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Peter Molyneux has praised the way in which Steve Jobs changed the industry with Apple, which eventually inspired him to leave Microsoft and form his own company 22Cans.
Speaking at Mobile Entertainment’s Top 50 Mobile Innovators party, Molyneux said while figures of GTA V potentially achieving $1 billion in its first month sound impressive, mobile companies like Supercell were even more outstanding, generating between $3m-to-$5m a day 18 months after launch.
"There is nothing more exciting than games and entertaining people. All we want in the games industry is five minutes of people’s lives and then the ultimate goal is to take that five minutes and make a memory that lasts a lifetime.
"Apple and Google have done a wonderful job of giving the world a device that means that games can be in everybody’s hands.
"The newly released Grand Theft Auto V is a game that’s everywhere, you can hardly avoid it. It will achieve around $1 billion in revenue on consoles in just one month.
"Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? No. That’s not impressive.
"What is outstandingly impressive is the success of mobile companies like Supercell, who has released games including Hay Day and Clash of Clans. Those games, which were released 18 months ago, are achieving revenue between $3 million and $5 million each day. That is impressive.
"I started in the games industry working with the Amiga and Atari ST, then opening and selling a number of companies before creating a game called Fable, which was acquired by Microsoft. It seemed as though the journey was coming to an end for me. I thought Fable games were doing really well making $150 million.
"But then that bastard Steve Jobs stood up on stage and changed my life forever with a flick of a screen. I realised then that the most innovational thing that you can do is change the way people interact with entertainment.
You can read the full story on our sister-site, Mobile Entertainment.
