By Yesterday Gameloft added 10 more titles to the library of games that can be download directly from their website in addition to the Android Market to test various distribution models. Now up for sale and download as unsigned apps are Assassin’s Creed, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X., and Asphalt 5 among others. Baudouin Corman, vice president of publishing, recently told Wired that he feels Android is in the developing stages of game distribution, and they want to test as many avenues for getting new games to handsets as possible.
Of course, the benefits of companies being able to forego the Android Market also come with some drawbacks. Aside from having your credit card information easily stored and accessed for quick purchases when using the market, some carriers have notoriously blocked the ability to install unsigned apps to their devices. I tend to think a fragmented market could create problems, especially if users don’t know where to go to obtain the apps they want. For now, Gameloft offers both methods, so that problem is avoided, but what do you think about this distribution model?
[via Wired]
i cant understand why they think avoiding the app market and making games only available on their website will help them, this is pretty stupid
furthermore, gameloft has no support for their games, they’ve ignored user reviews and emails about the simple issue of asphalt 5 music being public and appearing in the music player. i will not be buying from them again
i think its a very smart move
here in the middle east there is no android market
I personally would prefer them to put their games on the android market place.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with offering multiple locations. As long as the market is always a given…
One of the biggest draws for the iPhone has been the fact that everything is available in a single place. It was a nightmare to find apps for my Windows Mobile phone when they were just scattered across the web.
Watch out what you get. According to multiple reports some of the games offered do not work at all.
I just checked out their website, maybe it’s just me but, it’s not easy to find Android games on there.
I’ll tell you why they do it like this. You see, a while ago I had bought a game, The Game of Life to play with my niece and nephew when I babysit, and you know what. If I want updates, well I can’t get them from the market, and appearantly I can’t get them from the site, I have to buy the damn game again. Screw that. If it’s not on the market it doesn’t get my money.
They took down the android section.
I would want to avoid the Market as well if I had high profile games. The reasoning is the obvious, I wouldn’t want to get lost in the clutter. I would make an app for my company pointing you to my website and have all of the titles as keywords. I know your saying “If your going to add an app why not just have all of the games available on the Market.” I personally would prefer to search the internet for titles and be able to download them directly to my computer(if that’s how they are doing it) and have maybe a single app on your phone that allows some sort of unlocking or authentication of the .apk you downloaded and the uploaded to your phone. Hope it works out for them anyway they do it because we could always use more games!
dont see android games on the site.
well, i`ll tell u, its not for another layer of protection from piracy cause uh…yeah it doesnt work :)
They took down the android side cause I purchased 2 games from them and neither one works. I wrote them a nice Email informing them that the game was shown on there site playing on a Nexus One, which I own, and neither game works. They have yet to respond to me directly but now the Android side is missing. I am willing to bet that they are receiving tons of angry emails and that they put a stop to the sales till it is investigated.
The games never showed for me on their site when I went to it on my mobile…I just wanna play golf!
For people in a country which is not allowed to buy apps from the market, it is a plus.
As a company, you want traffic on your site. People would click links on your site and this would help the search engine page rank for those links.
If they continue to offer both ways, that would be best. But who knows what they plan on doing.
Since android market in my country (Slovenia) is only for free apps I was happy when I read this post until I realized that when I go to gameloft website and choose my country and carrier it says “sorry, but there are no available games for your mobile”. Do something gameloft or I will have no choice but to get it illegally.
I understand the strategy behind the move as the Android Market sucks hard at the moment.
On the other side of the coin, do they really think that this will shift more games?
Gameloft Games SUCK HARD, they need to step back and think about the quality of games they release
“I tend to think a fragmented market could create problems, especially if users don’t know where to go to obtain the apps they want.”………………….. Screw that. The Android Market is just another iphone-esque walled garden construct with a little more breathing room. Non-market distribution is undoubtedly a good thing for the platform in many situations…specifically with regard to games.
Lovely article but Gameloft do not supply Android games from their web site, have a look they are not there….
Makes no sense to me. I was happy I used Android Market, ’cause I was able to return their horrible games at once for the refund.
Remenber us in the other 95% of the world who doesn’t have paid apps on android market? Its obviously for us Gameloft is doing this!
EA Mobile has the same issues. ZERO customer support and no way to update their games. No thanks, Gameloft.
I’ve never spent much time in the App Store on IPhone. Exactly how do the big names keep from getting lost in the clutter over there? Or is it that you find out about the big name apps elsewhere like in the ridiculous media coverage of anything iPhone and then just search the market to get it? I guess I’m not understanding what they can do in that arena except charge a substantial fee to have your app listed in a “premiere” section or something. But then you’d have folk complaining that their homebrew class app doesn’t get any attention. Since Google is a modern web company I believe they are going to rely on tags and search to help you pull things out of the market.
I’m OK with offering the apps through multiple channels, but one of them better be the Market. The total inability to find/trust windows mobile apps was one of the many issues that doomed the platform, I really don’t want to see Android follow suit.
@Phil – Apple gives preference to larger companies – so if you and EA both release a similar game – good luck finding yours.
Android market offers refunds within 24 hours. Gameloft doesn’t want you to try before you buy.
Sucks for AT&T people.
I was able to get one of those games – Modern combat: Sandstorm and it runs GREAT on my Moto Droid. Graphics is the best I have ever seen on my phone!
umm, I just checked their site and no android downloads..?
Multiple sources are great. I happen to own an Android that shipped without market, (Darn regional issues hoopla. I can’t even get decent file browser or video player.) so if I can get apps outside without having to root my phone or replace my ROM then, really, that’s something good. I don’t understand why they’d just ignore the android market entirely though. Still, my first smartphone goes way back to the palm age, so I’m pretty used to having to surf the net for good apps. (still wish I had market though…)
Makes me nervous to download non-market apps because of the warning I have to agree to to do it. But GameLoft does allow you to download a free trial version of the game first.