Microsoft is assembling a new Mobile Gaming Studio and is hiring software engineers to fill these newly created positions. This information comes from a recent job listing posted on Microsoft’s website that is looking for developers who are excited about games, connected entertainment, and Windows Phone 7. According to the listing, the new Mobile Studio will be a subset of Microsoft’s much larger Games Studio, which focuses on XBOX 360 and Windows games. Presumably, this team of mobile developers will be tasked with awesome responsibility of bringing the best of the XBOX 360 to Windows Phone 7.
It should come as no surprise that mobile devices are the next frontier for the gaming industry. The Nintendo DSi remains at the top of the charts for dedicated mobile gaming devices but its sales are falling; primarily due to the success of the iPhone which now has a dedicated Game Center and leads the pack for smartphone-based gaming. Anyone who doubts Apple’s dominant position in the mobile gaming arena should take a closer look at Tapulous, creator of the popular Tap Tap Revenge iPhone and iPad game. The company was recently acquired by Disney for an undisclosed, but presumably high, sum.
Microsoft is not alone in pursuing mobile gaming. Other platforms have tried to tap into this lucrative gaming market but have not achieved the success of Apple. Android is growing but the Android market lacks the high quality, polished games that dominate Apple’s App Store. Palm also tried to enter the gaming market when it hailed the release of its Plug-In Development Kit (PDK), a toolset to help streamline game development on webOS. Palm missed the boat on this launch by waiting to bundle PDK support into its current webOS 1.4.5 release. The update that has only hit a handful of handsets and has a flaw that prevents games from reliably saving data to the phone.
With the popularity of the Xbox 360 and its large catalog of Arcade games, Microsoft is in a prime position to take on Apple in the mobile gaming marketplace. Let’s hope they can get a team assembled and some great games out the door lickety-split as the launch of Windows Phone 7 is right around the corner.
