Expanding Variety of Game Platforms a Challenge for Publishers

There are more ways to play games than ever before -- in addition to the dedicated gaming consoles and handhelds, mobile phones, the iPad and other tablets, and social networking sites are just some of the areas gaming is becoming an increasingly large factor in. That plethora of platforms is a real challenge for publishers like Activision, which are now faced with a lot more ground to cover.

"One of the biggest challenges we face right now is that, while several years ago there was just the 360, PS3, Wii, Xbox, PS2, and the DS, now we just have so many different platforms and pieces of interactive entertainment that are vying for consumers' time,"said Bob Loya, Activision's director of developer relations and acquisitions, in an interview withGamesIndustry.biz.

He continued,"It's much harder now, because we're competing on so many platforms, so many mechanisms for getting content to gamers -- and as exciting as it is, it's extremely challenging to get your consumer and keep them. They have so many more options now."

While it might be a challenge, having a wide variety of ways to get games into the hands of potential customers seems like a good problem to have. Loya went on to talk about his excitement about Kinect, revealing that Microsoft may soon be showing some new Kinect games for hardcore gamers.

"I'm really excited about Kinect,"he said."I know that Microsoft is gearing up another round of games that's probably going to be focused more on the core gamer -- that's extremely exciting for me, to see what they're able to come up with, and see what the technology is able to do for those core audiences, as opposed to the casual audiences which it already does a great job for."

Just yesterday, areportsurfaced about the rumored Gears of War game for Kinect. A trademark filing also recently came to light for something calledGears of War: Exilewhich -- if it is the Gears of War Kinect game -- we might be hearing about soon if Loya is right.

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