By Marlene Polywka and Adrian Mühlroth | Aug 03, 2023 at 8:47 am
Everywhere you read, hear and see that mobile games are becoming more and more popular. However, TECHBOOK editor Adrian Mühlroth thinks that the heyday of mobile gaming is already over. A discussion.
According to current statistics, the smartphone has long overtaken other media such as PCs and consoles as the most popular gaming platform. Nevertheless, our editor Adrian Mühlroth thinks that the so-called “golden era” for mobile games is actually over. This provoked some violent reactions in our editorial office and triggered a discussion.
You can see the TECH-Talk here in the video:
“Everything just pay-to-win” – Adrian Mühlroth, TECHBOOK editor
Now all games are just pay-to-win and only involve logging in every day, collecting rewards and repeating the same processes over and over again.
I grew up with mobile games. When I bought my first Android smartphone and an iPod Touch in 2009/2010, the first real 3D games for mobile platforms appeared. The big jumps in performance from year to year meant that the games got better and better at a rapid pace, with more and more detailed graphics and complex gameplay. I remember the first Modern Combat, Nova and Gangstar games from the French studio Gameloft.
The three rows are modeled after Call of Duty, Halo and GTA. Back then, the studio tried everything: from special mobile versions of the Settlers, Assassin’s Creed, Terminator and Brothers in Arms, a tie-in game for Splinter Cell Conviction, to the Uncharted clone Shadow Guardian, to a 1- zu-1-Port of Prince of Persia Warrior Within – unbelievable for me at the time that such a thing is even possible. And that was in 2010 – where are the ports of full-fledged PC games for Android and iOS today?
Mobile games used to be more like PC games
After the first successes, there were many more top-class games. Many of the popular Lego games have gotten mobile-optimized versions, even Max Payne came as a port for the iPhone. Both Thor and Spider-Man and Batman got their own games. Rockstar has gradually made its three 3D classics GTA 3, GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas available for Android and iOS. However, we peaked between 2013 and 2016 with three of my absolute favorite mobile titles. On the one hand there is Deus Ex: The Fall, an offshoot of the excellent video game series. It was supposed to be just the first of many parts, but no sequels were ever released.
Also Assassin’s Creed Identity, also an offshoot of the spectacular Ezio trilogy. Marveling at Florence and Forlì on a 5-inch screen from rooftops – there was nothing better then. Last but not least there was Call of Duty: Strike Team – the first COD for mobile. The game has a lot more than even today’s PC titles, because you could switch between drone and FPS view.
To this day I still have these old games installed on my first generation iPad mini to play from time to time. Because on modern hardware and with newer operating systems, the titles are no longer compatible and will therefore disappear at some point.
“The mobile games industry is booming” – Marlene Polywka, TECHBOOK editor
In fact, it probably comes down to how you define “Golden Era”. If you look at the pure facts, then the industry is doing better than ever. The market has been growing for years. The positive perception of mobile games, which have often long since moved away from the niche of “undemanding casual gaming”, also affects the games industry in general. Corona did the rest to fuel this trend.
The mobile end device has been the undisputed number 1 in gaming for several years, which is certainly also due to its availability. A console or even a gaming PC simply costs significantly more money to buy. Although high-end gaming smartphones are now quite expensive, this is still not the same as a PC. Only in 2022 was it possible to observe slightly declining numbers in the sector again – experts also attribute this indirectly to Corona.
Mobile games have reached the masses
Of course, what is generally beneficial is that the gamers of the first generation are also getting older, but the offspring are also very strong. The target group is therefore much broader than it was a few years or even decades ago. But if you also look at the eSports sector, for example, then the positive development can be clearly seen. The larger target groups also ensure a larger audience, ergo money in the leagues. As a result, the mobile games market is becoming increasingly professional. You can also see that in the range of games – there is more and more and, above all, more and more high-quality content. Developers are also getting more and more creative to make money.
The smartphone medium is being used more and more creatively. Whether it’s story games with weekly chapters, games connected to maps like “Pokémon GO” or the mobile versions of larger titles – the variety is incredibly large. The technically less demanding platform also opens up completely new and lower-threshold possibilities for creative indie developers.
We partly have a very German view of the whole thing; Mobile gaming is booming even more in other countries, such as in Brazil. this also has something to do with the horrendous prices for technology. As long as smartphones are an integral part of our everyday lives, I think mobile games will be too. And as long as the industry is doing well, there will always be more good and creative supplies.
What do you mean? Let us know what you think about the topic and vote!