The Rise of Competitive Play on Mobile

Mobile gaming has been growing in popularity for many years and continues to attract new players. As we will see from some of the statistics below, the mobile gaming industry is a serious business. There are several aspects to mobile gaming and in recent years, we have witnessed the rise of competitive play on mobile devices with games like Fortnite, Clash of Clans and League of Legends leading the charge.

The Mobile Gaming Market

Before we look more specifically at competitive mobile gaming, it is important to understand the mobile gaming market. In 2022, the global gaming industry generated $184.4 billion in revenue and half of that amount came from mobile gaming. This shows just how popular mobile gaming has become in recent years and video game developers are having to introduce mobile versions of their games, in addition to their console games.

In 2022, the mobile gaming industry generated $92.2 billion and that is more than music subscription services and the global box office combined. If we look at some of the other statistics to come out of 2022, we can see over $100 billion was spent on mobile gaming and 90 billion of the mobile app downloads throughout the year were games. These figures highlight just how big the mobile gaming market has become and gamers are moving from consoles to mobile devices.

Competitive Video Gaming

The multiplayer element of video games has been present for decades and as far back as the 1980s people have been playing video games together. The introduction of the internet changed the way people play video games and now it is possible to play a game with people regardless of where they are located. The online elements of video games became extremely successful, and we soon saw the rise of games created specifically to be played by groups of people.

Massively multiplayer online games, commonly known as MMOs have become big business and millions of people around the world play the games. Players can cooperate and compete against each other depending on the game and the online multiplayer gaming scene became so competitive, tournaments were arranged for the best players. The biggest events attract a massive number of viewers and there is life changing prize money on offer for the winners. On the other end of the scale, there are those who just like to pick up a game and have a casual bit of fun while playing with other people, but most players are determined to win. The competitive gaming industry is known as eSports and there are several big events every year.

Mobile Casinos

The idea of competitive mobile gaming is nothing new and online casinos have been offering mobile games for many years. Better technology and internet availability means that you can partake in some serious online casino gaming on your mobile device, with big money on the line. Mobile casino games include slots, card games, and table games. While the slots are not played against another person, the introduction of live casino games and mobile poker means it is possible to play mobile casino games competitively with other people. Live casinos games come with a real person dealing the cards or spinning the wheel. It is also possible to play the games against other people, with poker being a great example. Many of the big-name poker brands have dedicated mobile apps and offer a wide range of single games and tournaments for mobile players.

Competitive Mobile Gaming

When we have two popular elements in the same industry, such as mobile gaming and competitive video gaming, it makes sense for the two to combine. That is exactly what has happened and with so many people now choosing to play games using a mobile phone, the next natural step in competitive gaming was to break into the mobile device market. There are many multiplayer mobile games available to download and some of them are free to play. Some of the top competitive mobile games include PlayerUnknown’s Battleground, Call of Duty Mobile, Fortnite, Clash Royale, Asphalt 9: Legends, Raid: Shadow Legends, and League of Legends, to name but a few. All these games have been designed specifically to play competitively on mobile phones. We have yet to see any major tournaments created for competitive mobile phone games, but we may not have to wait long until we see organized competitions for those at the top of their chosen game.

Virtual and Augmented Reality: The Future

There has been much talk regarding the future of mobile gaming. Virtual and augmented reality are two of the new ways to play mobile games that we could see in the future. It may be possible, via the use of a headset and mobile phone, to walk into a casino and choose from the available games. Other people could be walking through the casino and sitting down to play blackjack or roulette.

Given the progress we have seen in the competitive mobile gaming industry to date, it is exciting to think what the future holds for the industry.