Review Fix chats with Kai Zhao, Chukong’s U.S. VP of Engineering, who discusses the company’s partnership with ARM, which will undoubetly have a huge impact on the graphical power of mobile games. Discussing how the deal was made and the future of both companies, Zhao lets gamers know how the partnership could change the face of the mobile gaming market.
Review Fix: How was the deal hammered out?
Kai Zhao: During GDC this year, Cocos2d-x was invited to partner with ARM and demo inside their booth. We showed both of our 2d and 3d game engines optimized for ARM technologies. After working closely together during GDC, the ARM and Cocos2d teams had an opportunity to meet and discuss how further partnerships would benefit both parties, and we quickly arrived at a deal.
Review Fix: How will this partnership change the game industry today?
Zhao: We are trying to make better games that run faster on every mobile device, all while maintaining battery life. There are lots of optimization and innovation that game engine provider and hardware provider can work together on, and this partnership will make it possible for developers to build more impressive games that players will love to play.
Review Fix: How important do you believe the mobile gaming market is to the industry?
Zhao: Mobile gaming is a hugely important part of the growing mobile industry–besides generating enormous amounts of revenue for mobile platforms, mobile game developers are constantly trying to improve the quality of product they create. This drive for constant improvement in turn helps push the development of mobile technology forward, from both a hardware and software perspective.
Review Fix: Away from both companies, how will this deal help mobile game developers?
Zhao: In practical terms, developers will be able to create more CPU/GPU intense games than before. Developers will also need to spend less valuable time and resource on low level optimization because the Cocos engine optimizes much of that process.
On a larger scale, however, deals such as this help align the interests of developers (who are broadly interacting with engines and software) with the hardware platforms that host their apps. By optimizing our engine for ARM’s technology, this deal helps developers build better apps in less time.
Review Fix: How do you believe it will affect the day-to-day operations of both companies?
Zhao: Cocos2d-x and ARM have been working together one way or the other for years, so many of the communications channels are already well established. There should be minimal impact on the day-to-day operation.
Review Fix: What kind of change do you hope the partnership will help induce in the future?
Zhao: Many game developers are maintaining their own proprietary engines – they want to have full control of their game from top to bottom. For developers with the resources to build those kinds of custom tools, that’s fine, but only a handful of massive companies can afford that kind of expenditure. The Cocos2d-x / ARM partnership is a viable alternative that gives smaller developers the same level of control over their apps by optimizing an open-source engine directly with their hardware of choice. When developers don’t have to build their own engine, they have more time to focus on their games.
Leave a Reply