2009: The Year of the iPhone .. and Beyond!

Posted on December 22nd, 2009. Written by Damon.

2009 has been a huge year in general. Between Michael Jackson’s tragic death, Balloon Boy hiding in a cupboard, Tiger having the occasional fling and the biggest movie of all time being released.

But, there’s been one topic that continually never fails to pop up, the iPhone. With the iPhone as the must-have gadget for all those who care about their reputation, it has grown immensely since it’s debut launch in 2007.

This year we have seen the Apple’s App Store hit 50,000 apps, then 100,000. Apple had a huge celebration when the 1 billionth (Yes, Billionth) app was downloaded in April before the 2 billionth app was downloaded later this year. The store and device has gone from strength to strength with an estimated 40+ Million iPhone’s sold to date and a further 20+ Million iPod Touches.

This year brought a super powerful phone to the homes of many worldwide with the launch of the iPhone 3GS and then the iPod Touch 3rd Generation. This brought OpenGL ES 2.0 which swung the doors wide open for graphical enhancements possible for all games, and faster, smoother experiences for everyone who upgraded to this latest model. With these yearly upgrades we shall see the iPhone marking it’s spot as the dominant smart phone for years to come, despite an array of challengers.

The App Store

In June I wrote a post about the current situation of the App Store, and since then I’ve been watching it closely for the past 6 months. At the start of 2009 it seemed the consumers were all out of pocket, after a hefty start to the App Store with many apps all being over $4.99. We soon saw the KRAPPS era, with all sorts of Farts, Prank Calls and Wobbly Boobs gracing our App Store. These were coupled with a similarly timed era of gaming success stories as some lucky developers were frequently striking it rich when their indie $0.99 game skyrocketed to the top spot.

As I was wrapping up my article on the current situation on the App Store, I found that premium titles were again starting to take over the App Store. These past 6 months the store’s situation has seemed to steady, where now all of these genres seem to be equally placed on the App Store. Searching the Top 100 apps will find you an array of premium games, mainly by EA and Gameloft but others are now contributing, a heap of successful Indie games and the classic Fart and Girl apps to satisfy the teenage boys out there.

The Developers

When 2009 started there were a few developers on the App Store, but none were better than Electronic Arts and Gameoft. Both of these companies had a huge head start with a massive workforce and the money at hand to make the best games possible. They stood ahead of the rest bringing graphics and games that others could only dream of. Slowly as the year progressed we saw more and more developers making games worthy to compete with these developers, some even making games good enough to get published by Gameloft or EA. But also as the year progressed these big companies improved to keep ahead of the competition.

Electronic Arts claim to fame is obviously the huge amount of franchises they have under their control. With games like the Need for Speed series, Madden, NBA and an array of Hasbro games there was no comparison. They have brought out a huge selection of titles they are all well known by the general community. The only thing we can see happening to Electronic Arts in the future is seeing what franchises they bring out next. I’m sure myself and many others are waiting for another great 2010.

Gameloft hit the App Store with some various mobile and DS titles that they sold early on for a great profit when nothing else was up to their standard. Compared to today’s games these are pretty average and would not get a look in if they were released today. About a year ago they released two huge games, Hero of Sparta and Brothers in Arms which really set them up. These games had huge success and really got Gameloft serious about developing on the App Store. After another 30 odd releases for this year we have seen everything from Skating to Tennis and GTA-like games. Just recently they released NOVA and Avatar which are upgraded versions of HoS and BiA, showing their huge advances. 2010 should be a very exciting year from Gameloft as they continue to improve.

Apart from these big two there have been smaller developers that have always been releasing great games like NgMoco and Illusion Labs. There have been a few developers that have improved immensely during the year. Two in particular are Chillingo. and Com2Us. At the start off the App Store Chillingo released a flurry of games that weren’t of the best quality. They had a few gems but most were average applications. Since about March with the launch of Zen Bound they have gone from strength to strength releasing some great games that lots of people really look forward to. Com2Us is another one of these developers. They have had some decent titles but it wasn’t until the fair success of Homerun Race 3D that they seemed to really come into the spotlight – now of course releasing the great, Chronicles of Inotia 2.

The iPhone has become a huge market and irresistible for many developers. While big names like Electronic Arts and Gameloft jumped on-board early, there have been a heap of new developers jumping on board to test out the water. We have seen Civilization Revolution by 2K Games, F1 2009 by Codemasters, Beaterator by World-Renown DJ and Producer Timbaland, the upcoming Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars by Rockstar Games and many, many more. This is great for the App Store as it will provide lots of competition and an overall rise in app standards for the upcoming years.

