While Smartphones may be the weapon of choice for mobile gamers it seems that tablets are gaining a reputation for being a worthy alternative for gaming-on-the-go as well.
A recent online survey conducted by PopCap Games, the developer of popular online games such as Plants vs. Zombies and the Bejeweled series, has come up with a number of findings that the rest of the industry will surely take notice of.
In order to understand the significance of the social and mobile gaming market one needs to understand both the market it caters to and how the industry operates.
First and foremost an overwhelming majority of gamers on mobile platforms play casual games, most of which are based around providing a social experience.
Secondly, there is room for core gaming experiences examples of which are both the Dead Space and Mass Effect titles that have made their way on to tablets and smartphones. The most recent entry has been Max Payne as Rockstar release the first game in the series on tablets and smartphones.
Yet, the best selling games on smart phones and tablets, both of which fall under the mobile gaming category, are more casual titles such as Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope and others along the same line.
One title which has garnered a cult following for itself is Plants vs. Zombies, which was developed by PopCap Games. Over the years the mobile gaming market has grown exponentially to the point where it was first termed as an indirect threat to consoles and more recently as a direct threat to Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U console.
According to Dennis Ryan, the vice president of Worldwide Publishing at PopCap, the mobile gaming market remains one where demand for new experiences is high. He said, “Mobile games continue to vie with social games as the hottest sector of the video game industry and that trend shows no sign of waning.”
He continued, “Smartphone adoption continues apace and tablet adoption has added considerable fuel to the fire. Even more important, consumers are embracing the shift toward freemium games and other add-on game content purchases, driving the dramatic and rapid shift in the forms of monetization being used by developers and publishers.”
In short, the mobile gaming market is both growing and maturing at a pace that means that developers and publishers need to come up with fresh new experiences in order to stay in the game and be successful.
According to the survey over 125-million people play mobile games in both the United States and the United Kingdom with the number set to increase over the next few years.
It seems that now is as good a time as any to get in on the mobile gaming scene as a number of top developers and publishers are looking to tap into the insane profits that some of the games are able to generate.
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