Is Mobile Gaming The Future?

Ten years ago, no serious gamer would have imagined playing their favorite game on a mobile phone. Sure, we had the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP, but they were dedicated handheld gaming consoles, and to be honest, most of us had a proper console at home too.

But with smartphone technology proving that anything is capable on your handheld device, could mobile gaming be the future?

The stats

Let’s first take a look at some stats. Incredibly, there are about 2.1 billion mobile gamers worldwide. Yes, that’s over a quarter of the world’s population regularly playing games on their smartphones. And with such huge figures come huge revenues.

The global mobile gaming industry has doubled in value over the last four years and is now worth a staggering $50 billion. And with the overall gaming industry worth $115 billion, mobile gaming has taken a significant share of the pie.

In fact, experts predict that it will increase to $72 billion within the next two years, so yes, you could say that it’s the future in some respects.<

Will it take over from traditional gaming

There are quite a few niches that have enjoyed major success with mobile versions of their PC games or platforms. Industry heavyweights offer their players a seamless experience in their app, and it's proven to be an enormous success. But this success is by no means a foregone conclusion.

Gaming companies that offer app versions of their platforms or games spend heavily on game development, ensuring that players can easily move between mobile, desktop, and console without feeling that one platform is better than the other.

Of course, this only occurs when there is demand for a mobile version of a game, but judging by the stats we mentioned earlier, it seems that more and more gamers want the convenience of playing on their smartphones.

However, this does not mean that traditional gaming on consoles or desktops will become old-fashioned in the way arcade machines did back in the 80s. Anything but. With eSports going mainstream and events becoming increasingly popular each year, there are calls for video gaming contests to be introduced to the Olympics in Paris 2024.

Somehow, though, we don’t think that Candy Crush Saga will make it to Paris. While mobile gaming is and always will be popular, it's the titles with console/desktop versions that will gain the most traction with true diehard gamers.

Popularity is at an all-time high

The truth, however, is that gaming is becoming more popular everywhere. Large corporations are now turning to gamification for in-house training and recruitment, while other businesses are encouraging employees to take short gaming breaks at the office, as it increases productivity.

Add to that the fact that even doctors think that gaming has health benefits, and you can see why it’s suddenly a mainstream pastime. With all of this positivity surrounding the gaming industry of late, it’s hard to argue against the fact that mobile gaming is the future.

However, we’ll go one step further and say that it’s not just mobile gaming that is the future, but gaming in general. Look at it this way: that ‘waste of time’ pastime of your youth could now land you a job or, better yet, a gold medal at the Olympics.