Whilst console and PC gaming still offer the biggest and best from AAA studios, mobile gaming has been growing faster every year and has quickly become the primary platform used for all manner of different gaming genres. With a changing demographic and audience that now more heavily features an older gaming audience with the average age being above 34, it’s a stark contrast to the younger teen male audience that has typically made up the primary audience on other gaming platforms. This change has certainly helped specific genres like online gambling with casino games found at Casino Genie amongst the most popular, but which other gaming genres are finding a big home on the mobile platform?
Puzzle & Platformer titles – Figures show that more than half of all smartphone users play at least some type of puzzle or platformer game, these more casual styled games are perfectly suited for mobile and are in many ways a remnant of a shift away from handheld gaming on older platforms like the GameBoy and have since changed to become mostly present on mobile. With easy to understand but harder to master mechanics and often a number of collectibles included for the completionists out there too, there’s plenty to do, and they’re very easy to pick up for the short periods of time you may be interested in playing and to put them back down again, a hallmark of a more casual gaming option.
Battle Royale is surging ahead – Games like Fortnite and PUBG especially made a big dent in this space initially on the PC, but once the games were ported over to mobile it’s where they were able to take off in a much faster way. At first, the controls can feel a little clunky as moving around and aiming isn’t as easy as it would first appear to be, but some perseverance makes it much easier. Battle Royale games have also become the home of mobile esports too, and the biggest multiplayer games on mobile can be found in this genre. It has since slowed a little over time, but until something is able to grow to replace it, BR games will be amongst mobile players’ most favorite.
Trading Card Games made the change too – Also known as TCGs, digital collectible card games are slowly becoming almost exclusive to mobile for some – the biggest is definitely within Hearthstone from Blizzard with a player count in 2018 suggesting nearly 100 million players, although the active count in 2020 was a little lower, with the majority on mobile, much in the same reason puzzle and platformer titles have succeeded, these games are very easy to hop into, play a quick game, and hop back out once again, and the casual nature makes them perfectly suited for mobile too, and have certainly found their home there.