The mobile gaming industry represents an incredibly lucrative market, being the leading gaming platform in terms of both player numbers and revenue generated. However, on the other hand, it is also the most challenging area to invest in as either you can achieve great success or risk a rapid collapse. Nevertheless, the trend is clear: all major publishers want to try their luck and have moved accordingly in recent years.
It is important, therefore, to understand what the mobile market is today. According to the analysis company Newzoo, the mobile segment was worth $92.2 billion in 2022, which is 50% of the overall industry revenue. For comparison, the console market is worth $51.8 billion. Even a national perspective allows us to give more context when we talk about this vast market.
The reason is evident: almost everyone has a smartphone, while far fewer people have a console or a gaming PC. It is not surprising, therefore, that more and more companies are looking at mobile gaming in light of the incredible commercial opportunity. But it would be a serious mistake to believe that the mobile world is easy to explore. "For various reasons, mobile is probably one of the most expensive platforms to develop on today," says Mauro Fanelli, CEO of MixedBag, which has published Forma.8, Futuridium, and, exclusively for Apple Arcade, Secret Oops on Android and iOS. "The cost of mobile development and launch is different. Beyond the quality of the game, there is a matter of maintenance, user acquisition, and how a mobile game works. It requires constant investment."
The mobile market can be divided into two major categories. On one side, there are free-to-play games in constant update, the live services. Here, the difficulty is evident: an entire team of developers must constantly work to produce new content, engage users with events and novelties, and maintain the game's quality. "The whole free-to-play model is based on game-as-a-service: first, launch the game, and then the team must produce content weekly," explains Fanelli. "Constantly balancing, changing the meta to keep users engaged: the game never ends. On mobile, this is extreme, much more than on console. It is continuous development, and the team must always work on the same game. It's a constant investment."
Otherwise, especially for an independent developer, the mobile world is an endless sea but full of sharks. "The number one platform for indie games is still Steam, followed by Switch and other consoles," according to Fanelli. "Then, way down the list, there is mobile. There is always the illusion that it is easy, but then the market is complicated. Even games promoted by platforms may not succeed." This is where the consolidation that many major publishers are carrying out begins.
When entering a market like mobile, which has different dynamics from PC and console, there are two ways to engage: developing an internal specialized department over time or acquiring a consolidated entity with the competencies and technologies needed to create new mobile titles.
