> What I'm curious about is why is fragmentation such an issue on mobile devices, when it was never this big a deal on desktops.
Stable APIs and abstractions, better renderers, ability not to go fullscreen and nobody caring about dpi. Resolutions changed very slowly, especially before the 00s and 3D games. Also culture, somewhat, probably: if the game does not work due to a bizarre combination of drivers it's the users problem.
And it's definitely not true that "it was never this big a deal on desktops", stable hardware target is regularly mentioned as a reason to go console by developers.
Heck it was never a big deal is factually incorrect.
IT is STILL a big deal:
Fragmentation means your ATI card not working one day, or your novice user having to go dig through pages of support to figure out how to debug a faulty driver.
Or its your printer not working on XP, but working on 7 || your games being unplayable on one set up and working on another without a hiccup || any of a massive set of issues that people take for granted when they have to deal with PCs.
Fragmentation is an issue, its just that people have gotten used to it and familiar with it.
Stable APIs and abstractions, better renderers, ability not to go fullscreen and nobody caring about dpi. Resolutions changed very slowly, especially before the 00s and 3D games. Also culture, somewhat, probably: if the game does not work due to a bizarre combination of drivers it's the users problem.
And it's definitely not true that "it was never this big a deal on desktops", stable hardware target is regularly mentioned as a reason to go console by developers.