs that are not incurred. These titles have almost 0 marketing cost, often involve a single person or a small team(Carmack made his cell phone game in a day), and have a fast turnaround. Sure the 100 grand you put into some title may end up as a total flop. But next week you may have the hottest break-out or Sudoku out there.

[Johan]

We had some stats posted in another thread here regarding EA revenue, and mobile games had more revenue than the PS3 or the PS2 (though not if you combined the two).

Factor in the incredibly cheap (comparatively) development costs for mobile games, and you have a win-win for developers. Mobile gaming makes money. Plain and simple.

I personally LOVE Doom and Orcs and Elves on my phone. Love 'em both. I particularly like the turn-based movement/gameplay. I don't like more action-oriented gaming on my phone, because the buttons are too small for my fingers to really do that, but turn-based gaming is fine for me on a mobile phone.

[KingGorilla]

If their mobile division also incorporates DS and PSP development, I can see that. But then again EA has all but written off Sony as a bed mate and is furiously making calls to the younger girl in town, the Wii.

[Johan]

If their mobile division also incorporates DS and PSP development, I can see that. But then again EA has all but written off Sony as a bed mate and is furiously making calls to the younger girl in town, the Wii.

I think the DS and PSP were separate. Someone needs to find those stats! I'll try, but it's lunch time for me!

[J Arcane]

Huh. I was just thinking about DOOM RPG this morning, thinking of starting up a thread on actualyl fun cellphone games.

Always wanted to try it, even though I hate Gold Box style RPGs generally, but my shitty ass Virgin Mobile service doesn't even sell J2ME games anymore.

Virgin Mobile suck donkey dick.

[Roc Ingersol]

Here's to hoping that id puts some time into the Android platform as well.
There are alot of good things going on in that platform and it has a full OpenGL ES implementation.

[51|RandoM]

And is it what's happening really? I'm honestly asking because I wasn't on the impression that DS games pushed more copies than console games save for a few blockbusters like Pokecrack. I guess cartridges probably also cost more to produce than DVD's.

I wasn't talking about DS or PSP, I was talking about cellphones.

[kickmybum]

I wonder if Katherine Anna Kang is hot.

[Rommel]

Hasn't id made mobile partnership announcements like a hundred times in the past?

[Evil Avatar]

I wonder if Katherine Anna Kang is hot.

I don't know, but isn't this the same person who was going to revolutionize animation by using the Quake III engine to do a Sci Fi machinima series using an all-female development team?

It must be nice to be rich enough to just throw money at whatever oddball idea your girlfriend comes up with.

[Rommel]

I don't know, but isn't this the same person who was going to revolutionize animation by using the Quake III engine to do a Sci Fi machinima series using an all-female development team?

It must be nice to be rich enough to just throw money at whatever oddball idea your girlfriend comes up with.

Though that isn't rich enough to not have a singluar girlfriend and treat women as hos. Thats the next tier of "Obnoxiously wealthy." See: "Rap stars" for example.

Then there is the next tier above that. Its called: "Public Trophy wife, private demonic rituals"