App Heroes: Mobile and music gaming

03 November 2009

by Eamonn Forde

While there has been justifiable excitement and hype around the Guitar Hero V and Beatles: Rock Band games this year, something equally important has been very quietly ticking over in mobile. Now it is reaching a crescendo.

Starting with Tap Tap Revenge, music-based mobile applications (apps) have boomed in popularity and now Rock Band has migrated onto mobile, joining Guitar Hero and a myriad of others.

It is now a year since Apple pushed apps into the mainstream, with close to 2bn having been delivered to iPhones alone since then. With BlackBerry, Nokia, Google Android and others jockeying for position here, apps are proving to be both creatively and financially important for the music business.

None of this would be possible, of course, without the iPhone and the smartphones that followed it. Without touchscreen and tilt control, gaming on mobile would be an incredibly flat experience. Just as the Wii and its motion-control changed not just what games could do, but also how they were conceived and developed, so smartphones are doing something similar for the mobile platform. We are at the start of a new gaming revolution.

These app games are much more than rudimentary copies of their Xbox and PlayStation bigger brothers: they are built from the ground up with the mobile platform in mind and, as such, have many unique features.

They also represent a massive commercial opportunity for the music industry. Beyond the licensing fees to have music on the game, they can also drive track purchasing. We got a taster of what was possible here earlier in the year when EMI revealed that, when Katy Perry’s Hot N Cold track was offered for free within Tap Tap Revenge, some 250,000 users downloaded it. Of them, a total of 56,000 clicked through to buy the full track from iTunes. With a purchase conversion rate of over 20%, it is obvious why mobile games have become so attractive to artists and labels.

Now that Apple allows in-app purchasing on free apps, we will see the number of music-based gaming apps increase. They will be able to fund themselves through affiliate sales revenues rather than their download price. They will also mark a critical entry point to a bigger audience who do not have a gaming console.

As this market booms, the music industry will be presented with an incredibly active and engaged audience that was previously elusive. This is just the start. Below we select a number of the app games that are setting the agenda here, brimming with promise for what may come next.

CASE STUDIES

Tap Tap Revenge 3
With 15m iPhone downloads to date, this Guitar Hero-style game has been mobile’s runaway success. It claims to be delivering 500,000 downloads a week for featured tracks and so its marketing power is obvious. The third incarnation of the game retails for $0.99 [A$1.07] but allows in-app purchasing of packs of six songs for $2.99 [A$3.23] or packs of two for $.099. There are 50 different track bundles available and, while granular, these small payments soon add up, given the scale of the game’s reach. Bespoke Coldplay and Lady GaGa versions are also available.

Guitar Hero Mobile
The mobile version of the brand that utterly changed what music could do within games. No longer just a soundtrack or a karaoke offering, Guitar Hero was the catalyst for everything that has followed. Activision has spread the game format across three iterations (Guitar Hero III Mobile, Guitar Hero III Backstage Pass and Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile) to date, while Guitar Hero 5 for mobile is imminent. Guitar Hero III has been downloaded over 3m times and some 250,000 songs are played every day across the series.

Rock Band
Not to be outdone by rival Activision, EA Games finally launched Rock Band for the iPhone on October 19th. One of the more expensive games of its type at $9.99 [A$10.78], its real selling point is the multi-player mode (just as with the console version). While up to four people can play at any one time over Bluetooth, there is a single-player mode available too. It comes bundled with 20 tracks from the likes of The Pixies, Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins and also allows in-app purchasing (just like Tap Tap Revenge 3).

Riddim Ribbon
Demoed at the last Apple media event in September, this is the latest twist on music gaming from Tapulous (creators of Tap Tap Revenge). It is much more interactive and reactive than other games as it combines music with racing. It involves a wheel racing along a ‘ribbon’ and the sound is stripped down if the user does not accurately follow the ‘groove’. Users can also take alternative routes to unlock special remixes bespoke to the game. It is due to launch soon and it too will allow in-app purchasing (something that is now becoming standard and heralds the arrival of a whole new revenue stream for labels and publishers).

Dance Fabulous
Yes, games outside of the iPhone do exist. Developed by Nokia for the N-Gage platform, this is (as the name suggests) a dance-based game. Users can build their own avatars, choose their own dance styles and share what they have done with other players via N-Gage Arena, putting social networking and community at the heart of the game. It was used as a launch platform for Canadian singer Cindy Gomez, who created exclusive tracks for the game.

Hip-Hop All Star
Another iPhone game and one of the first to really exploit in-app purchasing. A rhythm-based game, where the gamer takes on the role of a hip-hop DJ with a spinning turntable replacing the more familiar ‘scrolling fret board’ typical of Tap Tap Revenge and Guitar Hero. A ‘scratching’ strand opens up when players do well, to help them boost their scores. A multi-player version allows users to battle with friends. It was developed with the involvement of major names such as Busta Rhymes, Kid Cudi, Jason Nevins and DJ Green Lantern.

Other games of note…
AudioSurf – a rhythm- and puzzle-based game that converts the user’s MP3s into ‘race tracks’ and you have to avoid or collect blocks based on their colour.
Song Summoners – described as a “tactical role-playing game” where different ‘troopers’ (monk, knight, soldier etc.) are generated based around tracks on the user’s iPod.
Dance Dance Revolution – a game where the user follows dance moves with their fingers (using the keys to match them) and is scored accordingly.
Beat Runner 145bpm – pushing exercise and gaming together, this game scores people on their ability to run faster than the drum loops at 145bpm (timed via the iPhone’s built in accelerometer). Yes, really.