While they're trying to make it in the majors, Chang is also shopping AdWRAP to other game companies, specifically casual game providers that want to go mobile. "We would be backending another game provider, maybe a casual game provider, with our catalog, with our mobile game offerings," he says. Their current focus is expanding their game catalogue to offer more to people outside their current core group: 13- to 34-year-olds, two-thirds of which are male. Chang says the normal mobile gaming demographic skews a bit older and more female, mostly because "the concept of free downloads is a little bit new, [so] it may skew a little bit younger for people that are a little bit more familiar with the technology. And mobile gaming in general skews a little bit older and more female because much of that [activity] is coming through the ... carrier deck, which is more accessible to the general public." Indeed, Chang believes the AdWRAP technology is the way of the future. "We look at [ad-supported downloads] as the way carriers will be moving." And when the carriers finally do come shopping for an ad-supported solution, there's really only one show in town: "We saw this fairly early and have been able to maintain our lead," he says.
Part of maintaining that lead is keeping an eye out on mobile gaming's future. I asked him what things will be like when the DS2, Nintendo's inevitable follow-up to the highly successful DS, can make phone calls. "[There will] be a little bit of a blur; once you have the connectivity, is it also a phone?" he asks. "[But] the primary purpose [of a portable gaming machine] won't be a phone, so you still will have these two different markets. I don't think one's going to take over the other any time soon." Of course, Chang also thinks the connected future of gaming systems means there's a future for AdWRAP there, specifically in the digital distribution scene. "There are a lot of things that need to be worked out for digital distribution on those types of platforms," he tells me. "I think it's a little ways out, but definitely, once it's there, our service will be, too."
The Escapist, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Joe Blancato, a young Associate Editor on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the powerless, the helpless in a world of criminals who operate above the law. Joe Blancato, a lone crusader in a dangerous world. The world ... of The Escapist.
