Ever since the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, the growth of mobile gamers has been quite substantial. One of the more obvious things that have taken place over the course of the past year or so is the fact that the gaming industry is now bringing in billions more in terms of revenue. The most intriguing part of this is that the growth isn’t likely to stagnate any time soon. This means that there are so many more opportunities for investors and operators in this industry to really branch out and expand their industrial empires.
The COVID Impact
There’s no denying or downplaying the tragic effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on the lives of so many people. However, there’s also no ignoring the fact that many industries experienced massive growth throughout the entire pandemic year. One such industry is the mobile gaming industry. Recall the way that most people had to change their lives as a result of the pandemic. Many people were forced to remain in their homes as a way to curb the spread of the virus. In fact, many governments all over the world instituted strict lockdowns so as to ensure the safety of their people.
Naturally, many people were forced to turn to things within their homes for entertainment and stimulation. One natural platform that people turned to was gaming. However, mobile gaming, in particular, had a very strong appeal because of its accessibility and convenience. It’s not like PC gaming or console gaming wherein acquiring the necessary hardware can get pretty costly fairly quickly. With online gaming, it was possible right off the bat for anyone who had access to smartphones or tablets. Developers were keen to capitalize on this as the game market became more diverse. There are common war-based titles like Call of Duty. There are also battle-royale style games like Fortnite and PUBG. Then, you also have the casino games like the ones on Casinofy. Aside from that, there are the team-based strategy games like Mobile Legends. The list goes on and it’s not hard to see why the industry was growing so rapidly. Here are some of the numbers that stood out regarding the rise of mobile gaming.
- In the United States alone, the mobile gaming industry generated more than $77.2 billion worth of revenue in 2020. Again, as has been previously mentioned, there are no signs of this growth slowing down as we get deeper into 2021. The year-end numbers are likely to conclude a continuing trend with the rise of online gaming.
- A whopping 12% rise of players was recorded in 2020. This meant that over the course of the year, more than 2.5 billion players started playing mobile games for the first time.
- Traditionally, most people would have believed that the gaming community is one that is dominated by men. However, what recent statistics have shown is that the mobile gaming audience is composed of 51% women and 49% men. Additionally, the average game of a mobile gamer is 36. It just goes to show that mobile gaming is not just a child’s activity. This is important to note because it’s the adults who have the spending power when it comes to generating revenue for games.
Ultimately, it’s easy to predict that the gaming industry is going to continue to rise in the coming years. This is because technology is just getting stronger, cheaper, and more accessible. The quality of gaming has skyrocketed as a result of more powerful gaming chips, gorgeous displays, and sophisticated compression algorithms. It’s only natural to conclude that the gaming industry will only grow more popular as the technology that powers it continues to develop as well.
Also, don’t discount the power of cryptocurrency as its own popularity continues to rise. As more people become more comfortable with the idea of crypto as a viable payment option, then in-game transactions within these mobile games will become a lot easier and more accessible. There’s really no predicting what the ceiling for the mobile gaming industry will be because tech is growing more and more sophisticated every day. However, what’s easy to predict is that many people, including the game developers, investors, and gamers themselves, will be very happy as the industry pushes forward.
