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SAUSALITO, Calif — Mobile gamers have no real problem accessing games for their various devices. So the prospect of a new entrant into the online storefront seems unnecessary at first glance.
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The answer, as Pohontu detailed, is to offer a greatest-hits compilation in a market where everyone else dumped a record store on top of you. The Samsung storefront on mobile phones and tablets is an invite-only space of curated content. Rather than creating a catch-all process for developers to pitch and publish their games en masse, Samsung itself seeks out designers to craft games designed around the capabilities of the company’s products.
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“We aim to be a touch point for developers that are creating experiences that are unique to Samsung products,” Pohontu said. “So we need our own storefront … a more curated one”
Samsung’s goal, Pohontu outlined, is to craft “exclusive experiences” for users across all of its products. The vice president’s marketing campaign-ready slogan for the initiative described the company as “strid[ing] across screens.”
When asked, by none other than fellow GamesBeat Summit speaker Nolan Bushnell, about investments in fledgling gaming technologies like geo-tracking, Pohontu assured that something was happening behind the scenes that he could not speak on. A special team, somewhere at Samsung, is “working with the Internet of Things space.”
Before answering, however, Pohontu proved that rank in the corporate hierarchy is no match for age-old fandom.
“I have been asked a question by Nolan Bushnell,” said the beaming vice president. “So this must be the height of my career.”
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