The Indie Games

Indie games have always been a hit on the App Store being nice and cheap so you can buy lots of them. This an illustrious market that is really a huge gamble for developers. It is a hit or miss chance whether the game takes off or not. One of the first true success stories was in January and February with iShoot. This app was launched in October but didn’t take off until January with a price drop, going on to make millions.

There have been many releases that have had this kind of success. Whether it is Zombieville USA, Harbor Master or Defend Your Castle we continually see some great games that do well. However there are many titles that never get discovered or the sales they deserve. Developers just have to hope that they get seen by the right people and become featured by Apple, as this is where they will find the most success. I just hope that in the future indie devs don’t get deterred from the App Store due to the huge games being released, we still need those smaller games to enjoy from time to time.

The Premium Games

As much as we like Indie games the average consumer can’t help but be attracted to the big beautifully created games that cost more than $4.99. It was until early in 2009 that these games started becoming decent, with Hero of Sparta in particular becoming one of the biggest games of it’s time. Instead of talking about all the huge hits I will just give a quick overview of the groundbreaking ones.

Need for Speed: Undercover had been talked about and previewed since well into 2008, but it had been massively refined until it’s launch around March 2009. This game for me showed off the class and grace that a game could have on the App Store for the very first time. It looked absolutely stunning and I would regard it as one of the best looking games still today. Later in the year we got our first simulation racing game Real Racing by the newish developers Firemint. This set a level playing field and made us choose what style of racing we wanted. Just this past week we were given Need for Speed: Shift which bridged the gap between the two genres with a game style with traits from both genres.

Music games have been a huge hit right from Day One with the huge success of Tap Tap Revenge. This year saw some fierce competitors but a massive hit from Tapulous themselves. Gameloft released a much improved sequel to Guitar Rock Tour 2 while Electronic Arts took on the genre using the Rock Band franchise. Tapulous again though I believe came out in top with Tap Tap Revenge 3 bringing some great music tracks via the first full on use of DLC. I found this a great success and 10+ packs later I am still playing daily.

The other big genre on the App Store are shooting games. Gameloft seems to have the genre by it’s neck ever since they released Brothers in Arms. Some decent titles have been released since then with Call of Duty and Resident Evil getting into the action. The real groundbreaking game in this genre however was Modern Combat: Sandstorm. This game showed some absolutely amazing graphics that was coupled with a game that was addictive as anything I’ve played. This game was the new high point for shooting games, which was shortly matched by the free game Eliminate. This was one of the most awaited launches on the iPhone, being a free game with DLC packs. The game is now in the play for free and pay to play more stage, which is a welcome game that everyone can enjoy, let alone being an awesome multiplayer concept. Again like the racing games a new title has taken control of this genre, with the alien shooter NOVA. This game improves on Modern Combat: Sandstorm while providing a working multiplayer like Eliminate.

Apart from these few I have mentioned there have been many many more games which have delighted us over the year. From the stunning 2XL bike series to the greatly improved Super Monkey Ball 2. With more developers jumping on board expect even more from our current and new developers a like.

Looking Ahead

The iPhone and the App Store are in a strong position to totally dominate for many years to come. With millions of users downloading millions of Apps everyday it is only up for this device. Here are 10 things I will leave you with that I predict will come from this device in 2010.

1. PSP-like graphics and improved battery life as we get the iPhone 4.0 in July

2. More games that have are taking use of newer devices being able to use improved graphics

3. More use of the In-App Purchases and Paying to play games

4. Electronic Arts and Gameloft to continue dominating the charts as they have

5. More big name developers dipping their feet into the App Store with some huge titles

6. The indie developing market getting harder to crack, but also more success stories

7. 250,000+ available apps and 5 billion+ app downloads by the end of 2010

8. More games taking the Freemium approach like SEED and Touch Pet Dogs etc.

9. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Finally!)

10. Everyone spending hundreds of dollars on new apps

So that’s almost it for 2009 and the App Store, and what a year it’s been! I and the team hope you have enjoyed reading our brief recap of the year and we hope to see you all on Razorianfly.com again in 2010, for another year of no-doubt huge gaming news, reviews and more! It’s the fact it never stops that we really digg what we do. Thanks for reading.