Id Software starts id Mobile to make portable versions of classics like Quake Arena, Wolftenstein and new franchises to battle bad cellphone games
Id Software recently announced they’ve started a new division, called id Mobile, with which they will develop mobile versions of their classic games like Quake Arena and Wolfenstein, as well as a sequel to the cellphone game hit, Doom RPG. This is no surprise since Doom RPG for cellphones has sold more than 1 million copies. Sales of last year’s Orcs & Elves have topped 400,000. Id Software co-founder John Carmack mentioned last week they released a Nintendo DS version of Orcs & Elves, and Orcs & Elves II will go on sale for cellphones in December. Previously Carmack indicated Quake DS and Doom RPG were also underway for the Nintendo DS. The company is also working on unannounced new franchises and ideally sees four releases happening each year.
Both the action games Doom RPG and Orcs & Elves were co-developed by id with Fountainhead Entertainment, a company founded by Carmack’s wife, Katherine Anna Kang. A former director of business development at id, she will now serve also as id Mobile’s president.
“The whole reason we are in the mobile arena now is I was just really appalled at how bad (cellphone games) were,” Carmack says. “We’re already making profit on 2 million units of games (sold), but we are kind of holding out this hope there might be a breakout moment when the industry gets five to 10 times larger.” So far analysts are predicting the mobile games industry will double from $5 billion this year to $10 billion worldwide by 2009. — Quotes from USAtoday
While John Carmack has expressed interest in developing on cellphones, DS, PSP and maybe Wii. Don’t expect id Mobile to release games on Apple’s portable platforms though, for the iPod and iPhone apparently “the honest truth right now is that Apple’s not exactly hugely supportive of this. When they finally allowed games to be put on the iPod… in many ways it’s one of the worst environments to develop games for.”
Did you know the unique PS Vita game Gravity Rush is helmed by the Siren series director? 
