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Abiyan

At Tech4gamers, I cover all sorts of gaming news. Whether it’s a leak of any upcoming game or an update, an announcement, or a rumour, I like to write about it all. Over the weekend, I sit and write features where I talk about games that I miss or want to see return.

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Gameloft is a prominent mobile gaming company that gives fans an AAA gaming experience within the bounds of smartphones. However, with their massive rise, they did face a fall and are still not as major as they once were.

Origin & Rise To Fame

Founded in 1999, Gameloft was known for producing mobile games of every genre that you know of. Be it RPG, racing, first-person shooter, open-world, sports, action or casual. It started getting much of its attention after the smartphone era in 2007.

Ahead Of Its Time

Gameloft has been a pioneer in the mobile gaming industry for producing high-end games. Before that, games were either of low graphics or were 2D in nature. Great graphics and visual appeal weren’t the only things Gameloft became famous for.

Back in 2005-2012, Gameloft saw the potential of making games similar to PCs and bringing them to mobile phones. This idea proved to be a major success following their Asphalt series release which was based on the Need For Speed series.

Fans began loving the similar intense racing experience they were getting all within the bounds of their smartphone screens. This laid the foundation for Gameloft to expand in this area.  

Popular Games

Since then, Gameloft has released several variants of the Asphalt series, further expanding on the graphics and improvements. Later, they released the N.O.V.A series which was based on the Halo Series, with N.O.V.A 3 being the closest to the real Halo game experience.

Afterward, Modern Combat also came into being which was based on the Call Of Duty series. This also gave fans an exciting first-person shooter on their cell phones. Similarly, a GTA-inspired game known as Gangster Vegas was also released, which fans loved as well.

This even had a Vice City-inspired one named Gangstar: Miami Vindication. Similarly, they bought games based on Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted, and Red Dead Redemption on smartphones.

Acquired Licenses

Some of these games based on popular comic book and movie franchises even had their official licenses. These games include the Spider-Man series with Spider-Man: Total Mayhem, The Amazing Spider-Man 1, and 2.

It also includes Batman, The Dark Knight Rises, Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Avatar, Assassin’s Creed series, Captain America, and Iron Man 3. This showed Gameloft’s impact and how major players they were which attracted many fans to this company’s games. 

Gameloft’s Disappearance

Gameloft experienced a loss due to its one-time purchase model as it didn’t exceed in profits. They had to bring changes that would give them a boost in profits so they could stay afloat.

After these financial struggles, Gameloft was acquired by Vivendi, a French media conglomerate. Previously Gameloft relied on one-time purchase options but after the acquisition, a lot of strategies changed which included the addition of freemium models.

Here, the game was to earn money from micro-transactions and from ads popping at places. This gradually ruined the experience of the games and fans began to resent the company’s decision as it once provided them with amazing services. 

Removal Of Games

Today, Gameloft is left with a few titles since most of their games have been removed from the IOS and Android stores. These are removed due to a few reasons such as licensing issues, lack of updates, and strategic decisions by developers or publishers.

Lack Of Quality & Innovation

Today, Gameloft is still present but due to the aforementioned changes, it isn’t as well-received as it once was. Now, the market is taken over by new devs who strive to make great games but still, nobody has made its name as Gameloft.

Creative games are also missing from the market. Previously Gameloft brought innovation in games such as they brought spiderman to smartphones. Now games lack meaning, depth, and definition and the gap is still present.

Outcry From Fans

Many people miss the era when Gameloft peaked with some even pointing out how impressive transporting AAA games to mobile was. Now, fans are disappointed with the current state of the mobile market and they also highlight that Gameloft was their source of entertainment on mobile.

Abiyan

[News Reporter]

Abiyan is on track to complete his Computer Science bachelor’s degree. His enthusiasm for writing and gaming motivates him to keep readers and gamers updated with the latest information from the industry. In his free time, Abiyan enjoys playing Dota 2 and Rocket League. Abiyan has also been cited in reputed websites such as Kitguru, Comicbook, GamingBible, Eurogamer and Gamingbolt.