Today’s adults grew up with video games. Whether playing alone or with friends, millennials are far savvier about gaming than any generation that came before them.. Gaming is not strange to us, it is not unusual, and it not different, it is simply something we do. The unfortunate reality of adulthood, however, is that we never have as much time for what we want as we did when we were growing up.
You might think that would negatively affect the popularity of gaming within our age group, but in fact, this hasn’t been the case. Instead of stopping our enjoyment of gaming, it often just shifted our avenues of engagement, and means an enormous change in gaming’s focus going forward.
The Uncertainty of Handhelds
When it comes to famous handheld systems, there is nothing like the legacy of Nintendo’s original Game Boy. Launched in April of 1989, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color devices would eventually go on to sell more than 118 million units, placing them third on the list of the best-selling gaming systems of all time.
Initially, this success led to an array of imitators like Sega’s Game Gear and the Atari Lynx. However, none of these could hold a candle to the original. It wasn’t until Sony’s PSP, launched in 2004, that any product could measure up to Nintendo’s dominance. Even then, the Nintendo DS remained at the top and became the second best-selling gaming system of all time, selling over 154 million units.
Nintendo remains the only major console hardware developer of handheld systems, with their Switch. Despite fewer dedicated systems, the market for handheld gaming is far bigger than ever. The reason, as it stands, comes from smartphones.
The New Age
The single greatest advantage that smartphones have for gaming comes in their ubiquity. As of the time of this article, worldwide smartphone penetration exceeds 41.5%. This means that roughly 3.2 billion people have access to devices which are thousands of times more capable than the most hand-help systems.
The second advantage comes from the diversity which their systems allow. While traditional handhelds and consoles are effectively closed systems, anyone can develop games for mobiles, though regulations do exist in some instances.
For example, if you read the full review of Captain Spins here, you could see that this single casino gaming system has access to an enormous range of games never available on older handhelds. These include real slot games, live casino games, and the ability to win real money.
Just as exciting are the capabilities of mobiles to emulate older handheld games, carrying on the legacy of their predecessors. Combine With new games being released daily, and dedicated controllers increasing accessibility within these games, it’s is not surprising that mobile ended up as the ultimate force in gaming.
As mobiles become more powerful, market penetration continually growing, and an increasingly large number of gaming developers getting involved with the platform every day, the future of mobile in gaming is huge. While it is true that they could and will never replace the appeal of at-home consoles, there is little doubt that in the future, mobile devices will take an increasingly large portion of the gaming pie. Whatever comes next, you can bet the world will be watching closely.
