Why mobile gaming isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
Alongside following the latest sports news and uploading images to Instagram, people are using their smartphones to access an array of mobile games in the modern world. These games can accompany someone throughout a typical day and are said to provide a worthwhile gaming experience, but is that actually the case?
Mobile gaming has certainly progressed a great deal since the early days when Snake dominated the space. In more recent times, gamers have been able to access console-quality titles and a number of hit releases, such as Candy Crush and Words with Friends, with both releases registering massive success. There are other innovative products in the space also, with live dealer blackjack games providing an authentic casino gaming experience alongside augmented reality hits like Pokemon Go. Although these types of games highlight just how far mobile gaming has come, gaming on a smartphone device isn’t necessarily a viable alternative to gaming on a sophisticated console machine. In fact, for many diehard gamers, mobile gaming will never cut the mustard. Below is a few reasons as to why.
People don’t like to pay for mobile games
Although there are some solid free options available for download on iOS and Android, people don’t like paying for games on the whole. The freemium model dominates the mobile gaming arena, with gamers generally spending money on in-app purchases and microtransactions. Although the model can work, with success stories including the likes of PUBG Mobile, it essentially forces developers to commit to the freemium model or stick to console games. As a result, many developers are opting for the latter scenario, largely due to the fact that creating a big-budget title doesn’t necessarily guarantee that they’ll get much of a return.
The same old developers keep hogging the limelight
The way in which the app stores are organised makes for a rather unfair mobile gaming landscape on the whole. Essentially, the bigger the developer, the more likely it is to be featured at the top of the list. New or up and coming developers are therefore always fighting against the tide as they aim to get discovered. The fact is, when people search for games, the most reputable games developers are the main options. All of this creates a tough environment for mobile games developers and ultimately leads to a lack of incentives for new developers, and without new developers, mobile gaming might not progress much further. For it to appeal to more people around the world, a more diverse collection of developers needs to be established.
Low consumer-level expectations
While new console and PC releases are heavily scrutinised, mobile games don’t come under the same sort of flak. Put bluntly, most avid gamers don’t expect mobile games to really hit the mark, so when they don’t, it’s an expected outcome. As such, mobile gaming is seen as an expendable form of entertainment on the whole. There is no way of communicating your disappointment about a specific mobile release either, with no real feedback method being put in place. As such, mobile games are released regularly without truly understanding where they might be going wrong. If a mobile gamer doesn’t like a specific release, they can simply delete it and download another one. That action doesn’t really provide a great deal of feedback to a developer, though, does it? Console gamers, on the other hand, use resources like Reddit, and there are large communities associated with hundreds of games.
Other issues around mobile gaming include the poor touchscreen controls, the limited screen size, and the lack of storage to dedicate to specific games.