Mobile Gaming’s Growth

 

Ten years ago, the majority of gamers enjoyed their favourite titles on console or PC, nowadays 51% of the planet's total 2.5 billion gamers use their mobile devices to play their favourite games. All too often this monumental shift in power has been written off as a fad by industry experts leading to a lack of in-depth analysis.

 

As a result, generalizations and misnomers abound as to the reason behind the success of the mobile gaming industry. In this article we attempt to right this wrong by providing an extensive exploration of mobile gaming's growth.

 

In addition to this, we will also look at the various industries that have benefitted from the increased usage of mobile gaming.

 

The three pillars of mobile gaming's growth

To some extent mobile gaming has benefitted from timing and societal change in the past decade, however there are three specific traits that have allowed the industry to flourish and they are...

 

Convenience: Ten years ago, a brand-new Xbox or PlayStation 3 would set back games by around $400. After that players would be forced to part with a minimum of $60 for every AAA game title that they bought.

 

All things considered that made gaming an expensive and somewhat specialist hobby. Mobile gaming, which really began to take off in 2010 was conversely a much cheaper and much handier way for players to enjoy games.

 

Whilst mobile handsets may have been more expensive than gaming consoles, they were often seen as a necessity rather than a luxury. Mobile games therefore were and still are cheaper and more convenient than their console counterparts.

 

Inclusivity: Almost 70% of PC and console gamers are men so it is therefore no surprise that the majority of gaming titles on these platforms are marketed directly at men. Mobile devices on the other hand are owned equally by both genders making them the ideal platform to exploit the previously untapped female demographic.

 

The mobile gaming industry has been so successful in this endeavour that now there are more global female gamers than males.

 

Price: In just a few short weeks Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War will be released on the market at $60. Whilst this may sound like a solid investment for avid gamers who will rack up hours of gameplay a night, it is a prohibitive price for more casual gamers.

 

Conversely, mobile games are far cheaper than console titles and are indeed often free to download. With lower development costs and a greater power to boost profits through in-game purchases and advertising mobile games are much more affordable to the wider public, making them more popular than console titles.

Price is a determining factor for many gamers making mobile gaming much more appealing than console gaming.

 

Three industries that have benefitted from mobile gaming's growth

It is not just companies like Apple and Samsung that have benefitted from the growth of mobile gaming. Outside of device manufacturers and games developers a number of other industries have benefited either directly or indirectly from mobile gaming, the three biggest winners have been...

 

Gambling: Prior to 2010 online gambling was clunky, hard to use and quite frankly just not worth the hassle. Now it is one of the fastest growing tech industries on the planet and that is all down to mobile gaming.

 

Online casinos are now available at your very fingertips whereas a decade ago they were all too hard to reach. Mobile gaming technology has allowed online casino developers to produce the best sites and games for their players including mobile secure apps. In Canada for example, casino developers have produced engaging, functional and appealing gaming features and have had the ability to create a wide range of themed games. The best online casinos in Canada now also have a live casino feature, making mobile casinos an immersive experience, providing an atmosphere just like at a physical casino allowing this industry to grow.

 

Mobile technology has allowed online casino providers to offer a live casino feature to provide an experience similar to a land-based casino.

 

Advertising: Fictional marketing guru Don Draper would have had a field day with the range of advertising options available in 2020. One key area of focus for any marketing executive worth their salt would have to be mobile gaming.

 

53% of mobile gaming's total global revenues come directly from advertising companies, who fall over one another to have their campaigns featured on the next big mobile game. That's because research has shown that adverts on mobile games generate three times as much customer interaction as traditional marketing methods.

 

Data Miners: The process of data mining sounds very ‘Black Mirror' but it is not a work of a fiction, it is part and parcel of the modern economy. Data is now more valuable than gold and one way that companies gain access to lucrative is by purchasing it from mobile games developers.

 

Data mining companies will collate and analyse a wide range of information from mobile games players and use it to predict consumer spending patterns and behaviours. This information is then sold on to companies that could benefit from knowing the habits and behaviours of their potential customers.

 

What the future holds for mobile gaming

The most recent software updates to Apple and Android devices show a desire on behalf of mobile giants to turn their devices into handheld gaming consoles. Both Apple and Android have focused heavily on console controller compatibility and in improving the gaming processing power of their devices.

 

It is impossible to know what the future holds for mobile gaming, but an educated guess would be that over the course of the next decade it will begin to closely resemble console gaming, in terms of end user experience.