Why this gaming vet say HTML5 is not the future

waaaat.... this is a blasphemy:

http://www.geekwire.com/2012/mobile-game-developer-html5-future/

just kidding <img src="smileys/smiley12.gif" border="0" align="middle">

Most sensible comment following this post:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font color=blue>They won't compete with native today, but I wouldn't bet on *never*. People end up looking quite silly making those sort of statements.</font></font>

In fact, the real hard part to swallow for game editors is the fact that the final user can steal all art assets.

Apart from that, it's going to be mainstream in a few years...

In fact, the real hard part to swallow for game editors is the fact that the final user can steal all art assets.

Apart from that, it's going to be mainstream in a few years...

-shrug- Lots of games keep their graphics external anyway.

I'm kinda tired of these kinds of article now. These days I just smile a bit and think "so you want to rewrite your entire engine again for every major platform? OK, have fun..."

If these statements came from someone whose company developed mobile games that really pushed the envelope and that were groundbreakingly innovative, I'd be able to relate a little bit better to the point. But the games they make aren't "We produce ?wow.?". They are mobile/FB standard fare and have been done by others too, before and after.

It's not that their games are terrible, but he makes it sound like they put out stuff that's bleeding cutting edge and that sets standards for the future, and thus requires a highly specialized approach and an extremely-close-to-the-hardware engine. I don't see this as being the case.

Then again, this gets a lot more attention than just embracing HTML5's future. :)

And here's another gaming vet who tells us "Why HTML5 will succeed for gaming".

And what's more, gives Scirra first mention among "great companies that have been working hard to improve both the development process and actual gameplay".

Gotta think about what "succeed" means. HTML5 isn't doing anything Flash wasn't doing, down to the level where the tools certain people are using might not even change. Anyone who says HTML5 won't succeed is being silly. It's the successor to a very well established use case. How big will it be for gaming? Well, I don't think the Scirra team has anything to worry able (if you're product makes content for the thing that's going to supplant flash, you're golden), but I don't think it's the next big paradise of gaming or whatever, in the same way Flash never quite was. They're tools for certain jobs and design spaces that have pros and cons. Are you even making a game appropriate to be a webgame? Is it appropriate for mobile? If you're just going to put the whole thing into an EXE browser wrapper, is it necessarily the best tool? Even if it's not the necessarily best tool, does it still work for your project scope and your skill set?

You don't just release for every platform for free, even if your platform supports it. Resolution disparities, variation between controls, processor power -- it all matters. You can make a mobile touch app that can be released to all "greater" platforms but it's probably not going to be a particularly enjoyable user experience. I know I took a pass on C2 not because I thought it was bad, or html5 has no future, but because it didn't fit my use case (at least at this point). Plenty of other people are going to find a lot of success there and probably make buttloads of money in that space. :)

Just some perspective.