Industry Trends Painting Mobile Gaming as the Way of the Future

There was a time decades ago when home console gaming was king. From the NES to the Wii, every new system would raise the bar, unlocking new potential to be explored when you were sitting in front of your TV. Today, the big gaming companies, together with mobiles, are revealing a new path, far different from what the classic trajectory suggests.

Today, every major console developer is chasing mobile access as a way to set themselves up for the future, to maintain or gain position in the sales ranking charts. This raises some important questions, most notably around how we got here and what this could mean for the future of gaming.

Demonstrations of Mobile’s Success

The biggest indications of success in the mobile space started with Nintendo’s Game Boy, first released in 1989. Eventually selling nearly 120 million units, this device was often emulated, but no other country could match Nintendo’s dominance in the dedicated handheld arena. This remained true for generations, from the GBA, DS, 3DS, and New 3DS.

Dedicated handheld gaming systems weren’t the only names in the industry, however. With the launch of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, smartphones quickly set new standards in mobile gaming opportunities. These weren’t separate devices people bought just to play games; they were necessary tools ubiquitous to nearly every adult across the developed world. They didn’t need to be used to play games, but they could, and getting started was easier than ever.

Video games were popular examples of this, with early success stories like Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies, and just as important in driving adoption in the mainstream were online casino services. Online casino UK websites continue this legacy with games like Roving Clover and Jo Blitz, delivering entertainment experiences over even ageing smartphone and tablet systems. This industry is now worth billions, and it’s continuing to expand each year.

In video gaming systems, it’s Valve’s Steam Deck and Nintendo’s Switch and Switch 2 that have recently stood out as the most successful mobile gaming platforms. These have shown a path that Microsoft and Sony appear desperate to follow, setting the stage for what comes next.

The New Generation

Nintendo has followed up its immensely popular Switch with the Switch 2, while tablet and smartphone gaming and iGaming are more popular than ever, and the other console manufacturers have taken notice. Microsoft has already released licensed Xbox handhelds with the ROG Xbox Ally, which, despite the name, is more of a PC handheld akin to the Steam Deck. Still, this demonstrates a kind of testing of the waters.

A series of reliable leaks on Sony’s end have shown that the company is looking to re-enter the handheld space, with a new system ostensibly already in development. For both Xbox and Sony, their direction appears to be offering ports of their console releases on a handheld system, as already embraced by the Switch, Steam Deck, and mobile devices.

Whether looking at smartphones, tablets, PCs, or existing consoles, every end of the equation seems to be expanding and investing in a more mobile future. While we don’t know for sure the form this will yet take, the direction itself seems all but inevitable. This is great for fans of mobile play, but we have to hope this also won’t spell the end of console systems as a whole, with so many of us so invested in the joy they’ve brought us over the generations.