Why Mobile Gaming Has Been Stagnating & What Lies Ahead?

There’s no getting away from the fact that while mobile gaming enjoyed years of meteoric growth, more recently it has hit a plateau.

Playing games on portable devices is still very popular, but developers are struggling to attract new users, which comes down to a number of factors. Understanding the market right now, and looking at where it might go in the future, is useful whether you’re an industry professional or a player, so let’s talk about the current problems and the potential solutions for mobile gaming stagnation.

Exploring the Decline of Mobile Gaming: What Could Be Going Wrong?

As with many industry challenges, the problems facing mobile gaming right now are due to several factors, rather than a single identifiable route cause.

This includes conundrums such as new platforms emerging to disrupt demand, outdated technology being used for game development, and an arguably lack of innovation from developers. Audiences are becoming more disparate, and too many studios are retreading the same old formulas in the hope of hooking players, but the novelty has worn off in many cases.

The competition is also more intense than ever before, so it’s important that designers come up with creative ways to make their games stand out from others on the market.

Quite simply, many gamers are now looking for something different. They want engaging, dramatic storylines and challenging gameplay, rather than shallow experiences and endless microtransactions that can often be found in free-to-play titles.

Without taking these factors into consideration when developing a game, developers risk accelerating the already steady decline of this sector.

Creative Ways to Make Mobile Games More Appealing

Mobile game developers need to be creative if they want their games to attract players and carve a niche alongside established rivals. Here are some ideas that can help get your mobile game noticed:

• Embrace a growth marketing solution for mobile games like Upptic. This will let you leverage various automated technologies to spread the word and catalyze player engagement and adoption.
• Make the visuals pop. If the graphical presentation isn’t top-notch, people will look elsewhere, even if the mechanics of the game are enjoyable.
• Offer engaging storylines. Provide a compelling narrative with interesting characters so gamers feel like they’re part of an adventure, rather than just grinding away for XP or unlockables. As we see the death of live service games, it’s clear that a return to the fundamentals of the industry is necessary.

Emerging Technologies that are Transforming the Future of Mobile Gaming

The good news is that, in spite of the doom and gloom discussed earlier, the future of mobile gaming looks bright. This all comes down to the array of exciting new technologies that are shaping the industry as we speak.

For instance, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing can all be used to create more immersive games for players. Augmented reality and virtual reality are also playing a role in bringing even more realism into mobile games. And of course 5G networking is delivering faster download speeds, which in turn help to harness the AI and cloud-powered opportunities that are out there for interactive entertainment.

The Bottom Line

Mobile game developers need to think outside the box and be willing to push boundaries, rather than playing it safe. If they don’t do this, then it’s more than likely that they will fall by the wayside, or merely tread water rather than thriving in a competitive industry.

The right tech and the right approach to making engaging, enjoyable mobile experiences will give development teams of all sizes the means of making a splash. And of course gamers can sit back and wait for the fruits of their labor to arrive on their device of choice.