Statistics have proven that mobile gaming has rapidly grown for the past years, to the point of dominating half of the global games industry revenue. 2018 marked substantial progress for mobile games, as it reached new heights and became the fastest-growing sector of the gaming market, overtaking consoles and PC.

In fact, the latest projections by App Annie Research predict that mobile games are set to conquer a whopping 60 percent of the gaming market by consumer spending in 2019, which would be an incredible 35 percent increase from 2013. Top markets include China and the US, both of which recorded a 105 percent and 45 percent growth respectively in the past two years alone.

A major determining factor in this is that mobile games are quickly closing the gap with consoles and PC by offering console/PC-quality multiplayer experiences. The booming popularity of battle royale titles in 2018 meant that mobile games like PUBG Mobile and Fortnite dominated the lists of most downloaded games. What was previously only possible on more powerful hardware like consoles and PC can now be achieved with mobile gaming.

In comparison with mobiles games in the past that only featured simple and rudimentary multiplayer mechanics, mobile games now have the potential of featuring gameplay just as deep and complex as their more powerful brethren. This will only grow with time, as mobile hardware keeps gradually improving.

Thanks to this, the distinction between hardcore and casual gamers are thinning, and that contributes to mobile even more. Amidst the influx of new mobile games like PUBG Mobile and Fortnite, older titles like Candy Crush Saga and Pokemon Go surprisingly managed to hold onto their player base in 2018, which means that these games are just as capable of sustainability as any console or PC game.

Another main factor that contributes to the meteoric rise in mobile gaming trends is the accessibility of such devices. As more and more users gain access to mobile phones, more downloads happen over time. Users would initially try out many apps before landing to their preferred apps. This is known as the Experimentation phase. The next phase is the Adoption phase. This is when the users their go-to apps, and engagements climb. The Ubiquity phase sees users engaging more and spending more time and money towards the apps.

The familiarity and accessibility would also lead to increased usage of mobile devices, further boosting the possibility of app engagement and consumer spending. It is also one of the reasons why mobile gaming is stealing the spotlight.

Based on the graph projected by App Annie, users spend a cumulative total of hours on their phones, most of which is spent playing mobile games. Other common usage includes checking their emails, browsing news articles or checking their banking accounts.

As the mobile market matures, we can expect an upgrade in the hardware of mobile devices as well as them becoming more and more affordable. This scale and grows creates a compelling platform for developers to exploit. This is inferred as mobile games are now competing with console and PC gaming.

Projections dictate that there will be a 60% increase in the mobile market share thanks to heavy mobile games such as Mobile Legends and PUBG Mobile. To put into perspective, Mobile Legends was reported to be the game that consumers spend most of their money on in Malaysia.

In all intent and purposes, it looks like mobile gaming will have nowhere to go but upwards from here. Everything points to a healthy future for mobile gaming, though that doesn’t necessarily mean the downfall of console and PC gaming.