Regardless of your opinion on mobiles as gaming machines, there’s no denying they’re an important part of the contemporary gaming ecosystem. Generating over $93 billion in revenue in 2021 alone, mobiles take up a huge part of the gaming pie, and influence publisher and developer decisions in both the PC and console space. As for how much their influence could grow, that’s a question that gamers are going to have to consider as we move further into the 2020s.

Trying for Perfect Integration

We fully acknowledge that there is a hard limit on how far mobiles can go because of integration limits. They have issues regarding processing power and control that hamper their effectiveness within video games, but this isn’t the case for all forms of interactive entertainment.

“Smartphone Evolution” (CC BY 2.0) by Phil Roeder

The standout in terms of how well mobiles can be integrated into mainstream use has to be the online casino industry. For example, many believe the best experience for online casino Canada games can be found in the mobile space. On mobile, users can experience the same titles like Keno Draw and Hit the Gold that they would on desktop, without compromise. Add into this the bonus of more mobile play, and there’s no negative in this form of engagement.

Video games aren’t quite so simple. Control is the biggest issue here that doesn’t have any easy solutions. By their nature, touch screens lack the tactile feedback of traditional controllers or keyboards. This makes them far more difficult to perform intricate exercises on, which can make high-speed games untenable for some. Carrying and pairing a controller can ease this issue somewhat, but it also means paying extra for peripherals and abandoning part of the simple mobility which makes mobiles special.

A lack of hardware power in mobile devices is also an issue, but it’s not completely insurmountable in all cases. This is thanks to many of the most popular games, like eSports titles, not pushing for the flashiest visuals. Instead, they rely on clear designs which don’t bring systems to their knees in games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and PUBG.

Since mobile power has accelerated to a massive degree over the last decades, it’s now well within the realm of possibility for a mobile to host some of these most popular titles, at least in theory. Control limitations could still imply a problem with accessibility, but this is an issue that could be solved with a hardware dock connected to a mouse and keyboard or controller, where all serious eSports games are connected anyway.

“Samsung’s S8 DeX dock” (CC BY 2.0) by pestoverde

Looking forward five or ten years, there’s no question that the mobiles of the future will be far more powerful and flexible than the systems of today. It’s also likely that expanding daily carries like controllers and hardware docks at play locations will mitigate some issues mobiles face with input.

As for how much this will affect their part among their console and PC brethren, that’s a much harder question to answer. While it’s possible and even likely that mobiles will eventually rule the mainstream casual gaming conversation, their hurdles mean they’ll never be able to completely usurp their predecessors in cutting-edge or eSports titles.