Smartphones have become a vital part of the global expansion of the gaming industry. The gaming business has expanded thanks to the growth of mobile games. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have begun producing new mobile games to assure uniqueness in their products and to benefit from user engagement that improves their advertising tactics.

According to a report titled “Mobile Gaming Market – Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 – 2026)” by Reportlinker, the mobile gaming industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12.3% during the years 2021–2026. The increasing acceptance of current technologies for generating games, as well as the growing usage of smartphones, are important contributors to the growth of the mobile gaming industry.

Let’s look at the reasons that will propel the mobile gaming market to experience tremendous growth shortly:

More mobile gamers exist than console gamers.

Mobile games can be more profitable compared to console games because practically everyone in the world owns a smartphone. Gaming consoles such as PlayStation or Xbox must be purchased specifically to enjoy the game, which makes them more expensive.

The more people play mobile games, the more money the game makes via player purchases and in-game advertisements. This is, nevertheless, a high-risk, high-reward investment. There are hundreds of mobile games that fail for every one game that succeeds.

Aside from this risk, many big console games too are transforming towards mobile soon, including League of Legends, Diablo, Apex Legends, and Just Cause, to capitalize on the expanding number of mobile gamers. Let’s take a look at the global revenue of some of the most popular mobile games in 2021 to put things in perspective.

On the Google Play Store, the apps listed above have between 50 million and one billion downloads. Although downloads are important, revenue is also affected by other criteria like user retention, time spent in the game, gamification level, and so on.

Recurring income is enabled by micro-transactions.

One of the main reasons why mobile gaming still has a long way ahead of itself is because generally people dismiss paid mobile games at first glance. More than 90% of all apps are free, it’s natural for users to assume that mobile games will be as well. However, the prospect of not receiving an upfront charge for their game turns off many developers.

Because console games often have a one-time upfront price, finding new players is a vital strategy for a developer to increase revenue. And, this is a universal fact that acquiring new users is far more difficult, time-consuming, and costly than retaining current ones. Knowing this, creators consider mobile games as a superior long-term investment.

Smartphones are becoming more powerful.

Today’s smartphones are already quite powerful. Despite this, each year, smartphone manufacturers outperform themselves by releasing new top-tier flagships with speedier processors. Today the iPhone 13 and similar Android phones are more powerful than the PlayStation 4! 

Developers can create games with greater graphics and more fluid controls as time progresses. And it’s only a matter of a few years before the power once reserved for flagship phones will be available in more affordable phones. This will allow for a larger user base, which will result in increased revenue.

Not to mention the growing popularity of gaming phones. Even though a gaming phone is not required to play a high-end mobile game, there are some capabilities that normal phones lack. Some gamers, particularly competitive gamers, value features such as a headphone jack, a built-in cooling system, shoulder triggers, and specific gaming modes.

5G Mobile Gaming Advancements

5G is not yet the global mobile network standard. Even though it is not catching on as quickly as tech giants had planned, 5G has a lot to offer, particularly in the mobile gaming industry. 5G will help mobile games compete with console games by providing faster download rates, lower latency, quicker loading times, and cloud gaming.

As per Ericsson, at peak speed, 5G is 20 times quicker than 4G and can reduce latency to just five milliseconds! This simply means that even during cloud gaming, there will be no lag and the gameplay will be smooth. The game will be able to host more people on the same server without experiencing any bandwidth concerns in multiplayer gaming.

You’ll also be able to try out more games before downloading or purchasing them with 5G. Although game samples are already available on the Play Store, they are limited to a few titles. 5G will assist in expanding game demos to more games, increasing discoverability, and allowing you to identify games you enjoy much more quickly.

Augmented reality and virtual reality in mobile games

Along with improving and facilitating the integration of augmented reality and virtual reality into mobile games, 5G will also improve and facilitate the integration of multiplayer experiences. There are VR apps available on the Play Store right now, but they don’t represent the technology’s true potential. That’s because 4G lacks the processing power required to fully leverage VR and AR.

Making 5G more accessible and affordable for everyone will let the digital world enter the next phase of AR and VR mobile games. After all, the number of downloads determines whether or not a mobile game is lucrative.

The next step will be to make VR headsets less expensive and lighter. Many people don’t buy VR headsets because of their high cost, and their bulky hardware, which is not suited for long gaming sessions. More individuals will be willing to try out and use the technology after developers tackle these issues.

Mobile gaming in its current form might be a work in progress now, but it’s certainly better than what it used to be a couple of years ago. Although for mobile games to look as good as console games, it might still be a while; given the trends, it’s safe to assume that more developers are hopping on board and supporting the mobile gaming industry.

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