Growth of Mobile Gaming in 2020

Mobile gaming continues to grow in 2020 as the appetite for owning smartphones shows no signs of waning and new technology makes mobile games ever more attractive to consumers.

According to Newzoo, one of the leading gaming market analysts, there are now 3.5 billion smartphone users across the globe, and this figure is growing by almost 7% year on year. Newzoo also points out that 50% of mobile app users play games, and in terms of time spent, mobile games come second only to social media platforms and messaging apps.

This gives you a hint about exactly how popular mobile gaming is, and in fact, by 2022, mobile and tablet gaming is expected to account for 50% of the market, outstripping PC gaming which accounts for 23% and console gaming which comes in at around 31%.

And of course, we can't ignore the impact of Covid-19 on people's gaming habits. As more people were ordered to stay at home, they began to think about how they would spend their time, and it turns out that a lot of people spent it playing games.

Gaming was not only entertainment for fans, it also proved to be a welcome escape from the depressing reality of a global lockdown.

Going to live events and venues might have been off the table, but thanks to the gaming industry, sports fans could get their fix through eSports platforms and those who like a flutter could access mobile casinos for android and iPhone.

Far from being a poor relation of the real thing, technological advances like Augmented Reality (AR) are bringing mobile games as close to real life as you can possibly get.

In a nutshell, AR overlays computer-generated images in the real world. A perfect example of this is Pokémon Go (come on, we know you played it too!). Augmented Reality is different from Virtual Reality in that Virtual Reality immerses you in a computer-generated world and shuts you off from the real world; with AR, you're always aware of the world around you, it just makes it more exciting!

The good news with AR is that you don't need any impressive kit like a headset to experience it, your smartphone will do just fine. This makes AR a more accessible option for a bigger audience of gamers.

What's even better is as smartphones continue to evolve, graphics will become even more impressive and life-like, which is great news for gamers. With AR, there's even scope for going beyond images and effects, and including sounds and smells in the gaming sphere to create the ultimate 'just like the real thing' experience.

Tablets can also be used for AR games, and technically so can laptops and PCs, though because they aren't portable and don't have motion sensors, AR gaming options are quite limited.

So what can AR bring to gaming?

Online casinos have seized on the opportunity to offer their captive audiences a completely immersive experience by adopting AR. Some online casinos are offering features like live dealer games that marry the digital world with real-life interaction.