Will mobile gaming ever be anything other than a novelty?

[The Curmudgeon]

Quick question; what was recently voted the most popular game of ALL TIME in the UK?

Pac-Man? Tomb Raider? Streetfighter? GTA? Fifa? Sonic? Zelda? Mario?

As fucking IF. Nope, we asked the British public what their favourite game of all time was, and they didn't disappoint. They picked CANDY CRUSH. Drink that in.

So I'm a big fan of mobile games. Browse through the Apple Store for all those cutesy looking free games, download them, play them for a bit, get bored, delete, rinse and repeat.

Even though games like Angry Birds break through and become billion dollar franchises, do you ever see mobile gaming rise above that cycle I just mentioned? Will we ever look at a game you play on your phone or tablet the same as anything found on a PS4?

Right now mobile games are games you play to kill time when you're waiting on a bus or you've just woken up and don't want to get out of bed. They're all very similar (puzzle, platform, word games, match the colour games, those war strategy game things, "solve the mystery" games). Only the Simpson's Tapped Out has any real depth to it. Maybe I'm wrong on that, maybe there's a world of immersive, well written and exciting mobile games I just haven't seen.

Right now, to me, they're a novelty. Will that ever change?

[trashcanman]

Yup. Mobile gaming is not going anywhere. In fact, a lot of business sources consider it the future of the industry.

venturebeat.com/2011/07/06/the-big-v-the-great-games-market-split/

The growth in that sector of gaming is insane, and the quality is improving even as the cost stays low. It's not even all about simple little addictive games like Angry Birds anymore. We're getting full-on RPG's with all sorts of persistent multiplayer features and pretty good graphic. Star Wars: Uprising is a great example of this, and it's still free. And Clash of Clans is everywhere. I've sunk a ton of time into Fallout Shelter myself since it's the only really great current game that doesn't require an internet connection (I can't get a signal at work).

In no way, shape, or form is mobile gaming going to kill console gaming, though. People making that claim obviously don't understand gaming. The reason console and PC gaming's numbers are flat (or stable, really) is because there is only a certain population of hardcore gamers, but we're really dedicated. Mobile games are growing because the tech is constantly evolving and it's constantly reaching out to non-gamers through something that nearly everybody keeps with them: their phones. And the fact that the potential market is so huge means they can keep the games free and get their money back and then some on advertising revenue while taking advantage of people with obsessive personalities by offering microtransactions and pay-to-win options. That is to say they are building games designed to bilk OCD players for way more than the game could ever be worth and that's where the big money comes from.



Most players don't fall for this, but the few who do tend to overdo it big time and make it more than worth the developer's time to perpetuate this model and design pay-to-win games.

www.extremetech.com/extreme/177409-only-0-15-of-players-account-for-50-of-free-to-play-game-revenue

As soon as I feel I can't progress in a game without paying, I'm done. Mobile gaming is just something I do to kill time when I've nothing better to do. No way is it competing with my PS4. But at the same time, non-gamers who'll look down on me for playing a DS in public will spend all day obsessing over whatever the latest trendy iPhone game is and that's not going to change, and there's way more of them then there is of me so no, mobile gaming is not a novelty. It's a massive industry unto itself that'll probably remain a art of our lives as long as cell phones are a thing.

[The Curmudgeon]

Damn, I knew mobile gaming was big business but never quite like that.

I think the problem lies right now in these games being way too disposable. Like you said, if it starts to cost money or it get boring, delete and forget. And I think that's going to be a mindset that will be hard to shift.

I think too that so many of the games are worthless or so blindly derivative of other games that I tend to lump them all together. Again, there are probably gems out there that totally stretch the limits of what a mobile game can do, but it's where to find them, and I've yet to pay for a mobile game because of, well, all of the above.