Even only ten years ago the bustling world of the video game industry was massively different to the present day. Sure, we had high quality game consoles, and studios were already producing multi-million dollar blockbuster gaming productions. Furthermore, by 2014 the games industry had already been the biggest media sector on earth for a decade – a crown it now retains by a huge margin.

So what has changed today? Well, in a word – smartphones. Observant readers would no doubt be aware that the smartphone as we know it today first hit the market with the launch of the first https://www.apple.com/iphone/ in 2007, and while this is true, it took a little while for these innovative designs to truly take over.

The reasons for this are multiple – smartphone costs had to come down, as well as the components, displays and processors that were used to make them, and the app ecosystems we take for granted today had to acquire sufficient depth and investment to make them indispensable to consumers.

In many ways in the world of gaming we can see the microcosm of this play out. The first mobile games on Android and iOS were basic titles that make the most of these devices’ accelerometers and touch displays – think Temple Run, Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds – but before long, bigger and more ambitious titles were cropping up in the app stores.

In addition to this, mobile games were pioneering new monetization models first with the rise of freemium games, then in their eager adoption of microtransactions and the free-to-play model. This made mobile games disproportionately lucrative. Fast forward to today, and over half of the video game industry’s 300 billion annual revenue comes from mobile titles, making it by far the biggest single platform. This has turned developments on mobile into trend-setters for the wider industry and worth paying close attention to. In light of this, here we’re going to take a look at what we project to be the ‘next big things’ in the mobile gaming space – both in 2024, and beyond.

More People Accessing Experiences Outside of the App Stores

The app stores gained an early monopoly on gaming in the early smartphone market due to their official support, ease of access, and automated payments and even today the App Store and Google Play Stores are the largest gaming libraries on these platforms – or any platform, for that matter.

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But more and more we’ve seeing gamers look elsewhere for titles and experiences – why is this? One reason is that certain game types are underrepresented in the official app stores and have better established networks through other mediums. Take online casinos as a clear example of this – dedicated providers like https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/in/ have been furnishing users with competitive welcome bonuses and sign-up offers for use with leading digital casinos for years, all outside of the purview of the app stores. Instead, these platforms have long enjoyed organic growth on the internet, as accessible through mobile browsers. This affords these services greater freedom to experiment and grow, and empowers them to deliver gameplay experiences you won’t find elsewhere on mobile.

The Rise of Mobile eSports

Esports have been enjoying a boom time recently, with the world of competitive gaming crossing over into the mainstream over the past 4 years. Historically the province of PC gamers, leading titles like CS:GO and League of Legends have become global superstar events and have contributed to esports becoming the fastest growing sport in the world today, even outcompeting the https://www.iplt20.com/ in India.

But whereas between 10 to 15% of the global population own a powerful gaming PC or laptop, a staggering 86% own a smartphone. In light of this, as esports has taken off around the world, interest in mobile-optimized competitive gaming has been surging with titles like Free Fire and Mobile Legends Bang Bang climbing to the top of esports spectator toplists in 2023.

One can expect this trend to only continue as mobile esports represents a market with a significantly higher ceiling for participation, and it’s reasonable to assume that before long it is mobile esports that will be calling the shots on the future development direction of this nascent sport sensation.