According to a new report, the mobile gaming market will grow 19 percent per year until 2016. This isn’t much of a surprise as mobile gaming continues to transform the industry, however many are claiming traditional console gaming is dying as a result. Personally, I don’t think you can compare the two – they are completely different experiences. One involves complete immersion into a game that can last hours at a time; the other is casual, short and requires no real commitment. Console gamers are simply not going to stop because they have a new game on their iPhone. If console gaming is declining maybe it’s more to do with the disappointing updates, lack of focus and £429 price tag, as seen with the recent Xbox One launch?
What
will happen, if it hasn’t already, is that mobile will become the number one
gaming hardware of choice. This isn’t down to consoles being abandoned, but because
the mobile gaming market essentially includes anyone under the
age of 35.
While the Wii broke age and gender barriers, mobile gaming is going one step
further by making gaming that much more accessible for time-fraught wannabe
gamers (like me).
Candy
Crush is a perfect example of the growing mobile gaming phenomenon. It’s a game
that is suddenly hard to miss – if you aren’t playing it on your daily commute,
friends are sharing lives on Facebook and office chat is revolving around which
level you are on. No wonder King is raking in $230 million a year when 45 million players
play the game 600 million times a day – quite a feat considering it launched
just over a year ago.
What will be interesting is how this evolves over the next ten years. Will Angry Birds have completely replaced traditional games? Will 3D be a feature? Will motion control be brought to mobile? One thing I’m sure of is, if console gaming is still struggling, it will be due to a lack of customer satisfaction rather than mobile gaming advancements.
Check out the most popular gaming apps on iTunes here.
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