The next big trends to watch for in mobile gaming, according to Google expert

• Around the globe an estimated 1.67 billion people played mobile games in 2023.
• This is a slight fall from peaks seen in 2021 amidst the pandemic.
• But what could come next - what are the trends to watch out for?

In the years since snake was the talk of the town, mobile gaming has exploded in popularity across the globe. No longer are you simply reliant on the game that comes installed on your handset when you buy it, you have the choice of hundreds of thousands, even millions of titles at your fingertips.

You can even play Fortnite on your phone, for those who want to be embarrassed by 12-year-olds while on the go. It is just shy of a decade since Pokemon Go exploded onto the scene and took over the world and as the next Nintendo mobile game prepares to launch, I wanted to know what the next big trends in mobile gaming will look like - because unfortunately I don’t have a crystal ball.

I was able to ask an expert in the field , Mariusz Gąsiewski, this very question while at the World Congress on Innovation and Technology in Yerevan, Armenia. And Google’s CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) Mobile Gaming and Apps Lead offered the following thoughts.

Social

He is predicting that mobile games will find ways to encourage more socialisation for players, so you are not just tapping away alone on your phone - you feel more like you are part of a bigger community. All in a bid to keep players playing the game day after day, month after month and year after year.

Mariusz explained: “The first one is, of course, social. So gaming is becoming very social. And you see that like a lot more and more companies are investing in those topics.

“For example, the event when you start to be part of the clan is one of the best predictive of your retention for the future. I say that In the case of my son, who actually has a lot of friends from the games he's playing, yeah? That socialising is a really big part.

Connection

One of his boldest predictions is that we will see games that blend the digital space with our real lives. How exactly this would come to pass, Mariusz did not offer anything more specific than a general outline.

He added: “The second one, I think, is in general this connection between the real and digital world. It's coming to understanding location, what location can change in the people's perspective, how to actually maybe connect the people’s activity in digital with real life.

“And of course, augmented reality is one of the few examples, but it would be how to maybe connect the people's life in the game versus in the shops. