If you are a regular Twitter user and keep up to date with gaming news on the platform, you will be very aware of the Twitter discourse on gaming that happens at least once a month.
At the end of May, the coverage of indie games (or lack thereof) was a topic of conversation. The answers from those who share their thoughts paint a pretty complicated picture, from nuances around the SEO value of indie game coverage to some indie studios that don’t have the PR resources to spend their time there.
All of this got me thinking about mobile games, which share many of the same challenges in coverage and representation as indie games, but have a 60% market share in the global game industry and generate three times the revenue of consoles and PC/Mac games.
Simon Carless of The GameDiscoverCo pointed out in a recent newsletter that, despite its immense size, the mobile games market is rarely discussed in detail outside of specialized websites.
When mobile games are covered, that coverage is limited to financial updates on major mobile titles from the likes of Nintendo, news about AAA ports like Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Mobile, or negative stories about monetization methods, the most recent example. is opposition to Diablo Immortal.
Source: Data.ai and ADC
It’s a shame, especially when negative headlines appear around a major release like Diablo Immortal; it gives the impression that the entire industry is lacking in content and is nothing more than a gigantic pool of microtransactions. That couldn’t be further from the truth, especially with Diablo Immortal, which you can sink and complete for 40 hours without spending a dime. With the added bonus of being an excellent game too, isn’t that good value for money?
The market landscape for mobile games is very different from a few years ago, and there are still many misconceptions about what mobile games look and play and how the industry works.
While hyper casual games still make up a large part of the market, and there will always be a focus on monetization due to the nature of freemium games, mobile games have evolved into more polished products thanks to a combination of more powerful hardware, cloud gaming. and major publishers releasing mobile versions of their franchises. More controller support makes playing these games as much fun as they are on PC and console.
As a result, we are seeing more mobile games related to core audiences being played on streaming platforms like Twitch. While core games currently only account for 19% of mobile game downloads, they generate 96% of mobile game streaming hours viewed, according to analytics provider StreamHatchet.
In addition to big names like League of Legends: Wild Rift, Final Fantasy: The First Soldier, and Diablo Immortal, you might be surprised to learn that there’s a mobile version of Thatgamecompany’s Child of Light that now has over ten million downloads. This indie hit is now one of China’s most popular mobile games.
Not to mention Garena Free Fire, one of the biggest games in the world with over 150 million users, but one that is rarely discussed.
What’s great about the mobile game market – and where I think the credit should be – is that the mobile versions of Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Mobile are much more than just simple ports. The competitive nature of the mobile landscape means that console and PC ports are often updated with new features. For example, Apex Legends Mobile has added a new character, a 4v4 team deathmatch mode, and upgradeable mastery levels for all of its characters (which aren’t monetized by the way!)
There are still many misconceptions about how mobile games look and play and how the industry works
New gameplay features and modes aren’t the only areas where mobile games are innovating; they are leading the way with live events and brand collaborations, especially in Japan and China.
While there are only a handful of live events in major console and PC games, they are all over the mobile market and happening all the time.
In the past three months alone, we’ve seen Assassin’s Creed and K-pop titans BTS appear in Garena Free Fire, Hello Kitty in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, the pop idol group Hinatazaka popping up in the auto-battle RPG game Hinakoi, HunterXHunter in Puzzle & Dragons, Final Fantasy XV in Gran Saga, Neon Angelis in PUBG Mobile and the worlds of DC Comics and AMC’s The Walking Dead collide with State of Survival.
These are just some of the collaborations from the past three months, not to mention the constant updates for seasonal events and anniversary celebrations. Again, this is due to the competitive nature of the mobile market – developers are constantly adding new features, gameplay elements and live events to keep their players coming back – and it works. The tenth anniversary update for Subway Surfers running endlessly has added timed events, challenges and new characters, increasing sales by 109% and downloads by 90%.
Of course, there are some practical reasons why mobile games don’t enjoy the same level of coverage and media attention as PC, console or indie games. The mobile industry has not spent time nurturing relationships with a wider non-mobile gaming press, with publishers often investing their marketing spend in user acquisition with in-game targeted advertising. This is in contrast to the more traditional brand-building activities such as site acquisitions and general advertising, which we would normally see happening for console and PC titles in the more mainstream games press.
James Kaye from Big Ideas Machine
Many gaming websites are also expanding their SEO teams and creating content that responds to searches. With the exception of a few big names, the search volume for most mobile games is not that high, mainly due to the informal composition of the market and the fact that many of the most popular mobile games – Garena Free Fire is a good example here – – find success in the fastest growing mobile territories such as India, China and Latin America.
Due to the nature of free-to-play games, monetization practices will always exist in the mobile market, but there are some legitimate concerns about how predatory some of these tactics are.
Many GAAS titles in the mobile market are short, don’t lack much playability, and are generally designed to get money from players. Likewise, many titles offer a freemium experience, but flood players with forced ads or paywalls. I feel your pain if you’ve ever excitedly downloaded a new mobile game only to crash into a wall a few hours later. It’s something that has happened to me many times.
Some bad apples are still there, but the mobile market is in much better shape now than it was a few years ago in terms of monetization. For example, there is an influx of publishers reassessing their approach to gachas and loot boxes by implementing previews or being more transparent with pull rates so they can see the chances of getting the item or items they want and be more informed. be able to make decisions from behind. That.
There are solid mobile experiences that don’t require you to spend a dime. Hearthstone, Call of Duty: Mobile, Apex Legends Mobile, Fire Emblem: Heroes, and League of Legends: Wild Rift are all worth checking out.
I believe we are just at the beginning of major publishers and developers investing heavily in the mobile market. Expect more ports from your favorite franchises, mobile exclusives and more companies like Sony PlayStation and Microsoft trying to match the success of Nintendo’s highly profitable mobile strategy. As mobile games become premium in style and look, I also suspect we’ll see new IPs hit the market.
This in turn should hopefully increase the coverage of mobile game titles and encourage more people in the video game industry, both peers and players, to learn more about the mobile games market and hopefully dispel the misconception that mobile games are simply money grabs or inferior versions of their console counterparts.
There are many good and exciting things happening in mobile games. Like indie games, sometimes you just have to move on to read about it.
James Kaye is the president and co-founder of Big Games Machine, a specialized PR agency for the global games industry, serving both B2B and consumers.
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