DISCLAIMER: This is NOT written by any psychology major. Its just a person, myself, stating what I have observed from mobile games and gamers, along with my own personal experiences with mobile gaming. This information is, therefore, subjective.

For those unaware, mobile gaming has become increasingly popular and, more importantly, profitable. Multi-billion companies (yes, BILLION) like King and Supercell have yet to make a single game that hasn’t been for mobile users. Hell, Supercell has only had three games until the recent release of Clash Royale (which was no pushover title either). These companies, among many others, have learned what the average user wants in a game, and have exploited it in such a way for their financial benefit.

The key point in many mobile games is the competitive nature of the users. Not all mobile users feel this way, but many are fans of competitive games. Supercell does a great job at simulating this competitive atmosphere, even though their games may not seem that competitive. Aside from HayDay, their games all feature some player versus player interaction. Granted, Clash of Clans and Boom Beach contain more of a base defense type of gameplay, but the player is the one who builds the base, technically making the games contain PvP. This competition on a global scale inspires players to go through any means to win, some to the limits of paying actual money, to be even greater.

Companies, like Supercell, also thrive in exploiting a human’s sense of achievement and usefulness to establish their mobile powerhouse. This is done through a clan system, which, again, is found in all Supercell games besides HayDay. The clan system fills a sense of meaning in playing a game. A successful “clan” system for any mobile game usually contains a few variables: a contribution/donation system to the clan, PvP within clans, and benefits built into the game which provide extra, for lack of a better term, stuff to a member of a clan. All three of these are found in games like Clash of Clans, Magic Rush: Heroes (Elex), and, to a lesser degree, Clash Royale. And this is just a small selection pool of successful mobile games with this feature.

Now, anybody who is aware of the mobile game market knows that not all games have this aspect of  “teamwork.” They don’t, however, they do share this idea of obtaining self achievement and “bragging rights”. For these next few paragraphs, I will specifically be talking about King and all of their match 3 success stories. However, the specifics of the game’s analysis can be applied to a much broader range of mobile games. Now, digressions aside, King is, arguably, the most successful mobile game developer. Let me rephrase, the most profitable mobile game developer, for success is WAY more subjective, as if this piece isn’t opinionated enough.

Yes, Supercell, EA, and other mobile designers make a boatload of money just from mobile platforms. Yet, to me, King seems the most profitable, especially now with the partnership with Activision and Blizzard. King does this by making a fairly large amount of games which all have similar gameplay technicalities. And many game companies (i.e.SGN, PlayFlock, BubbleSoft, and a TON of others) copy this gameplay design and it is just as, if not more, profitable. Seriously, I challenge you to search match 3 games on the Google Play store and see just how many game developers have copied King. Now, I am NOT defending King in any way, or at least I don’t mean to. I hate King, if anything, for their lack of originality (although Alpha Betty was a unique twist). Well, their seems to be two major communities within mobile games: the competitive/cooperative multiplayer gamers, ruled by Supercell, and the casual gamers, ruled by King (pun intended).

Let me follow the above statement with the disclaimer that these two groups are MAJOR generalizations that has many exceptions. Now, this casual community of mobile gamers seem to be busier, with work or other hobbies occupying most of their day. So, these on-the-go games with fairly simple controls seem to be their perfect hookup. These players seem to be more in the demographic of people without much experience to conventional gaming (again, generalizations). The reason why I feel games like this are more profitable than, say, a game like Clash of Clans is for the demographic it targets. The majority of the players of this game have no patience to wait for stamina, lives, etc., due to aforementioned reasons. So, they spend money in order to play the game as it pertains to their busy schedules. Competitive mobile gamers tend to be able to invest more time in the game, which will cause spending as well. But, this demographic of competitive gamers are in no prevalent rush to gain resources or lives quicker, therefore becoming free-riders (a mobile gamer that spends no money on micro-transactions in game). Some games under this casual category include Puzzles and Dragons, Angry Birds, and other games which seem to have simplistic controls that are easy to learn.

So, my opinion on the “factions” of mobile gaming. As much as I want to say mobile games and free to play games will be the death of pure video game development, I equally want to say this is great for the franchise. Yes, these games may inspire great developers on consoles to move to mobile devices. To me, this growth in cheaper options will inspire great developers to make even greater games in order to make sure the consumer will have more of a reason to buy the more expensive game. Sure, we’ll have more free to play games on mobile devices, but mobile devices are also evolving their technology.To me, I think this is great for both mobile gaming communities and conventional gaming communities. However, only time can really tell.

Thanks for reading. A bit more subjective than my other posts. Hopefully, this won’t become a pattern, along with the mobile gaming pattern. I want to stop mobile gaming posts for a bit, so maybe a poem next post. I will talk about mobile gaming, however, again, for it is such an interesting topic for me not only to write but to read about. Also, its a revolution in gaming, so I feel its a must for a video gaming blog.

Here’s the song for this post. Hope to post within 7 days, but no promises. Have a good one.

(Picture is of the mobile game Tiny Dice Dungeon. Unique mobile game, but micro-transactions are absurd).