Mobile games are thriving as players turn to them for fun and friendship during the pandemic, with increasing numbers of women joining the trend.
“Being stuck at home has not stopped people from playing games on their phones,” said SensorTower mobile insights strategist Craig Chapple. “To the contrary, mobile gaming is more popular than ever.”
Smartphone game play involves taps on touchscreens with just a few moments of play at a time, often while sipping coffee or waiting for transit, in contrast to the console games with immersive worlds that can span hours.
Photo: REUTERS
Mobile games appeal to a broader demographic than do shooters and other genres popular on console or PC gamers. More than 40 percent of mobile gamers are women, according to research firms Newzoo and Statista. That differs from gamers using consoles or personal computers, who are more likely to be males age 12 to 35 years old, according to analysts.
“We’ve had loads of people forced inside during lock-downs in need of entertainment,” said Futuresource mobile tech and gaming research analyst Morris Garrard. “Gaming being one of the most interactive and engaging forms of entertainment has seen a significant boost.”
According to the mobile consultancy App Annie, spending on mobile gaming is expected to see strong growth this year and top US$100 billion. Popular titles include Candy Crush Saga, Honor of Kings, Pokemon Go and Gardenscapes.
MINNOWS AND WHALES
Many mobile games are free to download and rely on massive numbers of people spending a little on things like extra lives, virtual outfits or items that boost in-game abilities. And, paying a dollar or so to upgrade to an ad-free version of a mobile game is seen by some as a bargain.
Mobile players who spend little to nothing are referred to in the industry as “minnows,” while those more willing to pay are “dolphins” of “whales” depending on how deep they reach into their wallets.
Casual games which rely on short play times such as puzzle and arcade-style games are among the most downloaded mobile titles.
A major innovation in recent years has been a “battle pass” system popularized by Fortnite from Epic Games, with players pay for tickets to each “season,” according to Chapple.
ADDICTIVE FUN?
Mobile game makers, like their console-focused peers, manipulate psychological levers that emotionally reward players and keep them engaged in ways that some say can be addictive.
The WHO has classified “gaming disorder” a disease characterized by “impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities” even if it is detrimental to one’s life.
But, in a stressful world, mobile games can be a relaxing escape while standing in queues, waiting for a food order or just whiling away time, according to players.
Playing mobile games can improve moods, boost brain power and provide a sense of community, according to proponents.
“Allocating a bit of time to playing games can improve your mental health in a lot of amazing ways,” Lifehack digital marketer Zuhair Sharif said in a blog. “This has led many to incorporate video games into their regular lives.”
Mobile game lovers are quick to point out that playing console or computer games in planes, buses or cars is not an option, while smartphones can be whipped out anywhere to make a few moves.
MOBILE MILLENIALS
Worldwide, an estimated 72 percent of active mobile game players are “millennials” ranging in age from 23 to 38 years old.
The broader audience for mobile games includes those in parts of the world where smartphones are the primary, if not only, way people connect to the internet
“In emerging regions, particularly China and India, it is absolutely huge,” Garrard said.
Mobile game revenue is powered by the fact that they are easily available to the more than four billion people in the world with smartphones, according to Garrard.
“Maybe they’re not spending a lot, but there are many who spend a little bit on mobile games and it really adds up,” Garrard said.
A trend toward cloud streaming services will likely boost mobile gaming, as titles once limited to consoles will be able to offer more play on smartphones or tablets since action is power by datacenters.
High-capacity, super-fast 5G telecom networks could enable game makers to bring console quality graphics and action to mobile devices, appealing to more hardcore players.
“The concept of gaming on the go will be ever more present, supported by improvements in mobile infrastructure,” Garrard said. “It’s not just the gaming platform will be benefiting, but the likes of kind of Google and Apple.”
Apple and Google are behind the mobile operating systems, iOS and Android respectively, that power nearly all of the world’s smartphones.
The US technology titans also run online shops for mobile apps, taking 30 percent commission on transactions in what has become a controversial toll given their dominance in the market.
Last week BBC updated its backgrounder on China and Taiwan, entitled “What’s behind the China-Taiwan Divide?” BBC’s backgrounders on Taiwan have been (cough, cough) very creative, and this latest iteration, while an improvement over the earlier versions, is a proud torch-bearer for that tradition. The BBC begins by observing that “Austronesian tribal people” were the first people in Taiwan. What does the use of the word “tribal” suggest about those people, compared to the Chinese? After that, the Aborigines disappear from the story. Because they have the earliest and strongest claim to Taiwan? To keep them in view would of course
April 19 to April 25 Taipei’s Dalongdong Baoan Temple (大龍峒保安宮) was in a sorry state following the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) retreat to Taiwan in 1949. About 200 refugees and military dependents had taken over the 119-year-old structure and set up camp in makeshift dwellings. When writer Wu Chao-lun (吳朝綸) moved to Dalongdong in 1950, he saw “little incense burning; it was extremely crowded … and there was barely any space to sit. They washed their clothes with dirty water and hung them up still dripping. This is not only blasphemous, but unsanitary.” To save the temple, locals put together a restoration
For many teenagers, a trip to the night market might entail snapshots of tasty snacks and smiling selfies. But for Patti Chen (陳姵璇) and Angel Guo (郭恩加) it provided a chance to document through photography a part of urban life that is normally overlooked. The two 16-year-olds befriended a middle-aged man kneeling on the street, asking for money. “He wasn’t just a beggar,” Chen said. “He was a person.” The girls spent 30 minutes talking to the man, who they described as friendly and outgoing. He had a home, he told them, but he was unable to hold down a
In the foothills of Taiwan’s mountainous spine, reservoirs are running dry as the island experiences its worst drought in decades — a crisis that risks deepening an already acute global semiconductor shortage. Taiwan is home to some of the world’s biggest and most advanced high-tech foundries, a linchpin of a global US$450 billion industry that provides the computing power for essential devices, but is extremely water-intensive. The coronavirus pandemic sparked a global run on microchips as consumers snapped up electronics — causing a dearth that Taiwan’s microchip factories were struggling to plug even before the drought hit. Those foundries are already running at
RSS