Gaming certainly has come a long way in just a few short years. Given that the console war began in the early 2000’s and now, nearly 20 years later, developments across the entire gaming spectrum have jumped along astronomically. But there is one aspect of gaming that couldn’t have been predicted back then: mobile gaming. While handheld consoles were always considered to be popular – from the original GameBoy – nobody realized that gaming could actually be done well on your phone. But how popular is mobile gaming and how is it looking to increase its popularity – and what factors, including the rise in online poker, have influenced this change in our gaming habits.
Mobile Gaming by the Numbers
In order to properly understand how mobile gaming has increased and become a force of its own, it’s important to pinpoint when the popularity began. 1997 gave us the first proper experience of mobile gaming, when Nokia developed the directional arcade game Snake as an addition to its mobile phone offering. Since then, most mobiles have offered some form of basic gaming – mainly to pass time, not to be a mode of gaming all by themselves. 2009 was another seminal year for mobile gaming, when Apple brought Angry Birds to the iPhone. The game involved degrees of difficulty and levelling up and utilized the touchscreen capabilities to enhance the gameplay. Following this, the major smartphone developers – Apple and Android – offered gaming options with their phones. Arguably, mobile gaming really came into its own in 2016 with the rise of Pokemon Go, which encapsulated hundreds of thousands of people and showed that the smartphone could be a rival to the other consoles. The most popular series in mobile gaming is the pair of Candy Crush games, which raked in $819million and $614million. Clash Royale and Clash of Clans, which feature long-form battle play, also brought in around $700million collectively. Gaming is popular both in longer form daily games, such as The Simpsons Tapped Out or the Kardashians game, or in quicker gameplay offerings, such as variants of online poker.
Mobile Gaming and Online Poker
The mobile gaming industry is reportedly worth $50billion (nearly half of the $115billion gaming industry) and 80% of app downloads were for gaming purposes in 2018. So, for any gaming sector, capitalizing on the mobile market is crucial. Indeed, with 23 minutes a day spent mobile gaming in the US, 213 million are expected to be regular mobile gamers by 2020 – an increase of 2018’s 203 million, and 2014’s 148million. Online poker could be said to have helped influence the dominance of mobile gaming in the gaming market. The global online gambling market is set to top $59.79 billion by 2020 – a rise from the $51.96 market value it currently has. So, mobile games developers and those offering mobile as a platform know that choosing online poker games would be a strong strategy to ensure that the industry remains steady. The numbers prove that the audience for the online poker on mobile is out there. Online poker is also renowned for keeping up with the latest trends, so, by having such a solid mobile poker offering, it indicates that being future forward is a worthwhile business consideration.
What Mobile Poker Variants are There?
When it comes to translating the traditional game of poker to mobile, there are a number of ways this has been done to ensure fans of the gameplay are happy and also entertained enough with how the game is played. Texas Hold ‘Em is a staple of any poker roster and should be the initial game learned for any budding poker player. If you don’t know how to play Texas HoldEm, the rules are fairly simple and are based around receiving two hole cards and making a hand of five by using three of the community cards in the centre of the table. There are many opportunities to bet and the game can twist and turn, which is why more advanced players enjoy it so they can practice different styles of poker gameplay. There are alternatives to the game, including snap poker, which can be played online and mobile and involves a quicker pace – after folding you are immediately brought to a new table. Omaha Hold ‘Em – and its derivate Omaha Hi-Lo – features similar gameplay to Texas Hold ‘Em but you have four hole cards and your final hand must feature at least two of these as well as whatever is on the board. Texas Hold ‘Em offers the option of playing the board if your own hole cards are worthless in the round.
Cross-Platform Compatibility
One of the major reasons that mobile gaming has sparked such popularity, especially when it comes to its poker influences, is because of cross-platform compatibility. Poker was originally played with cards and made the seamless jump to online, taking away none of the excitement and standard gameplay. This move to mobile retained the key features and even allowed some to be improved. So, by taking this tack, mobile gaming ensures that the original features of gaming are maintained – but are improved with what makes mobile such a standout choice. For example, with Pokémon Go, the catching of Pokémon was maintained but the format for doing so was drastically different. The roots of the game were kept close enough to what people enjoyed to allow it to become so popular. Online poker is similar, with mobile versions adapting to the reasons why many people might be choosing to play on their mobile, i.e. to have a quicker game while waiting around for something. Cross-platform compatibility of desktop online poker and mobile poker, and the ability to play the same game across both, demonstrates to the mobile gaming market how it is able to branch out while still keeping the features people play for.
Mobile gaming will continue to grow for years to come – and online poker will grow in parallel. By finding out what makes each sector so strong and taking inspiration, each industry will continue to soar. For fun, players can even try Scratch Cards online to try their luck.
I'm a published author and proud US Army veteran who happens to be a gamer, so I decided to combine the two and love every minute of it! Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments and I'll be sure to get back to you.
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