Imagine watching a game of IPL T20 cricket on a big screen television and comparing it with a cricket game you play on your smartphone: Which one offers more fun and entertainment in terms of vibe? Short of physically witnessing a live cricket game inside the stadium, watching it on the tele is significantly better than any cricket game you can play anywhere. Until now.
Epic Cricket is a popular smartphone and tablet-based cricket simulation game developed by Moong Labs, which recently worked with Dolby Laboratories to incorporate Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound effects to enhance the game’s user experience. That’s right, they’re trying to bring some of that vibe and feel of a live cricket match into a virtual game on your smartphone.
According to Moong Labs, “complex algorithms and techniques” are deployed to impact Epic Cricket gamers’ visual and auditory senses – a distinct loud roar of the crowd from the direction of the stands where the ball travels, wicketkeeper chatting behind the stumps, among other things, definitely aim to get you more involved into the game, no doubt.
As any self-respecting gamer will tell you, great gaming experiences are powered by great immersive experiences. Without immersing yourself in a game, you don’t really feel you’re ‘in the game’, do you? The eyes and ears play a big role for that to happen, whether you’re playing Call Of Duty or DOTA 2 or any of your favourite games out there.
Samit Babbar, Head of Product, Moong Labs said, “Gamers today want immersive experiences from their games and Dolby Atmos allows us to bring a whole new level of immersive gameplay.” It’s an attempt to take gamers right into the middle of the action with spatial sound as experienced by cricketers in a real match, he added further, as gamers spend more time playing sports-based games on their smartphones.
Dolby Laboratories’ Ashim Mathur agreed with Moong Labs’ Samit Babbar. “From a technology standpoint, Dolby Atmos adapts automatically to mobile devices and tablets to give you a spatial sound experience,” said Ashim Mathur, Senior Regional Director, Japan & Emerging Markets, Dolby Laboratories.
He claimed Dolby Atmos allows creative professionals like game developers total control over the placement and movement of each sound, helping them create a rich and layered spatial experience for gamers – even on mobile gaming devices, believe it or not. “With greater precision and detail than traditional surround sound mixing, creators can fine-tune the perfect mix,” to deliver the exact soundscape for players of Epic Cricket, for instance, despite all the challenges thrown about by mobile form factors.
Here we’d like to point you to insights from Jayant Shah, Director of Apps & Solutions Engineering, Emerging Markets at Dolby Laboratories who demystified how better Dolby Atmos audio experiences are now becoming available at increasingly lower price points for consumers in India.
“At a hardware level, we integrate with the chipset. The coding, the decoders, and all the magic is present inside the chipset. In terms of form factors, there's no restriction saying only the really high-end phones can support Dolby Atmos, so we don't limit the hardware. Obviously, sometimes, there's a detrimental aspect. For instance, you need at least two speakers. So, you know, there are some minimum specifications that are required. But beyond that, we don't restrict. To that end, there are some OEMs that come to us right at the design stage in the beginning, which becomes easier because then we help them with the acoustic design. Price is not really the criteria. There are televisions doing Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos as low as ₹15,000. And then, there’s the really high-end stuff. I don't think the price is really a defining thing anymore,” according to Dolby’s Jayant Shah.
Obviously, you can’t ignore the fact that mobile devices are getting better with each passing year – they’re packing better SoCs, iteratively better GPUs, and more RAM, across smartphones and tablets in every price segment you can imagine. Madhav Sheth, CEO of realme India, VP, realme and President, realme International Business Group, suggested that tablets are doing better in terms of offering a more immersive experience than smartphones purely thanks to their larger form factor – which is helping drive more nuanced gaming enhancements for the end user.
“Tablets with their larger screen are devices made for personal entertainment and to have an immersive experience. To improve it further we have added quad stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos for immersive sound which orient themselves based on how the user is holding the tablet. So, when you enjoy gaming on Pad X enabled with Dolby Atmos, it will automatically deliver the highest-quality audio, making your gaming experience always sound its best. The large and bright display also has thin bezels to make sure the experience is as non-intrusive and seamless as possible.
Say what you want, we all know mobile gaming devices are limited compared to full-fledged console or PC gaming platforms. However, they do try to amp up their gaming experience with the help of add-on peripherals – joystick add-ons for your smartphone, TWS earbuds for fewer noise distractions, and whatnot. Do they really help?
Madhav Sheth of realme India said, “We already have TWS that can work well with our tablet in providing an amazing holistic experience.” As do many other audio brands, no doubt, but there’s one thing that consumers should keep in mind. “When it comes to the mobile gaming experience, add-on peripherals can be a good option for casual gamers but if you are a serious gamer and engage in online multiplayer then latency will matter as any delay in response time can result in you losing the battle,” said Samit Babbar of Moong Labs.
Ultimately, it’s not about Epic Cricket getting Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound, but what it signifies in terms of the gaming ecosystem in India – what are developers creating, OEMs catering to and ultimately Indian gamers demanding. Higher quality of experiences, as simple as that.
Samit Babbar of Moong Labs said, “Mobile gaming in India is going to continue its high growth trajectory in the coming years due to several factors such as smartphone penetration, affordable internet and young demography that sees gaming not just as a source of entertainment but also as a potential career in esports.”
“Today, people across age groups are interested in playing online games and it is becoming one of their favourite leisure activities,” said realme India’s Madhav Sheth. “The majority of gamers prefer mobile phones. The future of online gaming will continue to see more growth since the time spent on gaming will only increase. As per reports, the pandemic resulted in people playing online games more frequently and with 5G becoming a reality very soon, gaming will become easier and will reduce any kind of lags in cloud gaming.”