Smartphones are now creeping up and overtaking laptops and PCs as our favourite devices to use for everyday searches. It is expected that by next year more online purchases will be made on a smartphone than a laptop. And just last year, more than 50% of global revenue from the online gaming industry came from mobile games. This means the mobile sector has doubled over the past decade.
So, what has made us put down the controllers and play more titles online with our phones? It is not just because we have spent more time on our mobiles indoors of late…
Reasons Why Mobile Gaming Is Increasing
1. Smartphone Ownership
According to Statista, it is estimated that just under four billion people will own a smartphone by next year. That will be around half of the global population owning one of these devices capable of playing games, bringing down barriers to participation and increasing accessibility.
2. Gaming Apps and Mobile-Friendly Sites
Another way this aspect of gaming has increased is by creating better platforms for games to be enjoyed on. Online casinos are a big part of this by making their titles playable on portable devices. And some of them have even made apps that make playing their games more accessible than ever.
3. Better Smartphone Capabilities
But it is not just about the number of smartphones and new smartphone apps that makes mobile gaming flourish. The smartphones themselves have increased in capabilities which makes the best games possible on a smartphone. If our smartphones weren’t as smooth, fast and couldn’t produce excellent visuals like they can, fewer people would be interested in this type of entertainment.
4. Better Mobile Games
And we are forgetting one crucial cog in the machine – the games themselves. This sector has come on leaps and bounds from elementary Tetris of yesteryear. Now developers – thanks to better smartphones – can make much more elaborate propositions that engage us for longer. And these games can be innovative as well. Don’t forget how revolutionary Pokémon Go was through incorporating augmented reality!
5. New Age Internet
A fifth reason why the mobile option is so popular today is because of better internet speeds. Now our phone providers can supply excellent internet quality, often unlimited internet, for us to play games on the move without issues. And when 5G gets the widescale green light, this is only going to improve and enable more online social gaming with our phones.
Cloud Gaming to Supercharge the Trend?
One of the latest developments in this community is cloud gaming. This is where players enjoy games without the need of a bulky console, and they can play across devices from TVs to tablets, and yes, you guessed it, smartphones. Research has found that this gaming niche could generate $150 million in revenue.
It could be that any trend in cloud gaming could feed into the mobile trend and make it even more popular over the coming decade.
