It’s at this point that we annoy a lot of the PC gamers, the Xbox devotees, and the PlayStation enthusiasts. Even the VR supporters are probably a little antsy about the idea that mobile gaming and apps could be the future. However, there are a few reasons why we believe this to be the case.
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Mobile Apps The Future Of Gaming
Don’t worry that doesn’t mean the end of gaming but rather a different experience to the one we are currently used to. Let’s look at some of the reasons why mobile gaming could be the future.
It’s Cheap
Say what you like about mobile gaming, but the fact is it’s cheap to produce. It doesn’t take the time or expense that a game for the PS4 of Xbox One X. Just look at Red Dead Redemption. Red Dead Redemption 2 was announced in 2016 with a trailer. However, it’s likely that the game had been a development for a while before then and we have only recently discovered that it will be released sometime in 2018. Seasoned fans of Rockstar will know this makes it likely that the game will actually release in 2019.
That means that the game will have spent at least three or four years in development and that isn’t cheap. In fact, it’s downright expensive which isn’t a bad thing for the customers. Rockstar regularly delivers video games that are more than just experiences and often considered to be masterpieces or works of art. But for the developer? A four-year development cycle must cost a fortune, and it does.
While these games sell for forty or fifty dollars, they regularly cost millions to produce and can have the same budget as a blockbuster movie. As for app games? They can be created in months and still deliver a valuable product that players love. Oh and about those players?
A Larger Audience
Recently, there has been a shift in gaming, but console gaming and PC gaming used to be a fairly niche group. It’s slowly become more mainstream, but up until recently, gaming was a loyal and small audience. Now, that’s changed, but the numbers playing on PC and consoles are nowhere close to the ones who are sitting down fidgeting with their phones.
Most video games for consoles are lucky to get tens of millions of buyers. Mobile games are downloaded hundreds of millions of times. There’s a couple reasons for this. First, they tend to be more affordable and can even be free. Second, they appeal more to a mass audience that isn’t interested in playing for hours at a time.
Instead, they want to turn it on when they’re bored, have nothing to do or better yet, play a game that can be part of their daily schedule like town building games. And if you think that big game developers aren’t noticing where the larger audience is, you’d be wrong.
Big Game Developers Join The Fun
Big game developers have played with the mobile option for years, often as add-ons or little extras for an existing game. However, recently developers have created full brand new games for mobile based on existing franchise. Square Enix have released Kingdom Heart games that you have to play to understand the full story that continues across games you play on PlayStation.
Recently, they released a Final Fantasy XV game that is fun and exciting new experience in the same world. You can learn more about this on the official Final Fantasy XV site. What used to be a marketing tactic is now becoming a way for developers to sell and produce new titles. The most successful example of this is certainly Pokemon Go.
Go was downloaded nearly a billion times and generated mass fan interest. Since it was cheap to produce it was also insanely profitable for Niantic and Nintendo. Nintendo even saw huge jumps in the values of their stock.
New Experiences
Unfortunately, the fact is that console gaming has also been getting a little boring and monotonous lately. Go online, and you’ll find numerous complaints about how COD is basically the same game year after year. The same can be said for Assasin’s Creed and even Uncharted was basically a rinse and repeat of the old games with better graphics. People aren’t playing these games for the experience anymore but rather the story which is great.
Except that brings us back to the issue with niche gaming. Gamers interested in the story represent a far smaller population than those just looking for a good time. Apps and mobile games can offer both with great stories and exciting ways to play beloved franchises as well as brand new IPs.
As you can see then, mobile gaming and apps really is the future for this industry. And that’s ignoring the fact that soon mobile tech will be able to rival the experience that you have on your TV and computer screens. Many people would claim that it already is. 🙂
