Quantcast
Published On: Thu, Sep 26th, 2019

Gaming Revolution: 5 Reasons Why Mobile Gaming is Taking Over

By the end of this year, the mobile gaming industry is estimated to be worth $152 billion, with $68.5 billion of this revenue coming simply from games themselves. Here are 5 main reasons why mobile gaming has become so popular.  

Gaming phones: a technology exploding in popularity

The bigger the mobile gaming market becomes, the more demand there is for sophisticated mobile gaming devices that can keep up with the latest technologies. More and more phone manufacturers are noticing the boom in mobile gaming, and are developing devices that can support 3D mobile games such as Fortnite. In many Asian countries, mobile gaming has long been popular as a form of entertainment, which explains why many up-to-date mobile gaming devices are coming from this region. 

As an example, in its New phone, who dis? series, British telecommunications giant O2 hails the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Plus as one of the latest must-have gaming phablet devices, because of its ability to be charged wirelessly, run multiple applications at the same time, and because it can be switched to a desktop if you connect it to a larger screen. Developed by Samsung, one of the innovation leaders in mobile technology, such devices are changing the way we work and game.      

Fashionable teenager boy in headphones and with a mobile phone playing an Internet game. The dependence of children from online games. Internet addiction

photo/ Adobe license

Affordability

With fewer people opting to own bulky monitors and desktop devices, instead choosing mobile phones, phablets and tablets, it is hardly surprising that mobile gaming is surging in popularity. Smartphones, cellphones and tablets are also much more affordable in comparison to consoles, TVs, desktop PCs and monitors. This means that more people are able to purchase portable devices. At this stage, mobile gaming hasn’t completely taken over from PC gaming, but is instead overlapping it, changing and boosting the gaming industry overall. 

Mobile gaming offers affordability through cheaper devices and convenience that just isn’t delivered through consoles. As a result, more people are spending hours playing on a mobile device that isn’t expensive to purchase and is easy to operate, wherever they want to be.      

Accessibility and optional payments 

Mobile games are far more accessible in their convenience, and free-to-play games with optional payments known as micro-transactions means that gamers can initially play a free-to-play game, but then decide whether they want to pay for expansion packs, upgrades, cosmetic/visual items or to access harder levels if they do not want to repeatedly try to succeed in negotiating them in-game for free. In this sense, gamers can have full access to a gaming experience without any restrictions. That said, some mobile games are free-to-play but are programmed in a way that you have to pay to progress further. 

Some mobile gaming developers use clever tactics to persuade gamers into parting with their cash to progress further, using rewards, unique prizes, challenges and other bait. This has to be done carefully though, to prevent alienating a player. A good example of this is King’s Candy Crush. However, most functionality in the game is operational and can by played free of charge if the gamer has the persistence and patience to play and overcome all challenges without caving in to payment pressure. As some gamers have this mentality, more popular desktop releases such as Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft are being converted into new versions for mobile gaming with fair methods of monetization.    

Mobile games understand their audience

Mobile game developers spend time researching and understanding their audience, making this key to their media strategy. They understand how to reward them psychologically to ensure that they spend longer playing the game (through extra lives, points and prizes), and tailor their games to three specific kinds of gamer:

  • Casual gamer (who plays to kill time, procrastinate or relax)
  • Strategy gamer (who plays to compete and win against others)
  • Fantasy gamer (who plays to escape their current reality)

Game developers know that it requires an in-depth understanding of a player’s motivations to develop a successful game and obtain perfect product positioning in a competitive market, ensuring that people use an app. They are aware that there are many non-paying gamers that are willing to watch adverts for benefits or take multiple attempts at harder levels and prizes – winning these players over and creating opportunities to monetize their gameplay is one of the biggest challenges that if overcome, creates a stream of steady income. 

5G

The 5th Generation of Wireless Networking (5G), is a final reason for the surge in popularity of mobile gaming. Upload and download speeds are much faster, meaning that people can download games much more quickly onto their devices, and play them without delays. It also means that players can play with others in a multiplayer experience, again without download speeds being interrupted, meaning that the gaming experience is far more immersive and simple.  

Author: Colin Steinway

On the DISPATCH: Headlines  Local  Opinion

Subscribe to Weekly Newsletter

* indicates required
/ ( mm / dd ) [ALL INFO CONFIDENTIAL]

About the Author

- Outside contributors to the Dispatch are always welcome to offer their unique voices, contradictory opinions or presentation of information not included on the site.

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these html tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

like_us_on_facebook

 

The Global Dispatch Facebook page- click here

Movie News Facebook page - click here

Television News Facebook page - click here

Weird News Facebook page - click here 

DISPATCH RADIO

dispatch_radio

THE BRANDON JONES SHOW

brandon_jones_show-logo

Archives