Here is a statistic worth paying attention to: the worldwide digital games market’s earnings rose by a good margin of 15 percent to reach USD$ 11.6 billion in January this year. What is more interesting? The mobile market and industry grew by 6 percent. 

This rise in earnings marks a good milestone for the industry and consumers. How exactly will mobile gaming trends continue to accelerate their own growth and evolution? Let’s find out.

Experts working at an app development company based in Edmonton have identified key trends that they believe are worth looking at this year and in the years to come. 

They have also mentioned the statistics that are supporting these trends, including quotes from mobile and gaming experts, shining a light on key trends around 5G, top grossing titles, in-game advertising, and communities connected that expect developers to become more innovative.

Let us now read more about it in detail.

General facts about Mobile Gaming

Let us start with some general eye-catching facts setting the scene for mobile gaming this year:

• The number of global game consumers is approaching 3.1 billion, which is 40 percent of the world population.
• Demand for more digital gaming is expected to drive the industry’s worth to more than USD$ 94 billion by 2024.
• The leading region for mobile gaming is Asia as paying game consumers amount to 1.42 billion. Europe comes in second place with 668 million paying game consumers and Latin America is in third place with 383 million paying game consumers. North America ranks fourth with 261 million paying game consumers.
• Of the 303.7 million mobile users based in the United States and Canada last year, 238.7 million are active mobile gamers, and it was 12 percent higher than what was recorded in 2019.
• Approximately every three out of ten Americans indicate they have been playing video games more than often amid lockdowns (28% of Americans that is).
• Almost 83% of employed Americans play mobile games and 55 percent of them play during breaks in their workdays.

Gaming will continue to reach all generations

Who would have that grandparents and their grandchildren would not only enjoy playing video games together, but that grandparents would also log in as much gaming hours as their grandchildren.

Video games have grown up and so have the generations of players. A lot of people are still tied to a plugged-in console or reach the game’s end on a weekend after a long week at work. Yet, a lot are now moving on mobile gaming because of its versatility. 

Other than that, mobile games can be played on any device, users can play games with their friends next door or any other place without wires, and can also watch a game session in real-time.

As determined by Deloitte in its research reports; before the COVID-19 pandemic began, the average American consumer had 12 paid media and entertainment subscriptions. Here is a look at the generational breakdown:

• Millennials averaged 17 subscriptions, Generation Z had 14 and Generation X had 13.
• 40 percent of millenials (i.e. every two out of five) revealed that they had been gaming a lot more during the pandemic.
• Renters spent 110 hours gaming during quarantine (timeframe: mid-March to May 2020).
• A third of Fortnite players spend six to ten hours per week playing.
• Nine in ten Gen-Z individuals (90%) classify themselves as gamers in comparison to 59 percent of the American populace.
• The average age of video game players lies between 35 to 44 years old.

Future Technology is Changing the Gaming Experience

There appears to be a sort of a catch with 5G technology (app ideas): the rise of people working from home is resulting in the need for a stronger 5G rollout (which seems impossible at the moment). However, the pandemic slowed down the expansion of 5G and in the United States, its rollout is being delayed (same in Canada and Mexico).

They key benefits of 5G for mobile gaming are:

• Lower latency rate or the time required for a set of data to travel between two points.
• Increase in capacity for a richer multiplayer experience.
• Greater streaming opportunities for live service games, aka cloud gaming.