Hatch, the mobile ‘games-on-demand’ service, which is spun out from Rovio, has made its debut in the UK and Ireland with open beta access for Android users.
Hatch Beta – The Mobile Games-On-Demand Service
So what’s the deal with Hatch then? Basically, users can discover and play a selection of mobile games from around 100 developers and publishers via streaming. The difference is that no games are actually downloaded in the process.
Support is growing for the service with Square Enix being the latest developer to sign on, bringing the following (great!) games to the service:
- Hitman GO
- Lara Croft GO
- Deus Ex GO
- Hitman Sniper
These titles join a collection of titles from Ubisoft (Rayman Fiesta Run), Taito (Space Invaders Infinity Gene) and Bandai Namco (PAC-MAN CE DX) along with celebrated indies like ustwo Games (Monument Valley), Frogmind (Badland) and Butterscotch Shenanigans (Crashlands).
“Hatch was founded to change the way we discover and play games, and to create new gaming experiences to share with the people in our lives,” says Hatch Founder & CEO Juhani Honkala.
Hatch is currently free but with ads. Although it’s worth noting that there’s an optional paid, fixed monthly subscription that adds exclusive content and features, removing said ads. Which is fair enough.
With mobile games being less intensive to run, the streaming service might be able to keep up better than say Sony’s PlayStation Now service.
It remains to be seen, however, if Hatch will have a significant impact on the mobile gaming sector.