When people think of mobile gaming, they could be forgiven for thinking the sector hasn’t progressed beyond the days of Fruit Ninja. But today’s smartphones are more powerful than ever – and are fully capable of delivering console-quality experiences to modern gamers.
This state of affairs has led analysts to conclude that it’s only a matter of time before mobile gaming becomes the main attraction in the $300bn a year games industry – but what is the basis of this perspective?
Dominant Market Penetration
Without a doubt the chief reason that mobile gaming is on the rise is that the platform is already significantly outperforming any would-be rivals in terms of market penetration. One need only consider that 15% of the global population have access to a gaming PC, 25% a games console – whereas around 86% own a smartphone. Smartphones are comparatively inexpensive nowadays, and the games optimised to run on them are usually able to perform even on budget hardware.
Smartphones also have to contend less with platform fragmentation due to the fact that the sector is home to a veritable duopoly in the form of Android and iOS. This means that rather than having to develop a game to run across PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox and the like, it’s relatively simple to port across these mobile systems.
In many economies around the world, smartphones are already the chief way people access games, and this trend only looks set to continue – especially as prices for headline console titles climb ever higher. Whereas there used to be a realistic trade-off when it came to opting to play on mobile, now with the development of cloud gaming, there’s little to hold the sector back.
Cloud gaming is a form of streaming technology, similar to Netflix, that lets people play games on hardware that would not be able to run locally. Popular names in the space like Xbox Cloud Gaming offer the ability to play day-one releases of Xbox flagship titles on any smartphone.
Unmatched Diversity
While the likes of the Nintendo Switch are able to offer a wide array of exciting games, they are generally restricted to the specific genres of games that are known to do well on the platform. The mobile space, on the other hand, is completely unrestricted – being, as they in reality – actually small computers.
That means that all the variety and options available to the PC gaming space is equally viable for mobile platforms, and they’re much more popular than expensive PCs, as we discussed above. There are many types of games that can be accessed on mobile platforms, and that makes it a uniquely appealing prospect to gamers who enjoy an eclectic mix of games.
For example, thanks to the in-build browsers on most common smartphone platforms, it’s possible to even access titles and experiences that are not covered by the official app stores. Certain game genres are historically underrepresented in these mainstream channels, but still enjoy thriving popularity through this means of browser access. Chief among them is arguably the iGaming sector, which encompasses the likes of online casinos and daily fantasy sports.
There, one can find dedicated platforms like Vegasslotsonline IN whose modus operandi is to furnish users with compelling recommendations for a host of online casinos and gaming providers for their region. What’s more, sites such as these have come to serve as hubs for furnishing users with competitive bonuses and other such welcome offers, making them not only an ideal means of discoverability, but a key way to making meaningful savings on real money experiences.
Growing Import of Mobile Esports
The esports boom has been one of the biggest stories in gaming and sports over the course of the 2020s thus far. As it has emerged into mainstream popularity, it has received massive industry investment from both broadcasters and gaming developers. And yet while the most popular esports of this first wave were all PC games like League of Legends, the relatively inaccessibility of hardware has resulted in new esports aficionados favouring mobile titles like Free Fire and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
This trend doesn’t appear to be slowing either – and if esports will continue on its current trajectory, it’s overwhelmingly likely that it’ll be mobile titles and events that will be capturing the headlines in the coming years.