Gameloft 'Working On' Mobile Social Network

Author: by Staff

In a new feature interview, Gameloft publishing SVP Gonzague de Vallois tells Gamasutra that the company is thinking about launching competition for GREE (OpenFeint) and DeNA's mobile networks. "Those guys have been pretty successful in Asia -- DeNA and GREE -- and we have a strong presence in Japan, so we've been working with them in Japan. On the feature phone business, not yet on the smartphone business. DeNA, mainly," de Vallois told Gamasutra, in a recent interview. However, he said, despite a continued relationship with these operators -- owners of Ngmoco and OpenFeint, respectively -- the company is exploring its options for an important reason: "As Gameloft, we want to keep a direct relationship with the consumers, so we feel it can be dangerous that we have somebody in the middle, that will dictate whether the consumer will take." Has the company considered launching its own network? "Yes, that's also something that we are working on, and investigating to see if it makes sense to. We always value the consumer experience, so if it makes sense to add this component to our games, then we will do it -- and that's something we are studying now," de Vallois told Gamasutra. The full interview, in which de Vallois discusses trends in the market, defends the company against accusations of closely copying popular games, and much more, is live now on Gamasutra.