The 3D mobile games market is growing fast and many developers, including mDisney with its Kingdom of Hearts, are investing. © and all related TM are property of Square Enix Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. © Disney.

3D games comprise a relatively tiny part of the still-small mobile gaming market. But a number of factors -- such as improving technology, significant investments by software companies and early signs of consumer satisfaction -- predict fast growth for this segment in the coming years.

Total cell phone game revenues are expected to reach $353 million in 2006 (when 69% of people will have game-capable phones), up from $278 million in 2005, according to JupiterResearch, which forecasts revenues of $556 million by 2010.

Michel Kripalani, senior games industry manager at Autodesk, which creates tools for mobile game developers, says the company's customers currently generate about 95% of their mobile game sales from 2D titles and 5% from 3D, according to informal straw polling. He believes that ratio will probably be reversed within four to five years. "There aren't a lot of phones with 3D chips yet," he says. "It's just on the super, super high-end phones."

In terms of technology and graphics, phones with 3D chipsets are at about PlayStation 1 level when it comes to polygon performance and textures, Kripalani reports. He notes that mobile is catching up fast to PC and console games, even as the latter continue to improve. "The delta between the two is compressing," he adds.

Stan Liu, vp of product development at Walt Disney Internet Group Domestic Wireless, expects the next-generation of phones, coming within the year, to have much improved graphics quality, comparable to or exceeding the PSP. He notes, however, that carriers currently are not unlocking the 3D capability that is available on many handsets. (Disney's Domestic Wireless group includes mDisney, which develops Disney-branded mobile games, and Starwave, which distributes third-party titles.)

Investment in 3D
Many developers, including mDisney, are investing in 3D mobile games, despite the significant resources and time required, compared to 2D, and despite the small current market. "We want to be a leader in 3D," Liu says. "We support our signature brands with 3D product." He points out that Kingdom Hearts, co-developed with Square, was one of the first 3D action-adventures on mobile. Other 3D games from mDisney include The Incredibles, developed by Superscape and featuring more than 20 in-game cinematics, and The Chronicles of Narnia, a role-playing game developed by Fathammer.

Square also developed Dirge of Cerberus, an action 3D game based on the Final Fantasy franchise. It is available exclusively on Amp'd Mobile, a carrier and mobile content provider targeting youth and young professionals that is available on advanced (3G/broadband/EVDO) handsets. The game, developed using Ideaworks3D's Segundo technology, features advanced graphics and gameplay that includes intuitive target systems, a realtime frame rate and high-quality backgrounds, according to Amp'd and Square.

Autodesk's Michel Kripalani reports that phones with 3D chipsets are at about PlayStation 1 level when it comes to polygon performance and textures, but mobile technology is catching up to PC and console games.

Gameloft, which creates licensed and proprietary games for Java, BREW and Symbian-equipped mobile handsets, launched Vijay Singh Pro Golf 3D on Sony Ericsson's P990 smartphone and M600 messaging device, both of which include the OpenGL ES application programming interface (API). Using OpenGL, developers can code more directly to the processor, so the frame rate and polygon numbers are higher than with operating systems such as BREW or Symbian. That makes the game both higher-definition and faster, according to Gonzague de Vallois, Gameloft's vp publishing. "There's a real 'wow' effect," he says. "Our business needs this kind of wow effect to show we're moving forward and not standing still."

"3D is a real step forward in terms of the user experience," de Vallois continues, comparing 3D vs. 2D mobile to color vs. black-and-white TV. "Once you've tried 3D you don't want to step back to 2D." This holds true not just for the action games that almost demand 3D, he says, but for casual games as well.

Early results seem to show that consumers who have sampled 3D games are satisfied with them, which suggests strong future demand. "We already see the take-up on 3D games and the repeat purchase rate are much higher than for 2D," de Vallois contends. "It will be a real driver of our business." He points out that gamers have been playing 3D titles on consoles for almost a decade and expect 3D graphics no matter what the platform. "It's natural, and it's compulsory to move the market forward."

3D Distribution
Among U.S. carriers, Verizon, with its V CAST service, has been a leader in distributing 3D games. "A good chunk of the business is 3D for them," notes de Vallois, who reports that Gameloft has been providing 3D titles for V CAST since the service launched. Cingular, T-Mobile and Sprint also are offering some 3D games for specific handsets.

de Vallois emphasizes the importance of marketing to drive the gaming industry in the future. He believes 3D-enabled demos, embedded in the phones, would encourage purchases, since consumers could sample new games in all their glory. Innovative new content, such as 3D games, he adds, is a way for consumers to justify the purchase of a new phone.