Mobile gaming sure has come a long way in recent years. It wasn’t all that long ago that iOS and Android games were overly simple and, if we’re honest, not all that enjoyable to play. But it’s important to remember that, back then, developers were simply going through the learning process of figuring out how to make games for those shiny new smartphones that had just come on the market.
Well today, they’ve very much figured it out. Today, mobile gaming accounts for 77% of the entire gaming market, with a valuation that exceeds $170 billion — and that number is expected to grow to more than $200 billion by 2025. So how did we get here? Let’s take a look.
Audience Size
Mobile gaming has one pretty clear advantage over other types of gaming, such as console and PC gaming, and that’s market size. Not everyone owns a desktop computer, and even fewer have gaming consoles. But virtually everyone has a smartphone. Some 85% of the world’s population owns a smartphone, the vast majority of which support mobile gaming. That equates to a potential audience size of 6.9 billion people. Sony may have sold 40 million PS5s, but that’s nothing compared to the billions who can engage in mobile gaming.
Diversity of Games
Of course, mobile gaming wouldn’t be as popular as it is if there was only a limited range of games available, or if the games that you could play were vastly inferior to those on desktop and consoles. But that’s not the case. There’s been significant progress made in this field in recent years, and today you’ll find a wide selection of games available on mobile. You can play blockbuster titles such as FIFA and GTA on mobile, or login to Wildz and play casino games that offer virtually the same gameplay as desktop experiences. There was once upon a time when desktop games clearly had the upper hand, but that’s simply no longer the case.
Tech and Design Advancements
The rise of mobile gaming is closely aligned to the general advancements made in the world of smartphones in recent years. When the smartphone was a relatively simple device (think back to the 2007 – 2011 iPhones), the games were overly simple. When the processing power, graphics, and all-around capabilities of smartphones began to improve, so did the quality of the games on offer. The earliest smartphone games were clunky and awkward, but today they’re smooth and fun. The difference in quality is the same as the difference between the earliest arcade games and the release of the latest PlayStation and Xbox consoles; it’s just that, while that leap forward took a generation, the mobile gaming progress has happened in a matter of years.
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The Future of Mobile Gaming
What’s happening in the world of mobile gaming today is pretty phenomenal, but, by all accounts, the industry sector isn’t done yet. There’s no reason to think that the quality of mobile games will begin to drop off anytime soon — the devices that support these games continue to improve. Combine that with general improvements to the working processes in mobile game development companies, and you have a perfect recipe for ensuring the future of mobile gaming is pretty exciting.
The widespread adoption of 5G will allow for the development of complex games, since smartphones will be able to handle more rigorous demands. Mobile games aren’t currently at the level of console games, but there’s no doubt that they’re getting there. Within a few years, we may see titles that rival the latest PlayStation and Xbox games for the coveted game of the year award.
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