Mobile Dev Says Angry Birds Is the Next Mario Bros.

There’s no denying the Angry Birds craze that has hit the gaming scene. Not only has the game been a success in the mobile gaming industry, but it’s also one of the most commercially successful games ever created, with over 100 million downloads to its name. According to mobile game developers, Angry Birds is taking the world by storm much like Super Mario Bros. did on the Nintendo Entertainment System all those years ago.

Dan Gonzales, VP of sales for mobile game developer Sourcebits, said that while hardcore games and gamers are a big part of the industry, mobile games and casual gamers are rising exponentially, “dwarfing” core titles and hardcore players in the process. “If you look at the market cap for easy-to-play casual games versus the market cap for epic first-person shooter type games, you’ll quickly understand the importance of Angry Birds,” said Gonzales in a statement to Modojo. “The hardcore gamer, while fairly common in a historical context, is completely dwarfed by the number of casual gamers adopting smart phones and tablets.”

Sourcebits’ VP of Sales Brian Meehan echoed similar sentiments, even going a step further and comparing the success of Angry Birds to that of Super Mario Bros. on the NES: “Angry Birds is the world’s new [Super] Mario Bros. My kids will never own a DS or PSP. They have everything via smartphones and tablets.”

I’m not questioning the success of mobile gaming. Sales figures have shown that gaming on handsets has managed to rise meteorically, reaching success perhaps never thought possible by the medium. With that said, I find the comparison between a quick and easy mobile game for casual gamers and a game that had one of the biggest impacts on the industry to be a bit much.

While mobile gaming may be popular, it’s still geared toward the casual player. Gamers seeking core experience will always rely on consoles: Not everyone likes putting their thumbs to a touch screen, and not everyone likes being hunched over a smartphone playing a simple platformer or puzzler when they couldbe defying gravity in Super Mario Galaxy 2, scaling massive beasts in Shadow of the Colossus, or engaging in a gripping sci-fi adventure in Halo.