Mobile gaming is bigger than it has ever been with a much wider representation across many different demographics. It’s no longer just the younger teen males that make up the majority of the audience as the balance has since shifted, but each audience group has their own favourites. So, which are the biggest genres in mobile gaming for 2021, and could there be change to the biggest options moving forward?
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Battle Royale
Certainly topping out the list is the Battle Royale titles that have been pulling in big numbers for the past few years. The biggest names in both Fortnite and PUBG still lead the way, and although Fortnite has fallen on difficult times with the ongoing legal battle, but still remains amongst the most popular. The success has largely come as Battle Royale titles lead the mobile esports market particularly in the east and show no signs of slowing down, particularly as they look to be the mainstay product in mobile esports as a whole. Whilst mostly targeted toward a teenage audience base, there are fans from all age groups enjoying the growing battle royale content being made available.
Trading Card Games
Recent trends for things physical TCG games have definitely helped their virtual counterparts too – namely for one big name in Hearthstone. A recent announcement at the developer’s big yearly event of Blizzcon showed some upcoming changes and features, and still being a mainstay on mobile this will certainly impress many mobile players. There had been a small slowing in the market as some big releases like Artifact had flopped, but there’s still enough interest to generate a lot of hype around the TCG genre for some time to come.
Gambling & Casinos
With the audience continuing to grow, it’s no surprise that online casinos with big bonuses like those found at comeon.com are amongst the most popular. The games offer a lot of familiarity to newcomers who may not have been interested in gaming before and also offer a lot of accessibility as players can simply tap in and tap back out at will without fear of losing progress or falling behind. Whilst this has been a huge benefit in titles away from this specific genre, it is something that has certainly helped gambling on mobile as a whole grow, and particularly throughout the past year where many services reported hitting a new surge in numbers not previously seen.
Emulated Nostalgia
It can sometimes be very difficult to remember just how powerful our modern devices are, particularly when compared to dedicated consoles of the past. One area that has been seeing a surge in new players is within emulated titles from old handheld devices like the GameBoy on mobile. Much like TCG, this has come with some influence from the growing popularity of titles like Pokémon again, but with a whole host of games from handheld to console from the late 90’s and early 2000’s being available and easy to play on mobile, many of these games are starting to find their new home on our handheld devices and finding their time in the light again.