How Mobile Games Influenced the Development of the Gaming Industry
Cell phones almost always had games. The earlier models had snakes, Tetris, and some similar forms of entertainment that people used to kill boredom from time to time. It was the advent of smartphones that made the mobile gaming industry grow so rapidly. Our phones became like mini-computers, and by using touch screens new possibilities started popping up.
Right now there are certain titles, including casino apps, that make more than 100 million dollars a month, but there is also a sea of apps that just sits on around 100 downloads or so. Meaning this is a highly competitive market, and there is a good chance your efforts will go unnoticed by your target audience. Still, the massive revenue potential is impossible to ignore, and this phenomenon influences the gaming industry in more than one way. Here we will talk about the impact of mobile games on the gaming industry.
More Companies Getting into Game Development
One of the more noticeable impacts on the gaming industry is that there are more companies that are entering this market. These are mostly indie development studios, but even some of the big corporations that had nothing to do with gaming are not trying to penetrate this market. One of the recent examples is definitely Netflix, a streaming company that added mobile games as another perk for the subscribers. Given how mobile gaming development is more cost-friendly it’s a good way to see if it makes sense for a company to invest further and commit to a more demanding development process.
More PC Games Getting Mobile Adaptation
One trend that is widely apparent is that famous PC titles are now made for mobile. We have Call of Duty, PUBG, Diablo, and more recently Wild Rift or League of Legends. We have also seen this way earlier, with online casinos. These were made as browser entertainment for PC but with a growing population of mobile users, compatibility with smaller screen devices became a necessity. Today almost all of the casinos with low minimum deposit have a mobile app or simply are optimized to work on mobile. The idea here is to increase the accessibility of the games, and mobile gaming is a perfect solution. Nowadays, there is basically no difference between gameplay, bonuses, and available content between PC and mobile versions.
Change in Monetization
Another massive impact of mobile entertainment is the way developers monetize their content. Before mobile games, the strategy was rather simple. The product is finished, players buy it and play it. However, with online play, the longevity of each game has increased. Mobile content was free and contained lots of in-app purchases, which resonated better with players. This is somewhat similar to online casinos that basically offer all of its content for free. In order to win money, you need to pay and wager it. The importance of free to play is clearly visible in the £5 deposit casino sites that offer lots of bonuses for this initial payment. The goal is to win players over with the quality of gameplay, and if they enjoy it they will spend money on it. This is definitely a drastic shift, and it really made games better overall.
Designing for Mobile from Start
Another difference is in design philosophy. New releases have different distribution logistics and are more prone to using engines that are compatible with mobile as well. This way you get a product that can be quickly adapted for all platforms, rather than constructing a whole new experience from the ground up. A great example is Genshin Impact which really looks like a PC or console game, but it was almost immediately available for mobile players as well.
This is perfectly reasonable, developers do not aim to create something that only players with the latest graphic cards or consoles can access, they want to make a product that almost anyone can experience.
Conclusion
It’s clear that mobile gamers had an incredible impact on the gaming industry. Some of the apps were so popular that emulators had to be created just so that PC audiences can play these games on the platform they prefer. The mobile audience is a massive potential for revenue, and approving projects strongly depends on the fact whether the game that is being built will be available on these devices. We also got a better way of distribution or monetization, which made developers focus on creating a truly unique experience that the audience will like so much they wanted to spend money on it.
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