The amount of money, time and energy that is needed to develop a single video game for a console is astounding. Compared to the resources necessary for developing a game for the iPhone, a number of companies are starting to move towards the mobile gaming market. While mobile gaming may not be a negative thing in and of itself, the gaming industry needs to start paying more attention to buying trends.

Casual gamers are far more likely to spend a few bucks on a game title that sounds like it will be entertaining than spending $50 on a game that had gotten great reviews. Mobile gaming is more convenient, and companies such as Apple are able to cash in on impulse purchases. In addition, downloadable game content cannot be refunded. So even if a game developer puts out a really horrible title, there will be no returns.

It is far easier to develop a fairly decent game for a mobile device, but its also the lazy way out. Most iPhone users aren’t looking to play first person shooters. Instead, puzzle and trivia games are becoming more popular. Then there’s the Sony Xperia Play, which is sort of a cross between the PSP and a mobile phone. This device actually uses game discs, but there are also storage slots for saved data. The future of gaming is going to be different, and video game developers need to start catching on. Unless game developers start to make cross over titles for mobile phones, a few companies might go out of business.