Competition in the mobile game industry is increasing, and some mobile development firms are looking to diversify their offerings. At the same time, many enterprises are looking to “gamify,” or add game-like features, to their apps, leading some industry watchers to suggest that the time is right for mobile game developers to break into the enterprise market.
“The goals of a consumer market and a business customers do not always have to deviate,” said Junil Choi, a developer at FBombMedia, which has gamified enterprise CRM apps. “For example, in many games the intention is for the user to purchase something through in-app purchases. This is similar to the business aligned games, whose objective is to build brand recognition and many times sell products, or facilitate the sale of products.”
However, experts caution that working for an enterprise is very different than working for the consumer market. “As a game designer, they come with this romantic notion of building games, but when you work with a large company and build a serious game, entertainment is important but not the most important aspect,” said Mario Herger, founder and partner in Silicon Valley-based consultancy Enterprise Gamification. “That limitation that can be frustrating when you’re trying to build a strong game.”
