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There are just a handful of things that have gone to become a massive cultural phenomenon and economic force and like most of them, it’s not easy to pin down the exact date it started. The same can be said for mobile gaming. But, if there has to be an origin date for mobile gaming, it must be 1997 when Snake become the first mainstream mobile game to hit the market.
However, at that point in the time, it was a common belief that mobile phones would remain to be a sidekick of Personal Computers. But, if the last two decades have taught us anything, it’s that mobile game development has gone from the blinking pixels of Snake to complete virtual worlds where thousands of people from around the world play simultaneously. This rise of the mobile gaming industry has been the reason for the transformation of many mobile game development companies into billion-dollar enterprises. If mobile gaming has come this far in only two decades, we can only wait to see what the future holds for the mobile gaming industry.
In this blog, we will cover all the major statistics and key milestones mobile gaming industry witnessed during the last twenty years.
The journey from 1997 to 2016
As we talked about it earlier, the start of mobile gaming industry can be pinned down to 1997 when Snake become the first real hit mobile game in the market after its integration in the Nokia 6110 phone. Next stop in the journey of the infrastructure of mobile gaming has to be the establishment of the Wireless Internet Protocol or Wi-Fi. Then came the launch of the iOS App Store in 2007, this was the point where the mobile gaming industry took a quantum leap forward. This was closely followed by Google’s Android Market, or as we now know it Google Play Store.
With 50% benchmark, smartphones only penetrated US markets in the year 2012. Only then we started to get reliable data reports and learn about the performance through the App Store. Since the start, it was quite obvious that mobile game development companies and individuals would be major players in app stores and building a strong place for mobile games in the gaming industry.
Even though mobile gaming had already gone mainstream, it was only in 2016 when the revenue of mobile gaming surpassed the revenue of consoles and PCs. This was the time when the mobile gaming industry went from its infancy phase to maturity only in 20 years.
The ride to 2017 and 2018
If anyone had any lingering doubts about mobile’s role in the gaming world in the year 2016, they had all been laid to rest in 2017.
Another notable milestone in this journey was the coming of battle royale games such as Fortnite and PUBG Mobile. The success of these games proved that technology had finally reached the point where the experience of mobile gaming and PCs and Consoles is seamless. In the summer of 2018, Fortnite alone was bringing home revenue of over $100 million in a month.
However, this year there had been few new names that created a buzz in the market, like Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Jurassic World Alive. Around the same technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality introduced us with endless opportunities that open up.
Find out more about technologies and trends that are reshaping the future of mobile game development
Stepping into the 2020s
The mobile gaming industry is continuously growing by leveraging on improved hardware and creative use of advanced technologies. With so much limelight and interest of the public in games, the phenomena have given birth to an entirely new role of professional gamers. Platforms like YouTube and Twitch have enabled people who love sitting at home and playing games to build a career out of their hobby.
The reach of the mobile gaming industry is extraordinary, and we will be able to see further growth within the industry if the industry leaders continue to enable and empower gamers using digital platforms and cutting-edge technologies.
According to research by Statista, the global revenue from the mobile gaming market has been on the rise from 34.8 billion dollars, 41.5 billion dollars, and projection of 74.6 billion dollars in 2015, 2016, and 2020 respectively.
One of the reasons behind this tremendous growth in the gaming industry is the ongoing streak of investments and acquisitions coming in. It is not wrong to say that with consumers ready to spend, everyone wants to get a cut of the pie. You will see some of the industry giants, as well as gaming entrepreneurs looking for better graphics, more high-tech integration, and hardware improvements to provide better gamer experience and stand out in this exponentially rising competitive ecosystem.
According to a report by Digi-Capital, between 2018 and 2019, the gaming industry set a new record of investment. In just 18 months, the industry gained a total investment of $9.6 billion.
Find out how much can a game app make.Â
Wrapping up
From 1997 to 2020, the journey of the mobile gaming industry has been worth documenting. The enthusiasm of gamers has only made game investors braver, and unintentionally, this trend has led the mobile gaming industry to represent about half of the entire video gaming market. However, from the graphics to the use of technology, mobile game development has come a long way, and we are excited to be at the front row of witnessing history being made.
