Smartphone fun: Top mobile gaming trends in 2024 | Gaming

There’s no doubt that the smartphone has become one of the most significant technological advancements in history. To most people today, our mobile devices have become like an extension of ourselves, and something we simply cannot do without. With an app for everything these days, smartphones have also revolutionized everything from the way we listen to music, work out, and keep our daily schedules.

One of the largest impacts the smartphone has had is on the gaming industry. As an industry that’s been on the forefront of technological breakthroughs, smartphones have made the biggest and most popular gaming trends more widely accessible. As 2024 marches on, here’s a look at the top mobile gaming trends we can look forward to this year. 

Online Gambling & Crypto Casinos 

The iGaming industry has had a similar explosion in growth in the 21st century that’s seen it advance with smartphone technology. The fact that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have also grown in popularity has provided a new dimension to this world, with offshore platforms making it easier for players from the UK to access and play their favorite casino games on their smartphones. With most online casinos now accepting Bitcoin, players can now also bypass Know Your Customer (KYC) policies and enjoy a more private gaming experience, according to Kane Pepi (source: https://insidebitcoins.com/bitcoin-casinos/best-bitcoin-casinos-uk). Crypto casinos offer a degree of anonymity since players can use them to gamble without the need to provide personal identification details or banking credentials.

As the original cryptocurrency that kickstarted a financial revolution, Bitcoin remains the most popular and valuable cryptocurrency around. While other cryptocurrencies are also becoming popular with online casinos, Bitcoin is still the most widely accepted. By using Bitcoin as their main payment method, payments and payouts are faster, cheaper, and generally more secure than traditional methods like bank transfers. With a wide range of crypto casinos now available for players to access via their smartphones, your favorite BTC casino is just a click away. 

Hyper-Casual Games 

Characterized by being simole and free-to-play, hyper-casual games exploded in the 2020s. These games are generally made for mobile platforms and feature simplistic graphics, gameplay, and infinitely looped mechanics that provide endless fun. Burgeoning at a time when most people had no choice but to stay indoors, these games became a great way to wile away the hours, making for hours of entertainment. 

Their simplicity makes them easier to develop. As another perk, the growth of the industry also offers great business opportunities for investors and skilled techies who may be looking to capitalize on the smartphone market. 

Hybrid-Casual Games 

While hyper-casual games have enjoyed the limelight for many years now, their growth has begun to slow down somewhat. A new contender in hybrid-casual games is now also rapidly growing in popularity. These games feature much of the simplicity and appeal of hyper-casual games, but also throw in elements of mid-core games. 

Despite their greater complexity, the overall simplicity of such games lend themselves well to mobile platforms, which is why smartphone downloads of hybrid-casual games have massively increased in recent years. By 2022, mobile gaming had begun accounting for around 50% of the gaming industry’s revenue, making smartphone games a market developers simply can’t ignore. 

By tacking on things like social features and more immersive, hybrid-casual games like Angry Birds 2 have proven very successful. Given the highly competitive space they now compete in, 2024 is set to ramp up development and further growth of the hybrid-casual smartphone gaming market — making it the new kid on the block and definitely a subgenre to keep an eye on. 

Independent Game Stores 

Given the significant litigation that major app stores like the Apple App Store and Google Play have undergone in recent years, this had opened the door for independent game stores to finally gain a foothold. The dominance of Apple and Google in this arena means developers of mobile games usually have no choice but to abide by their every demand and pay commissions that may be crippling to smaller developers. 

Thankfully, with independent game stores now slowly being given a larger chunk of the pie, this may result in a larger array of games offered. If such stores are able to grow and build their portfolios, it will likely also means cheaper fees and commissions which can be passed onto gamers through lower rates and charges for them to enjoy their favorite games. 

AI Gaming 

It’s of course impossible to have any discussion about trends in a tech-oriented space these days without mentioning AI. With the massive growth of AI offerings across all sectors, mobile gaming is definitely set to progress further with AI offerings too. This will will likely mean more immersive gameplay, more intuitive games, and mobile gaming experiencces that can be tailored to individual players. 

Social Utility

On the other hand, there’s now also tons of scope for AI to continue advancing the social utility of mobile gaming. Where games intersect with real life and personal goals, we’re now seeing a growing industry for games where people can do things like play to earn, or simply enjoy a passtime that actually has a personal benefit such as helping them stay fitter, be more financially aware, or integrate better habits into their lives. 

With personal health and wellness continuously at the forefront of many people’s lives, mobile apps and games that offer a social utility are more popular than ever. Examples of these include games or apps that can help us exercise more, partake in mindfulness activities like meditation, learn a new language or skill, or simply better manage an aspect of our lives in some way. Either way, mobile games and apps with a social benefit are set to trend in 2024.