There’s been a notable shift in the gaming world in recent years; people have moved away from the consoles and the vast screens and the LED lights, shifting toward something more portable. Mobiles now dominate the gaming landscape. In 2018, there were around 1.27 billion mobile gamers, a number that has now risen to 1.8 billion, and which is expected to keep growing fast.
But for those who haven’t made the switch yet – and there are plenty of folks in that category – there’s often a really big sticking point. Screen size.
After all, a lot of gaming is about immersion. How can a screen that is often just a few inches across, designed to be comfortably held in the palm of one hand, actually create a satisfying gaming experience? Let’s find out!
It Depends What You Play
First, let’s acknowledge that not all games work well on mobile devices. Yes, some truly impressive titles, such as League of Legends, can actually work staggeringly well on the compact screen, but not every title ever is satisfying at this level. Even so, that doesn’t limit mobile gamers one bit. There are more options than you could play in ten lifetimes.
Take, for instance, games like those you might find at an online casino. Platforms such as 5gringos online casino offer almost limitless numbers of games. Open the slots category alone, and you’ll be greeted by hundreds of different titles, all offering enormously varied play options. If you want something fast-paced and risky, you might go for a high-volatility slot. If you’d rather go for something gentler, you might choose low-volatility. You’ll also see a myriad of different mechanics, all working to offer variety: jackpots, bonus rounds, sticky symbols, wilds, hold & win, and more.
And beyond that, there are card games too. It might be hard to imagine how a complex game like poker, where you’ve got shared cards, your own hands, and symbols for other players to focus on, could possibly be scaled down, but on a good platform, you’ll find the interface flawless and intuitive. It’s impressive how developers have mastered the challenges of small screens and even turned them to their advantage in some cases.
Dice add another option, with titles like craps providing another simple, phone-friendly game with fast-paced play.
The same applies well beyond the casino platform. Many, many games are now available for mobile, from indie titles like Hollow Knight to the much bigger titles like League of Legends. Developers everywhere are taking on the challenge, and while not every single game can be adapted, it’s amazing how creative developers have been at overcoming the constraints of a small screen.
And of course, some games work better in this sort of setup than others. The ability to tap, rather than having to use a mouse and keyboard or a controller, can create a much more fluid sense of playing, and may be more intuitive for some people. Gamers should therefore not feel too suspicious about the idea of making the jump from console to mobile.
Phones Are Getting Better
It’s also important to remember that, great though phones already are, they’re always getting better, and that opens up new possibilities for developers. Take, for instance, the folding phones that are now becoming popular, overcoming many of the difficulties that the small screens initially presented. Of course, game developers are still going to have to contend with those challenges for a long time, since smaller screens are pretty ubiquitous, but this demonstrates where the industry might be headed and how quickly things alter.
In many ways, the restrictive screen has posed one of the biggest hurdles for mobile gaming, so this change could see vastly more people adopting mobile games as their go-to gaming option. It may also make it easier for the developers of blockbusters and games with more complicated interfaces to make the leap, although it will present its own challenges as the difference between screen sizes grows.
Power is also likely to increase; phones may be capable of running most games already, but as gaming gets more graphically-intense and powerful, that demand is only going to grow. Fortunately, modern smartphones are also becoming steadily more powerful, with breakthroughs improving battery life and screen capacities, meaning that games aren’t in danger of outstripping smartphones in most cases.
Overall, then, phone screens and phones in general may hold some limitations for a gamer used to having a huge screen and a customized, high-end controller at their disposal, but the gap is shrinking rapidly, and more and more people are shifting in this direction. It’s possible that we’re looking at a future where platforms become considerably less siloed, and you can swap from your phone to your large screen and back again as the situation demands.
