According to the Newzoo gaming analysis firm, thanks to coronavirus stay-at-home orders as well as consumer interest, by 2021 the online casino mobile gaming industry could reach revenues of $100 billion -- an achievement that would cap a decade of double-digit growth.
Mobile gaming now accounts for more than 50% of the global gaming market. This year mobile is expected account for more daily screen time than even TV and to see 78% of daily gaming app users playing an average of 6.5 hours a week on gaming apps and at online venues. This means that investors see mobile gaming as good investments for their ventures.
What changes have we seen over the last few years? And what changes are we likely to see in the coming era?
Graphics
Not more than 5 years ago, game developers would have said that mobile game graphics could never reach the level of the graphics that you see in a game as it appears on a PC screen. That’s changed a lot and now the graphics that you see on a mobile phone are almost as good as those that you see on the big screen.
Some new games are developed specifically to play on mobile while others have been adapted or are developed for both mobile and PC. Whereas the first mobile games featured single channel tones and dot matrix graphics, the advances in system functionality, processing and operating along with more network bandwidth, sophisticated displays and better interfaces have combined to create phones that have the capacity to handle the kind of games that could once only play on a PC screen. Game developers can now put out more absorbing, engaging and interactive mobile options. Technology advances during the game creation process is also a contributing factor.
In the future, a number of game developers have discussed their plans to work on eliminating the tinny sounds and clumsy user interfaces that are still problematic.
Audio
Audio is another area in which mobile games have seen a big step forward. Game audio enhances the play experiences for mobile players. Sound design is now focused on ways to use the game’s audio as a central game mechanic. Designers are experimenting with ways to ensure that the game sound doesn’t compete with music or cause a social disturbance while realizing the goal of enhancing a player’s personal sound environment during mobile play.
The traditional way of looking at gaming as a primarily visual media is challenged by game developers who, in the future, want to use sound as a primary information channel to facilitate game mechanics via physical movement. Whereas these types of Active Video Games (AVG) are more associated with PCs than with mobile devices, many game designers believe that the AVG can be adapted to mobile using audio and other enhancements.
Social Gaming
Mobile gamers can already play live-streaming games. As this type of gaming entertainment, especially in the era of virtual social interaction as opposed to real-life social interaction. becomes increasingly popular, game designers are under pressure to create more such social games. Studios are presently making a concerted effort to focus production on multi-player games
Cloud
Mobile casinos have presented users the opportunity to play directly on the casino’s website but other game developers, specifically video game designers, are just beginning to experience the benefits of Cloud gaming. Cloud gaming is the term that refers to a game that is accessed via a gaming company’s server, as opposed to the player’s gaming device. The game is uploaded onto the device via a client program which retrieves the game from the server and then displays it on the gaming device.
Cloud gaming gives players who might otherwise not have access to their preferred games, due to laws that ban gambling, the ability to play at their leisure without worrying about legal consequences. Thanks to developments in VPN technologies, cloud technologies also allow more mobility so players can access their favorite games at any time and from any location. Additionally, security risks are lessened for cloud gamers which makes cloud gaming a more secure gambling entertainment option.
5G
The ability of 5G to change mobile gaming for the better cannot be over-emphasized. Gaming developers will be able to create games that aren’t heavily reliant on CPU or graphics processing and deliver games that don’t wear the device’s battery down. Observers note that it will be awhile before coders learn how to write code for 5G so that the games are compatible with devices that use the fragmented Android OEM ecosystem.
In addition, it will be expected to have games that are compatible with both 4G and 5G, meaning that the coders will be forced to write different codes, one for 4G and another, separate code for 5G.
But once the glitches have been worked out, developers, data centers and developers will have the tools that they need to further expand the mobile gaming industry and perhaps even include AR and VR opportunities.
Despite the economic slowdown, 2020 may well turn out to be a pivotal year for the mobile gaming industry which is focusing on making gaming more engaging and interactive than ever.
Mobile gaming might never deliver the same kinds of dazzling visuals and entrancing audios that you find when playing on a PC. Developers have their hands full, dealing with imprecise touch controls, restrictions on battery life, small displays and other frustrations of a small-screen casino adventure. But the frustrations dwarf in comparison to the convenience of playing casino games in an interactive atmosphere from the comfort of your own home.
As the industry develops, technological advancements will bring increasing numbers of players into the mobile gaming market. Those advances are also expected to lay a strong foundation for mobile virtual reality which many observers believe will become a strong sector of the market within the next year or two.
