Playing on a mobile phone has long been a normal process. Nobody is surprised anymore when someone plays games like summoners war toa team, Jewel Quest, Candy Crush or Temple Run. In recent weeks, however, more and more really big brands have established themselves that bring “real games” to the market. The question is how far mobile gaming can and/or should really go. Of course, current top models have long been able to play complete games and are we honest, 5GB for a game, is no longer an obstacle, even the middle class comes today with 32GB, so there are actually no more obstacles, or maybe?
To really answer this question you have to understand the nature of mobile gaming. Surely there are many games that can also be transferred to mobile phones. Online casinos, for example, have been developing their own apps for years. Even sports betting online on mobile phones is no longer a problem. Here one must make meanwhile even a good selection. A good sports betting bonus comparison is worth gold here, because the offers in terms of mobile apps is now huge. The question, however, is whether classic console and PC games can really assert themselves on the mobile phone.
One of the best examples is Civilisation 6, the well-known classic is now available in a complete version on Apple devices. The difference between mobile games and classic games is the accessibility and the length of the game. In games like Candy Crush, Into the Dead or Pokemon Go, the main thing is that the user has to play on. There is no tedious binding and no lengthy game concepts. Civilisation 6, however, is a game in which a single game can easily last several hours/days on the PC. Just like Square Enix’s current attempt to bring the Final Fantasy series to mobile devices.
Especially games like Final Fantasy 15 and even the Pocket Edition need a lot of attention and a long attention span. Extensive tests and surveys prove that games like World of Tanks Blitz, World of Warships Blitz or Final Fantasy XV PE, Civilisation 6 and others are well accepted. The question we couldn’t finally answer is whether the good opinions come from gamers who play these games anyway or whether they are actually new customers. Especially for games that require a lot of details and a high performance like World of Warships Blitz, or Civilisation 6, the small mobile phone displays are not very helpful.
Especially older gamers, who are the core target group for war games like World of Tanks Blitz, get problems here quickly. Also Civilisation 6, it works well on the I-Pad, but on a “small” I-Phone we imagine it to be borderline. Much more important in this criticism is not the technical component, but the manufacturers’ price expectations. The classic mobile audience may still be willing to pay 21 Euro for Final Fantasy XV in different, individually affordable episodes, but 60 Euro for Civilisation 6, which is only available on a small part of all Apple devices (The smallest is the Apple I-Pad Air 2), can lead to a big problem, especially with the marketing, maybe also a reason why the game was only released on IOS so far.
Nintendo takes a different approach with Super Mario Run and prefers to create specially adapted licensed software such as Super Mario Run, which is much too expensive at 11 Euros, as it definitely doesn’t offer enough content for the money. We’d like to know what your opinion is especially about full-price titles for mobile devices! Would you really want to play games like Final Fantasy, Civilisation, Grid Autosport and the like on your mobile phone or tablet? Where does the fun end with you? In terms of price and hardware requirements?
Instead of continuing to play on the console or PC, many gamers have switched to mobile games. Is this really the future of video games?
Video games have been around since the fifties. In the beginning there was only a yellow ball that ate ghosts and a pixelated plumber that had to save a princess. Today, as a soldier, you can occupy territories, conquer other kingdoms as a fantasy creature, or simply build a house. There seems to be no limit. It’s also become a trend to have your games on your smartphone and play on the track, for example. In most cases, these games are even free. But is this really the future of video games?
There is much to be said against it.
Reasonable games need enough power to get them running. Of course, our mobile devices are getting better and better. But our games also eat more and more batteries. We still can’t play games on our mobile phones that existed during the Nintendo Wii era, but we can play games from the Super Nintendo era.
The second critical point is the controls. While shooters can be played on consoles and computers without any problems, on small displays we have a rather slim chance of hitting precisely. Of course it’s also possible to play mobile games with a controller or mouse and keyboard, but this compromise also removes the mobile aspect.
In my opinion, the decisive point is the cost. Even though mobile games are basically free of charge, not all providers make their games available for free. Many games are contaminated by Pay2Win and microtransactions. Players who pay money make faster progress than players who don’t spend a cent. To be fair, this is optional. However, it is a nasty concept that tempts many to spend money. Unfortunately, console games are now also infected with this concept, which has caused quite a stir with the release of “Star Wars Battlefront 2”, for example.
For all these reasons mobile games remain a pastime. It remains to be hoped that the developers of the console titles will not emulate the concepts of mobile games and finance themselves even more through in-game purchases.