Id's mobile development not yet "all planned out"

Legendary shooter developer id Software isn't yet certain about its future in mobile gaming, despite recent success.

"It's really been interesting to see our mobile development team work on that compartmentalised piece of Rage content," Raage producer Jason Kim told CVG, referring to the iOS Rage spin-off.

"It is an aspect of our company that is still growing. I think there's a lot more that could be done there but we don't have it all planned out, it's actually nice not to know how different things are going to be."

Kim said id's future in mobile development is as uncertain as the market itself.

"It depends on what really happens with these mobile devices, what happens on the Apple Store, how Android works and what kind of store front they have and how popular those apps become.

"There are so many different ways that this could go and it's not totally clear to us but we put something out there and I think it's done really well for us. It remains to be seen how big a part of the studio that becomes."

Id has a head start on mobile development because it packs some serious technical wizards among its staff.

"It's another one of those great things working at id with John Carmack and those guys that are able to take some idea and turn it into a whole product that people can actually play and get in their hands," Kim said.

"John went away and literally in a matter of days, or a couple of weeks, came back with an engine that works on the iPhone.

"That's him being able to analyse the hardware and understanding how to create rendering technology and maximises the opportunities within that piece of hardware and what he can program to make it work."