Though second screen capability is starting to come into its own for the Xbox One and PS4, having been introduced with the Wii U, Epic Games vice-president Mark Rein still feels that we’re yet its true value, though it could be big one day.
In conversation with the [a] List Daily, Rein stated that, “I think we’ve yet to see the real value of the second screen idea, if you’re talking about [Xbox] SmartGlass and companion apps and things like that. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t be big one day. I don’t really know what it is yet.”
“Where it fits into gaming, I don’t know. I’m not sold on picking up my tablet to choose my play and then putting it back down and picking up my controller. It’s kind of a wonky way to choose to play, so I don’t know if that’s how it’s going to go or not. Developers should try everything and have lots of fun with it, and sooner or later there will be a killer app for that sort of thing, too.”
As of now, functions of second screen apps include being able to spectate on some one’s game, accessing certain in-game functions (calling an air-strike in Dead Rising 3, for example) and small mini-games within the main game.