What Can We Expect from The Mobile Games Market in The Near Future?
Gaming Market Development – In recent years, the gaming market development has shown rapid development, and significantly outstripping demand for desktop versions. A few years ago, experts predicted that by the end of 2020, mobile games will account for 60% of the total market profitability, and they were not mistaken.
Today, many popular IT companies are focusing their efforts on the development of mobile games, since there is a high demand on them and almost every second developer has switched to creating game applications. The craze was so widespread that even social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter started developing innovative mobile games, seeing them as a driving force in attracting users to their platforms. Modern mobile phones in terms of functionality have become a kind of mini-computers.
The Main Trends in the Gaming Market Development
The main factor in the game content development is to maintain the perfect balance between high-quality functionality and attractive design, noted Darren Keane from Storm International. Equally important are advanced features that allow us to improve the interaction of players on the platform and make the game more sophisticated and impressive.
Taking into account the user’s experience and market demand for gaming content, the following main trends can be identified that will determine the future gaming industry of the in 2021 and will shape the demand for mobile games.
Hyper-casual games
The rise in popularity of “hyper-casual” games with an extremely simple and intuitive interface, which can be played by almost everyone, from children and housewives to advanced gamers, remains amazing. Analysis of the mobile games industry shows that an increasing number of gaming software providers are interested in creating such kind of games. Some do it on their own, others by taking over smaller competitors, as the battle in this area to acquire new users promises to be very fierce.
Use of VR and AR technologies
The use of VR in the mobile games field has become commonplace. Many big companies are interested in entering the AR arena, including Google, which introduced the ARCore platform for Android app developers, and Apple, which is launching its ARKit, which promises to be the largest AR platform in the world.
Many games have found new life thanks to VR and AR technologies, said Michael Boettcher from Shangri La. Augmented reality is currently the best way to provide users with the most in-demand content, and many brands expect AR to remain relevant for a long time to come. Many popular games in recent decades have found new life thanks to VR and AR technologies, and the 24/7 game content availability thanks to mobile phones offers great prospects for their use.
Changing Trends in the App Store Market
One of the most obvious mobile gaming trends emerging today is the fact that many game content creators are up against giants such as Google and Apple, which charge app developers a 30% commission for posting in their stores.
The first precedent came with gaming company Epic Games, which pulled its legendary Fortnite game from the Google Play Store, opting to create its own store and allow its users to download the game without paying Google any interest. For other developers, the company offered a 12% commission, well below Google and Apple’s fees.
This case could become one of the most exciting trends for future gaming applications, opening up new, more beneficial opportunities for users and developers, said Darren Keane about Shangri La projects.
Mobile Games Monetizing
Every developer is interested in generating revenue from their app and finding new ways to monetize their game while eliminating download fees so as not to scare off potential users. One of the alternative monetization strategies is the use of mobile advertising in different formats, including:
- Reward for watching videos, where the level of user engagement reaches 92%;
- Income from video ads;
- Using the wall of proposals while browsing applications.
These tools allow app developers to generate additional income without scaring off potential users with high app download prices.
By downloading a new game, users leave valuable information. In addition, every time users download a new game, users leave valuable information such as name, age, email address, phone number and other data, which are a true treasure for the digital industry. Analyzing this information uncovers a myriad of ideas that companies can turn into millions of dollars. This trend can be a very effective revenue generating tool for publishers and app developers.
Integration on Social Media Platforms
These days, a fairly large group of people regularly use social networks to communicate with friends and like-minded people, creating numerous interest groups. Here, many not only communicate, but also invite friends to join their games, interact to achieve higher positions in the game and share news with friends.
This requires a multiplayer function, which will allow all players to interact effectively. People often spend a lot of time on different social media platforms, and using this trend will allow game developers to attract a large enough audience of potential users through the integration of their applications.
