Mobile gaming is more than just a fad
The game industry is beginning to evolve as it puts more focus on the mobile sector. The mobile games market has been heavily saturated for some time, but large publishers and development studios that had initially been averse to the concept of mobile gaming are beginning to enter into the market with their own products. As mobile gaming continues to grow in popularity, the practices that have become common in the mobile gaming business are also becoming common in the overall game industry.
The game industry has been focusing more heavily on the mobile sector for good reason. Mobile games represent one of the most lucrative aspects of gaming today, with some 247 separate game companies earning more than $1 million in mobile revenue in the U.S. alone. Google, which provides access to a wide range of mobile gaming applications, has seen more than 300 million downloads for the mobile games it supports, with the developers of these games bringing in a collective $600 million. These may be astonishing numbers, but Google is widely considered within the game industry to be the least lucrative market for mobile gaming applications.
Many people enjoy mobile games because they are simple in nature and can be played anywhere and at any time. They offer on-demand entertainment that people have come to expect thanks to their growing reliance on mobile technology. Moreover, people have shown that they are willing to spend money on these games, whether it is the price for purchasing the game or buying in-game items, digital currencies, and bonuses that make gameplay more enjoyable.
Microtransactions, a term that represents in-game purchases, have become somewhat infamous among consumers. Some people claim that mobile games are nothing more than cash grabs, using microtransactions to take advantage of people that are willing to spend their money. These microtransactions are becoming a more integral part of traditional gaming, with developers and publishers introducing in-game purchases in order to cater to a more mobile-centric audience. As mobile games continue to gain prominence, they may end up determining the course of the game industry’s future, which may cause a serious division between consumers and game developers that have an interest in microtransactions.
While mobile chips are becoming faster and more powerful, wearables have now upped the ante.
The mobile chips in high end smartphones and tablets are growing faster and ever more powerful, but those devices aren’t astounding consumers who were buying them as fast as they could hit the shelves, so chipmakers may start looking toward wearable technology for their next area of explosive growth.
Wearables could actually provide chipmakers with the challenge that they need for the next few years.
The growth curve could be quite the steep one as long as those companies can provide what is needed in order to make consumers love wearable technology as much as they have come to love their smartphones and tablets. According to principal analyst, Linley Gwennap, from The Linley Group, it is too early to say whether or not chipmakers will actually grab hold of this opportunity, or even if wearables will turn out to be the next big tech trend, as many of the industry giants are hoping.
Currently, the wearable technology remains a market that is moving less than 10 million units per year.
Surveys are currently suggesting that while consumers have initially been attracted to wearables such as fitness trackers, all too many of them are finding themselves forgotten and buried under a pile of other devices that were enjoyed for their novelty but were then forgotten once that had worn off. Furthermore, the best devices – such as some of the smrtwatches that have been launched – are prohibitively expensive for the majority of consumers and end up collecting dust on the shelves.
Gwennap explained that “We’re talking about [US]$200 or $300 for a smartwatch today. That’s kind of a two-spouse decision.” He added that if the doors are to open for the majority of consumers to participate, then wearable devices under the $100 price barrier will need to start becoming available.
He explained that he feels that one of the best ways to move these devices will be to bundle them with smartphones, for example, the case of Samsung Galaxy Gear being sold along with the smartphones as a bundle, so that as little as $50 can be charged for the smartwatch.
Cheaper wearable technology will be dependent on more powerful and yet less expensive chips. Should this be achieved, it could be an area that will be highly lucrative in the not too distant future.
