Frisky Mongoose

As reported over on GamesBeat, Game Developer Research recently released their findings from a survey of 800 game developers in North America that documents an increasing trend in the consoles developers are choosing to create games for – a trend that doesn’t speak very well for the future of the Nintendo Wii.

Compared to last year’s results, of the 800 developers surveyed, only 30 percent claimed to be working on a title(s) for the Nintendo Wii, a 12% drop from the year before.  However, where some could assume that development for all three of the major consoles has slipped, the amount of developers creating titles for the Xbox 360 and PS3 was within just a few percent of last year’s figures, at 69% and 61%, respectively.

So, if developers aren’t focusing on the Wii, then where are they dedicating their resources? According to the study, they’re moving to the mobile market, with 25% of developers claiming to be developing games for mobile phones – a 13% percent increase over last year’s figure.  Within these mobile developers, 75 are specifically targeting the iPhone and iPod Touch, with that number becoming significant as it is more than double the amount that are working on titles for the Nintendo DS or PSP.

The reasoning behind the move to mobile games seems sound, as developers claim it is due to an easier development process and overall market penetration, as, sure, the Wii may be in millions of homes, but it’s not as easily accessible as a phone in a person’s purse or pocket. Makes sense to me.

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4. Sega Announces Conduit 2 Will Support Wii MotionPlus
5. Atari’s New Casual Focus & New Wii Remote Plus – Casual News Round-Up