Taking a glance at the gaming landscape of today, it’s easy to see that businesses are investing more and more time and money in developing high quality, mobile-friendly apps. In fact, in the field of iGaming, more online bookmakers and casinos than ever before are choosing to improve their mobile user experience in any way possible, in order to gain an edge over their competitors.
The mobile gaming industry is one of the fastest growing industries on the planet, expected to surpass $53 million in revenue by 2019. Let’s explore some of the main reasons why this growth isn’t expected to slow down anytime soon.
“Smart Phone” (CC BY 2.0) by MokshaDolphin
Life in the mobile age
Mobile devices have become an integral part of our lives; so much so that, as with most major technological advances, it’s hard to imagine life without them. Instead of sitting down at a desktop PC, players now login to their favourite app and start playing on the go.
This is also due in part to the massive improvement in the availability of Wi-Fi, 4G and other types of wireless internet connection that we’ve seen over the past five years. People are now able to stay connected to the internet at all times of the day, almost regardless of where they are, which making gaming on the move extremely convenient. In fact, we’d go as far to say that many people prefer it.
It’s easy to forget that Android and iOS phones and tablets were once considered a luxury item. These days, estimates suggest that there are as many as 2.1 billion smartphone users on the planet.
“My desk” (CC BY 2.0) by robscomputer
Streamlining desktop games for mobile
The mobile user experience is an altogether different beast to desktop, yet many developers are rising to the challenge of creating responsive mobile versions of classic PC games such as Football Manager and The Sims – which may have been inconceivable a few years ago.
While they may not offer exactly the same playability or depth of in-game features, the streamlined versions of games such as these are proving to be extremely popular. Why? Because developers spend just as much time refining the user experience so that is just as easy (if not easier) and fun to play compared to the desktop counterpart. So often it’s a case of ‘less is more’. No doubt we’ll continue to see more and more hugely popular games taking the leap to mobile in the coming years.
iGaming
The mobile revolution in iGaming has been aided by the safer, more secure payment systems that many bookmakers and casinos have implemented – the Betway online casino is a prime example of this. Players are given the option to quickly deposit money, often within seconds of logging in to the site, before withdrawing any money via a secure credit card transaction or Paypal.
Assured security coupled with the sleek mobile features that many apps offer means that mobile is now the preferred (and increasingly expected) platform of choice for many iGamers out there, particularly millennials. Any bookmaker or online casino who hasn’t yet invested in a mobile function will soon find themselves falling behind the rest of the pack – if they haven’t done so already.
In few other areas of gaming is the focus on mobile-friendly user experiences so keen, so it will be intriguing to see how further technological advances play out in the iGaming industry in years to come.