There is no doubt that gaming has become a massive part of society on a global scale, including playing standard video games, online games or playing for real money at online casino sites. Of course, the USA had been left behind somewhat in the past here but recent changes to US online gambling laws have changed all that in many states. Now, US players in these states can enjoy online casino games in the same way as many other players around the world – from an online casino PA. Enjoyed by residents in New Jersey and beyond, it is a fast growing area in the USA.
Although playing games had been done via desktop devices initially, there has been a real switch towards mobile gaming in recent years. Indeed, many people peg the ability to access video or casino games on a mobile phone as the key factor in the sector’s growth. Mobile gaming has all the advantages of normal gaming but with one added extra – you can do it wherever and whenever you want. This could be on a work lunch break or killing 5 minutes when waiting for a bus.
Although this way of playing is popular in many countries, one has really taken it on-board – China.
China loves its mobile games
The whole mobile gaming market is set to be worth almost $70 billion by the end of 2019 and this is expected to shoot up to almost $100 billion worldwide by 2022. One big player in these rapidly increasing revenues for mobile play is China.
This has seen China become the global leader in mobile gaming. It is thought that around half of the population play games on their mobile phones and this saw mobile gaming generate around $30 billion in China during 2018 alone. Of course, China is a tech-obsessed country as many places in Asia tend to be. While this explains a little as to why mobile play has taken off so much there, it is not the whole story.
To really understand why China has taken this way of gaming on-board to such an extent, you have to dig deeper. When you do, it becomes clear that many people play mobile games there because it is the cheapest and easiest way to do so. While consoles are now available to buy, they can be very expensive and hard to find. Desktop PC’s are easier to source but can also be expensive, especially if you want to buy one made for gaming.
This left modern smartphones as the only choice for many Chinese people who want to play games. Whether it is casino games or games like Fortnite, for the normal Chinese citizen a smartphone is more affordable, simpler to get and easier to carry around. When you factor in the increased power and speed of modern smartphones, then it is easy to see why mobile gaming rules here.
Will the West follow suit?
Many people are now watching to see if mobile play will become THE dominant force in Western gaming. This is especially true now the US market is opening up and leading to many forecasting huge new revenues from gaming there. But will the West get into mobile play to the same extent as China?
In many ways, there is every reason to see this happening. More powerful smartphones will not only support more advanced games to attract players but also provide superb graphics and sound. In a few years, there may not be much difference between playing on them or an average PC or console! Of course, the lower cost, portability and availability of mobile phones will also make playing this way more popular over time as China has found.
It may not be quite so simple though and much of the resistance to mobile play taking over could be cultural in the West. Put simply, the West has a much stronger ingrained tradition of playing games on consoles or desktop devices than China. This could make it hard for many gamers to leave this behind and switch to playing on mobiles. Many Western gamers also like the hardware and experience that playing top video games on consoles or desktop PC’s deliver which mobile gaming cannot.
Only time will tell
As with anything in life, only time will really tell us if the West follows China into making mobile gaming the dominant force in its gaming market. While more people are used to playing games on mobile phones now, the relative infancy of online mobile gambling in the US could slow things down a little. When you also factor in cultural differences and the fact that consoles and PC’s are less expensive in the West, it is not yet a done deal.
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