The Rise of Mobile Gaming and Its Impact On the Industry and Consumers

From playing Tetris on an 8-bit screen to now being able to play full-fledged AAA titles, mobile gaming has certainly evolved over the years. As Moore’s Law remained alive throughout the past decade, we saw a major increase in the processing power of these mobile phones allowing us to create some truly spectacular games for the platform.?

The Evolution of Mobile Gaming

In the initial stages of the mobile phone, implementing games on the platform was considered more of an afterthought than anything else. An avenue to play some arcade-based games on a keypad. But, the initial draw of mobile gaming - portability and convenience was still visible even in the early stages.

As mobile phones progressed, single-player experiences such as Angry Birds and Flappy Bird were still quite casual. But, the introduction of the touchscreen, introduced new mechanics and gameplay ideas that simply weren’t possible to implement with a controller, keyboard, or mouse.

Nowadays, the culmination of better processing power alongside a novel way of interacting with the screen has led to entire AAA experiences such as Roblox and Fortnite being ported over to the mobile phone. In fact, most of these games can be played alongside PC and console players, finally bringing mobile gaming to the mainstream.

But besides just emulating PC games, mobile games have defined their own space in the market and even have thriving competitive eSports scenes with millions of players tuning in to watch professional players compete in Mobile Legends, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Call of Duty: Mobile, etc.

A Shift in Industry Trends

With the advent of the pandemic, many individuals sought gaming as their primary method of entertainment amidst the chaos. This allowed for an unprecedented amount of growth in mobile gaming. With most games embracing a free-to-play model, in-app purchases of certain cosmetics and collectibles have become a massive revenue-generating model for these games.

So, now, the industry focuses on ensuring that their games run smoothly on mobile too. For instance, Roblox’s ability to allow for their Experiences to run on multiple platforms without much extra effort from the developer’s end has allowed for the platform to experience astonishing year-on-year growth.

Moreover, Fortnite’s focus on mobile gaming has led to professional players using their touchscreens to compete with keyboard and mouse players, signifying that the platform does have its unique merits and advantages that are yet to be discovered.

Mobile Gaming: A Consumer’s Love

The thought of a mobile gaming phone would’ve sounded bizarre only a few years ago. But now, industry leaders such as Samsung and Apple have placed major emphasis on the gaming performance of their phones, showcasing the latest mobile gaming running smoothly on their flagship devices.

Besides just that, even budget phones now have to tackle the increasing demand of a gaming-focused market which has led to an overall increase in the performance of mid-tier phones as well.?

So, now, individuals aren’t just looking for mobile phones that help them place calls, watch videos and scroll through social media, their demands have evolved once again towards a computer-like device that allows them to play games, perform in-app purchases, and connect with their peers in the rapidly evolving mobile gaming Metaverse.