FEATURE THINK MOBILE FIRST
MFORTUNE CAT & MOUSE
mFortune mobile casino is among the fastest-growing pure mobile operators in the industry, as shown by its entry into the eGR Power 50 in 2012, and its user-friendly interface demonstrates a lot of what has drawn players its way. I tested the Cat and Mouse app for iPhone, a fairly no-frills multi-line slot with a bonus round in which you have to roll a set of dice to make an animated mouse run away, Tom and Jerry style, from a cat pursuing it, earning bonus cash in the process (or cheese if you want to extend the metaphor). As tends to be necessary in slot games you have instant gratification once you have the opportunity to spin for real money. The registration process, while quicker than some online gambling sites, requires you to leave the app to activate your account, something that gives the player an excuse to decide against
playing. There is the softener of a £5 credit for new signups, but this means the added hassle of entering bank details before placing your first bet. mFortune is unable to showcase scene-stealing graphics such as those evident in slots from some of the bigger providers; however it recognises this and therefore opts instead to put its focus on straightforward gameplay. The experience is intuitive and easy to get the hang of, meaning inexperienced slots players will be drawn to it for its simplicity. The main question mark surrounds the graphics, and whether the mere availability of increasingly cinema-like visuals will be accompanied by increased demand for such visuals at the same pace. Assuming there will remain a considerable market for simple, no-frills graphics, the uncomplicated layout and general accessibility of mFortune will serve it well.
RANKING
USABILITY DESIGN ENGAGEMENT PLAYABILITY
82 |100
23/25 19/25 18/25 22/25
OVERALL
include and handle multimedia and graphical content on the web without having to resort to proprietary plugins and APIs. Lovell says HTML5 “opens up a lot of doors” and gives customers a far richer experience. “It’s far more immersive. You need to get the fun and functionality working in mobile apps to make them work and HTML5 allows you to create richer graphics and sound, for instance. It is moving the web to mobile.” Despite the hype, it is thought that HTML5 is around 20% of any mobile web game. “The rest is Javascript and CSS3,” says the mobile developer. “HTML5 is more marketable than saying mobile web, or web app or in-browser. It became the chosen language in the early days due to Apple’s policy on gambling but in February 2010, when Apple completed a major overhaul of their App Store for international distribution. they instigated a policy where gambling became legal as long as it is acceptable in that international territory. Shortly thereafter Betfair, William Hill and Ladbrokes all released the ?rst native apps. But Apple still had their review teams in the US, so getting the apps published was still delayed at times by six weeks. So the App route again was fraught with grief,” he explains. “Meanwhile, HTML-based ‘web apps’ were being developed by Microgaming via their mobile development arm Spin3. They were actually built in AJAX (HTML4 and Javascript) as HTML was yet to be recognised and it took Google to release Chrome [its latest browser] before HTML5 started to pick up steam,” he adds. “Today we have Native Apps – built by programmers in some form of the C language –programmers who were not that common in many gambling companies as they usually sit in back-end teams working on server side development, and HTML apps being built by web developers. It became easier to use their skills in order to advance mobile instead of hiring new talent. It was cheaper. “That has become the crux of the situation; web apps are cheaper to develop than native apps. That is the real reason why suppliers have joined the HTML bandwagon, and because web apps behave like traditional websites, all the desktop tools that marketers use have been easily transferred to mobile. It would seem some companies just did not want to invest in training their staff on learning new app marketing techniques,” he says. For now, although HTML5 is making progress, according to several developers eGR has spoken to, native apps offer a better overall experience but at a higher development cost. “But if this is the case then perhaps cost should not be an issue,” adds the developer. If the next two years are anything like the last, there could well be some exciting products on offer from those companies that laid down the right strategic foundations.
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