Mobile gaming, to me, is one of the most underrated gaming markets. I have talked to my friends about it and they all have their own opinions. Specifically, I was arguing that mobile gaming was better than console gaming. I knew what I said was a hot take because there is a lot of factors that depend on what YOU think is better. I’ll be giving my opinion on the market, along side the pros and cons of both mobile gaming, while in the end discussing if you should mobile or console game (though I think we can all agree that PC gaming is better than both).
My Opinion of the Mobile Market
Currently the mobile market, in my opinion, is in a fantastic state so far. From free-to-play titles to premium titles to emulators. There is a little something for everyone. I have personally played on emulators on my Android as that gives me the best experience and the most fun. I have played some premium titles like Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and handful of Kariosoft titles. I have also played plenty of free-to-play titles as well. Some don’t exist, like dicey dungeons, but some I enjoy even to this day, like Pokémon Go.
The Pros of Mobile Gaming
I believe that mobile gaming gets a lot of flak because of ADs, heavy monetization, and plausibly unethical + addictive methods. The heavy criticism is warranted though, I hate these things as much as the next guy, but I feel like most people are a little too harsh when it comes to criticism. Personally I see why studios integrate ads inside of their games if there game is going to be free. How else are they gonna make money? One specific thing I want to say is that mobile actually has it better when it comes to purchasing games on their platform. It is usually significantly cheaper, with what I assume the reason being is because mobile is just an inferior platform compared to its older brothers. As a matter of fact, most things when it comes to mobile is cheaper or better value for what you are getting. Phone cases, mobile controllers, storage, etc. There are some other things that make mobile great too:
- Value
- Like I said before, value is pretty much everywhere in mobile. You can play on the platform for particularly forever. As long as you avoid the hungry free-to-play titles, don’t mind paying a premium, and don’t mind tinkering a little bit you can get insane value on just that mini computer that fits in your pocket.
- Accessibility
- In my opinion, I believe that out of the 3 main controller schemes (touch, kb&m, and controller) that mobile actually takes the cake for being the most accessible. This is especially true if you have a tablet rather than a phone as you can have much more control with the ladder of the 2 and can have a more complex control scheme with the former.
- Portability
- Most people take their phone wherever they go. Because of this it is the quickest to get into and out of when compared to almost anything that can play a game. Unlike something like a switch, your phone actually fits in your pocket. Also unlike something like a DS or PSP, you will be playing games of higher quality, have more in-game content available, and a better variety of games to select (with the downside of having no actual controller).
The Cons of Mobile Gaming
I’ll admit that mobile gaming does have its pitfalls. Until recently, mobile game controllers kind had 2 looks to them: a controller with a grip to hold onto your phone OR a controller that looks something like this:
Despite portability being a pro it can become meaningless once you start having to carry this thing around. It actually makes it just as big as the switch depending on your phone. If you DO use the controller (from the image) there are multiple issues that could occur. Like your speakers, the screen imbalanced because of the back cameras, it blocks the USB port, and just makes using your phone whenever something DOES pop up a pain. There are also some other cons to mobile gaming that aren’t just the controller:
- Physical Media
- Because everything on your phone is digital-only, unless your phone has a SD card or you take out the storage from your device you essentially have no physical media. For someone like me this isn’t a problem. But one of my friends LOVES collecting physical and will go out of his way to make sure gets the physical edition of a game he loves, so to him this is a massive lost.
- Quality
- Originally I was going to put this in the “pro” section. But then I realized that you are just more likely to find ass mobile games out than quality ones since mobile game markets are more about revenue than any other platform. The quality of games, mainly free-to-play, is VERY divided and you will almost never escape ADs in your experience.
- Performance
- This actually goes both ways. Most developers who make games for mobile always makes it graphically low in order to get the most players. This in turn means a worse graphically appealing game. If you have a higher-end phone, like I do, some games will still never look good just because how much power they need. This is why cloud gaming may be becoming more and more appealing to mobile users.
- Game variety
- Many games that are on PC and consoles are simply not on mobile. Which is a shame. There are a plenty reasons on why, but I won’t get into them here.
Mobile Vs Console: Which is Better?
Well… it really depends on who you are. If you are someone who focuses on portability, don’t mind tinkering with your phone, don’t mind putting some effort into finding some games, and/or looking for more affordable options, than I would say mobile gaming is for you.
If you like more hit and known franchises, quality, like collecting physical media, graphics, and even some content creation, than console gaming may fit your needs.