Are “Casual” Games Hurting The Mobile Gaming Industry?

The development of more and more “casual” games in favor of longer games has caused a bit of concern in the mobile gaming community recently. While these types of games enjoy a healthy following among consumers who are merely looking for something to while away a few minutes at play with, they really do not fill the needs of the more hardcore mobile gaming aficionados. Often featuring game plays that last only a few minutes, these types of games do not really make for an engrossing and sustainable long-term mobile gaming experience.

The main reason why people go for mobile gaming is of course its portability. You can take it anywhere with you, and you can enjoy playing games without having to bring anything else in the way of bulky controllers, power supplies and any other common gaming accessories. Handheld consoles do fulfill all of the same criteria, and there are a large number of more involving games that have been developed for them. But carrying handheld consoles around means yet another piece of equipment that you have to take around with you.

As it is, the mobile gaming community can be divided into two distinct groups of people, both with fairly different needs and requirements from their mobile gaming devices. On the one side you have people who are quite satisfied with the minutes-long game play offered by the more casual games, while on the other side you have people who are looking for a more immersive and engaging mobile gaming experience.

Now it could be that the people who are interested in the more short form games greatly outnumber those who are into mobile gaming more seriously. If that is the case, then it is totally understandable for companies to focus all of their development efforts into producing games that fulfill the needs of this market and no more. However, failing to meet the needs of the hardcore mobile gaming players is seriously neglecting what is a potentially lucrative market as well. Given the current state of the mobile gaming industry, with its emphasis on games that can be played in a few minutes or less, it is only a matter of time before mobile gaming is not going to be considered by hardcore gamers as a viable gaming platform at all. When that happens, the industry will likely experience a widespread exodus of gamers from mobile gaming, into the more complete gaming experience offered by dedicated handheld gaming consoles, regardless of any portability issues that may or may not exist.

It is still too early in the game to tell whether or not mobile gaming is indeed headed towards a casual game only scenario. Many in the mobile gaming community are hoping that their wants and needs will be addressed by the mobile gaming developers in the near future. Until that happens though, we can only expect less and less hardcore mobile gaming fans to turn to their mobile phones when they are in need of a gaming fix.