How will virtual reality influence mobile gaming?
Mobile gaming is a highly lucrative market that has an ever increasing number of users. As mobile technology has developed rapidly, the popularity of mobile gaming has soared. Now, online casinos are enjoying greater success than their land-based counterparts while mobile is also home to a wide variety of other apps that attract audiences to gaming. But with new technology such as virtual reality on the horizon, will mobile gaming soon become a thing of the past?
Mobile Casinos
When casinos made the transition to the online format, they attracted existing casino fans, but also managed to reach vast numbers of players who had never been able to enjoy the casino experience in the past. The online casino business is now thriving and generated a revenue of £2.44billion in 2014 in the UK alone. When mobile technology such as smartphones and tablets became powerful enough to run online casinos, established sites found the transition to mobile gaming easy, and allowed their customers to download the apps for free and use the same account.
For example, new players can visit 32red on mobile here, download the app, and receive a £32 bonus when they deposit £20. Other sites such as Jackpot City and Pink Casino also give players bonuses when they sign-up, and it’s these deals that help to increase the popularity of the sites and make more players aware that they are available for mobile.
Online casinos lend themselves well to the mobile format, because they are easy to play on the move, and they don’t usually require players to invest much time in them, so they can dip in and out as it suits them. Mobiles and tablets are capable of handling the busiest of websites, and the fact that customers can rely on everything to run smoothly when they play with their hard-earned cash is important.
Appreciating Apps
Along with the multitude of online casinos available that offer compelling and enjoyable games, there are plenty of free-to-play apps that have experienced great success in the mobile gaming market. Angry birds is one of the most famous apps of recent times. The original game was downloaded over 11 million times on Apple’s iOS, and the creators, Rovio, receive around $1million per month in revenue from the advertising alone on the Android version of the game. The success of the app has led to numerous spin-offs, including a film that is set to be released this year.
When such a simple game can pull in such immense amounts of wealth and become so well-known, it must lead developers to think that the mobile market is a more lucrative place in which to design and house their games. But with virtual reality set to hit the mainstream soon, will developers move their focus to this format?
The Future of Online Gaming
The world of technology is on the cusp of another huge development. Virtual reality is coming, and within the next few years it will be an essential piece of kit. How game developers make the transition to this virtual reality world will determine their success in the future.
As online casinos have shown in the past, they have the ability to evolve and innovate. When VR hits, there is no doubt that online casinos will find a way to bring their games to this format. 32red, Jackpot City, and other sites like these will be desperately looking at ways they can enhance their brands even further by making this switch to virtual reality. Online casinos have been generally well-received over the years, but one question could be whether they succeed in replicating the buzzing atmosphere of the land-based casino. Virtual reality could change this. Players could still play the mobile casino from their phone or tablet, but also put on a VR headset and actively explore a virtual casino. All the advantages of the mobile casino such as easy deposits and 24-hour help would still be there, but players would also get to enjoy the atmosphere.
When VR becomes an essential household item, it seems fair to assume that a lot of game developers will focus on bringing their games to this format. Will this mean that mobile gaming will become a thing of the past?
