Possibility of Ashes Cricket on other platforms

[virtuosovidit]

Last year Big Ant came out with a Big Bash League mobile game, which had a pretty decent gameplay for batting and bowling for the given the confined space of a phone. However that game doesn't seem to be have been updated in a while.

I was wondering if Big Ant still plans to bring Ashes Cricket games in some form to other platforms like Mobile Phones and possibly Casual Gaming Devices (Especially the newer ones like Nintendo Switch and 4K Apple TV, which could support decent graphics) as well?

 

[Nathaus]

Doesn't Apple TV just play mobile games on a TV?

There are a ton of articles in the media thread re Switch:
https://www.planetcricket.org/forums/threads/ashes-cricket-media-discussion.108750/#post-3195784

 

[DAP]

Last year Big Ant came out with a Big Bash League mobile game, which had a pretty decent gameplay for batting and bowling for the given the confined space of a phone. However that game doesn't seem to be have been updated in a while.

I was wondering if Big Ant still plans to bring Ashes Cricket games in some form to other platforms like Mobile Phones and possibly Casual Gaming Devices (Especially the newer ones like Nintendo Switch and 4K Apple TV, which could support decent graphics) as well?

Not sure about Apple TV, but would love to see it on the switch. Many mainstream developers are giving it a go too. But, only if BA are satisfied with the sales on the main consoles and *ahem* PC *ahem*

 

[virtuosovidit]

Doesn't Apple TV just play mobile games on a TV?

There are a ton of articles in the media thread re Switch:
https://www.planetcricket.org/forums/threads/ashes-cricket-media-discussion.108750/#post-3195784

Thanks for the switch thread.

Also, about Apple TV: They have a separate store for tvOS specific apps (i.e. they don't need an iPhone companion), it's not 'just' mobile games although many of the games come from that part of the gaming universe, and not the console part. But it's possible to make a game for Apple TV from the ground up.
The only problem I see with that is, even for something like Ashes Cricket, Big Ant would need to do a lot of space optimisations. Storage on those devices is very limited.

 

[Alberts]

Last year Big Ant came out with a Big Bash League mobile game, which had a pretty decent gameplay for batting and bowling for the given the confined space of a phone. However that game doesn't seem to be have been updated in a while.

I was wondering if Big Ant still plans to bring Ashes Cricket games in some form to other platforms like Mobile Phones and possibly Casual Gaming Devices (Especially the newer ones like Nintendo Switch and 4K Apple TV, which could support decent graphics) as well?

It's interesting to see what people define as "casual gaming devices", especially considering the two best games of the year are on the Nintendo Switch.

BigAnt don't care much for Nintendo to my understanding though, and I doubt that they'll release on the console anytime soon. A lot of indies are finding huge success on the Switch now, but many of those developers who are the tier above seem a bit intimidated by the first party software that Nintendo putout.

That said, whilst the Switch would be awesome for people already interested in the game, I mean who wouldn't want to play a Test series on the go, I'm not sure it demographically makes sense. Whilst the Switch is killing it globally, it seems to be a bit weaker in Australia than many other places, and given that Australia is one of the key markets, that will likely weigh heavily on their decision making. Equally, there may be a sense that sports games mightn't be a good fit, particularly given that EA don't seem pleased that their "special" version of FIFA 18 on the Switch wasn't that well received, that said EA are scum.

 

[Nathaus]

I dont think it's a case of not caring (see linked Media thread above), but more of a case of having to spend a lot of time and effort porting it when the audience isn't necessarily there. Switch doesn't tend to be a platform that is strong in sports (FIFA got a much cut back version, not using frostbite engine). It's much more of a RPG/platforming/party game device. I wouldn't quite call it casual, and Nintendo are doing great things at being different with the Switch and producing some great games (Zelda/Mario) - but it's probably just not a device that will sell a lot of cricket games for the amount of effort required to do a decent port.

As for Apple TV, I nearly fell off my chair when the only two sizes you can get are 32 and 64gb... That's only between 5 and 10 hours of 4k content, which is an absolute joke. I'm sure the idea is to stream the content, but I imagine a lot of people with Apple TV actually purchase episodes to watch, you can't even fit a full series on the largest device... As for games, the games will still be mobilesque in their nature, and nothing I would ever want to play on my TV. There would not be enough memory for any kind of texture quality, or stats keeping and it would pretty much just be a Big Bash type game.

 

[DN4ngel23]

Ashes Cricket would be perfect for the Switch.