Not so many years ago if you wanted to play video games you had two basic options. Option one – go out and buy a piracy games counsel or gaming PC. Option two – get off your bottom and head down to the nearest games arcade.
With the development of more advanced tech in the 1990s, the first option rapidly overtook the second and games arcades pretty much died out beyond seaside towns.
Released in 1994 (was it really that long ago?!) the original Sony Playstation when on to sell over 100 million units and bring video games into the mainstream. Whilst still mainly the preserve of the teenage geek, 12 years later the Nintendo Wii burst onto the scene as the first true family fun-focused counsel.
Around the same time, Nintendo cornered the portable gaming market with the DS device which itself sold a massive 155 million units after its release in 2004. It even outsold their previous number one portable games counsel of the 90s, the classic GameBoy unit.
The Casino Industry Leads the Way
The casino industry has never been one to rest on its laurels. Constantly looking to evolve, the world of online casino gaming and gambling has adapted rapidly to make the best of the smartphone revolution. Visit betpal.com and claim a no deposit bonus to try it by yourself.
Over the last 10 years, many online casino and bookmakers have been quick to provide players with apps to download onto their smart devices. Having an app version of a casino or sportsbook site makes sure that players can get the same experience they are used to on a desktop.
Being able to load up the latest slot games or sporting odds on your tablet or smartphone means that you are never far away from the action. This comes as a benefit to both players and providers. Suddenly the audience for casino and sportsbook services was pushing out beyond the confines of a desktop computer into the everyday world.
A good example of this is the way that placing a bet on football went from a slog to the high street bookmakers into a few simple taps on your phone. The advent of more advanced in-play betting and instant odds saw an explosion in the use of sportsbook apps. Suddenly you could be in the pub with your mates watching your favourite team on TV and bet as the action unfolded right before your eyes.
This was literally a game-changer for the gambling industry which enjoyed a massive expansion over the last few years. Now the only issue threating to curb this growth is the tighter regulations being placed on casinos and bookmakers buy government bodies like the UKGC.
The iPhone Changes Everything
Few at Nintendo HQ or elsewhere could have predicted what was on the horizon, however. Up until this point, if you wanted to play video games on the go or at home you used a dedicated device. The same was true if you wanted to use the internet or simply call someone.
Steve Jobs and co at Apple created a nifty way to bring all these functions onto one device which you could pop into your pocket. The truly revolutionary aspect of the first iPhone in 2007 and the countless iterations since was the App Store.
Enabling users to download third-party apps onto the device was a true game-changer and meant that people had an all-in-one device with them at all times. This also helped to bring video games to millions of people who would have otherwise never played them.
Video Games Go Mainstream
As the popularity of the iPhone grew and other manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon using the Android platform from Google, the number of mobile apps rocketed.
From a standing start in 2008 app downloads have exploded in the last 10 years and 2018 saw an estimated 205 Billion downloads of mobile apps across all devices. This staggering figure is set to keep on growing as more people across the developing world get access to smart devices.
Of course, not all of those were games but according to the best industry estimates video games account for around 35% or all apps downloaded. That would put the 2018 total of video game apps downloaded at somewhere north of 70 Billion globally.
It’s safe to say that in just a few short years people that would never have been able to afford the expensive games counsel from Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft now have access to a vast catalogue of video games. Many of which will work even the most basic of devices.
What Are The Most Played App Games?
Hitting the app store in mid-2016, PokemonGO conquered all before it and became an overnight sensation. To date, it has racked up 1,000 million players around the world and ensured that mobile app gaming was headline news in pretty much every country you could play it.
This is double the number of players who have downloaded the previously most popular game, Candy Crush Saga since it’s release in 2012. That has swept up over 500 million players worldwide, a number that was previously unimaginable in the era of counsel games.
It’s now the trend that titles and franchises which were at one time massive console-only games are being remade for mobile gamers everywhere. A good example of this is being the recent releases of Mario Cart and Call of Duty.
What Does The Future Hold For Mobile Games?
As phone networks improve and develop across the world, ever more people from developing nations will come online and start to download apps. Mobile networks and devices can reach places on earth where it would be very difficult to install a fixed connection to a desktop computer.
As more and more people across the globe get internet access via smartphones and tablets, the market for apps and games will only continue to increase rapidly. Global app downloads are predicted to hit 258 Billion by 2022 and will surely continue to grow well beyond that.
It surely can be too long before the next trending game breaks the current download record help by PokemonGO!
