The early days of smartphones saw very little in terms of video games or gaming apps. This was a result largely from poor quality graphics, crashing, lack of features, a boring and basic gameplay, and extremely slow load speed given a large chunk of data would be consumed from the phone’s memory. Over the past decade, smartphones have markedly turned a corner and the innovative competition between monoliths of Samsung and Apple have caused a creative boom when it comes to mobile gaming. On the modern smartphone, successful video games showcase stunningly detailed graphics with high quality sound, an engaging storyline and theme, and player controls have been perfected for ease of use (many adapted completely to the smartphone’s one handed gamer). Further, the development team for these mobile games go to great lengths not to compromise the performance of the actual smartphone. A new level of efficiency has been mastered by companies such as Blizzard Gaming that continually raise the quality of their titles without slowing the user’s phone.
The reason why so much effort and millions of spending has been allocated for this modern mobile expectation is for the straightforward fact that many do not view their smartphone as chiefly for playing video games. Therefore, mobile video games must suit the smartphone rather than the other way around. A smartphone must be able to perform the basic and necessary functions such as calling, messaging, browsing the internet, or setting a wake-up alarm. There are also essential apps that appear on every new smartphone’s start-up screen, such as Notes or Media. If any of these needed features or app slow down or crash because of a video game on the phone, uninstalling the latter is not as much a sacrifice. In the past few years there has cropped up a fad of gaming smartphones, yet this has yet remained merely a fad rather than a revolutionary innovation. Samsung or iphones fulfill have almost identical quality to these ‘gaming phones’ and so it does not make much sense for even gamers to purchase and have a sub-par smartphone. And this is why console gaming developers are careful when approaching mobile smartphone games and rather create a handheld gaming device. A gaming console, from Nintendo to Xbox to PlayStation, exist primarily for gaming and so logic could assume that this is where most gamers spend more time playing titles. Yet this is not always the case and, in fact, a shift is occurring to a preference of smartphones for those regular games. So, why is this happening?
Players using gaming consoles enjoy larger screens, more features or levels available, and a very high-quality. However, the improvements of mobile games with visual quality and the design of the actual game not only sees smartphone games trailing behind that of consoles but actually the preference of many. A major reason is the flexibility and convenience of the smartphone. No matter where a player is or at any time, they can continue gaming. For example, it is unlikely to hook up a game console during a work break but virtually everyone can be seen staring at their phones. While the argument can be made that a mobile device like a Gameboy fulfills this convenience, bring an extra device along seems pointless when the same games can be accessed with little issues on the smartphone. Smartphone gaming is massive, yet consoles such as Nintendo have employed a different strategy to attract these same players and overcome the technical restraints of designing a game for phone. With devices such as the Nintendo Switch, gamers have a handheld portable device that is of better quality than that of those on the smartphone. This cross-platform or hybrid technology has definitely created excitement within the gaming community as it provides unlimited access to popular titles anywhere and at any time, and most often without the need for internet connectivity as with some mobile games. Yet even this has a somewhat niche market of passionate gamer fans in comparison to most who want a nice game to play on their phones while commuting for instance. This latter group is often referred to as ‘casual gamers’ and eventually companies like Nintendo might be forced to tap into this massive audience as smartphone games take precedence over consoles.
This is why many companies adopt a mobile first approach when designing applications or games. A great example of this is online game sites that offer games formatted specially as mobile game. These Online game UK come in a variety of themes, such as the Irish ‘Rainbow Riches’ by Barcrest to Futuristic like Elk Studio’s Kaiju’, and Pragmatic Play’s African ‘Great Rhino’ game. Thesegames follow a straightforward structure of 5 reels, 3 to 4 rows, a certain amount of paylines, and numerous features that include exciting Bonus rounds. The goal of online slot designers, such as Playson or Yggdrasil, is to create a seamless gameplay and ease of use between desktop and mobile. As virtually everyone owns a smartphone today rather than a console or even desktop and laptop, it is in the interest of both the provider and consumer to accommodate this larger audience.
Another important point that influences the shift away from consoles to mobile gaming is concerned with pricing. Downloading a video game on the smartphone is in many instances significantly less expensive than purchasing the same or similar title at the store to use on the console. With smartphone, the game can be just a few clicks away whereas consoles may require players to travel to the store or wait until games are available. The convenience, price, and the synchronization between games and smartphones, is reason enough for the average user to prefer their phone for playing games.
While the trend in the future points towards gaming console companies like Nintendo or Blizzard releasing high-quality smartphone games, consoles or desktop gaming will always exist in one form or another. The rise of competitive gaming is enough of an indicator as well as the comfort of playing on large screens and/or beside friends.