App data shows second screen experiences for gaming are a total flop

[Shawn Knight]

Second screen experiences – using your tablet or smartphone as a “second screen” to display additional content while gaming or watching television – were expected to be the next big thing in entertainment. The tech dominated E3 the past couple of years with companies like EA, Microsoft and Sony all setting aside significant time to talk it up.

With more than six months of app data now available for analysis, are gamers actually adopting the trend? No, not really. 

Xbox One SmartGlass

PlayStation App

As illustrated in the graphs above from App Annie, apps like Xbox One SmartGlass and the PlayStation App both got off to solid starts but interest quickly waned. Such activity isn’t entirely unexpected from console apps, but what about a title like Battlefield 4 with a dedicated community and a wealth of content?

Battlefield 4 Commander

Yeah, not so much.

Simply put, gamers just aren’t interested in second screen experiences. That’s not really much of a surprise, either, as the technology didn’t receive any attention during the major keynotes at this year’s expo. It would seem that developers and executives are content with putting the fad in the rearview mirror.

Second screen experiences as it relates to PC games aren’t exactly an original idea. For example, Logitech’s G15 keyboard from 2006 featured an onboard LCD panel used to display information like ammo count, health bars and so on. It was a novel ideal but support was limited and the concept never really took off.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/57093-app-data-shows-second-screen-experiences-for-gaming-are-a-total-flop.html

 

[insect]

Probably because good games require you to be looking at the actual play screen 99.9% of the time...

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Probably because good games require you to be looking at the actual play screen 99.9% of the time...

No sh!t, right? Maybe some of these designers should try out their products before trying to sell them.

The Logitech G13 game pad thingy (not the keyboard) looked like a worthy successor to the Belkin N52. But it had this little LCD screen on there that would show you ammo count etc. It was actually a reason NOT to buy it because you knew you were paying for something you'd never use.

 

[Guest]

There is no logic sense in that period. I want to be focused on the game not gimmicks.

 

[psycros]

Probably because good games require you to be looking at the actual play screen 99.9% of the time...

No sh!t, right? Maybe some of these designers should try out their products before trying to sell them.

The Logitech G13 game pad thingy (not the keyboard) looked like a worthy successor to the Belkin N52. But it had this little LCD screen on there that would show you ammo count etc. It was actually a reason NOT to buy it because you knew you were paying for something you'd never use.

The only game content that makes sense on a second screen are things like chat, buddy lists, maybe a cash store UI and so on. Isn't it amazing how detached from actual gaming (and common sense) these game devs are?

 

[Forg0t2]

Could you please enter information about the scales next time? now it doesn't mean anything because 1 could be 100.000 if the scale is set that way. Would totally change the picture. Also it would give a way better impression to put the vertical scale in a different order, 1 being the lowest instead of the highest.
You will than see a small growth and drop in the charts instead of more constantly drops. Most people dont read the grids they just look at the picture overall and that shows something else than what's really happening...

 

[S_Brideau]

Could you please enter information about the scales next time? now it doesn't mean anything because 1 could be 100.000 if the scale is set that way. Would totally change the picture. Also it would give a way better impression to put the vertical scale in a different order, 1 being the lowest instead of the highest.
You will than see a small growth and drop in the charts instead of more constantly drops. Most people dont read the grids they just look at the picture overall and that shows something else than what's really happening...

I totally agree with this. With those graphics, the article could be false for all we know.

 

[trgz]

Gimmicks on the whole, though having a DayZ map on your tablet or maybe that iFlyBMS app for the hardcore flight-simmer seem to be good ideas.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Also it would give a way better impression to put the vertical scale in a different order, 1 being the lowest instead of the highest.

That didn't make sense to me. As it is, it looks as if the scale started at 1 and then leveled off after awhile in the hundreds(whatever that means).

 

[Forg0t2]

That didn't make sense to me. As it is, it looks as if the scale started at 1 and then leveled off after awhile in the hundreds(whatever that means).

Since they are talking about growth in this article it is best to have an increasing vertical axis. It gives a way better Idea of the increase and decrease over time of the feature and thus shows the growth (or not) of the feature. Now I'm facing difficulties in just reading the graph not being able to immediately spot the growth of the feature. So I can imagine that more people have these issues reading the charts...

 

[captaincranky]

This topic is at least as dumb as the proposed Cooler Master PSU, that tells your smart phone how much power you're consuming as you play.

If you have time to read a bunch of nonsense off a tablet while you're playing a game, you need a harder game, not a bunch of useless additional information.

 

[cliffordcooley]

@Forg0t2 I wasn't meaning you didn't make sense to me. I was agreeing with you on the chart not making sense.

 

[Forg0t2]

@Forg0t2 I wasn't meaning you didn't make sense to me. I was agreeing with you on the chart not making sense.

Ohww, Sorry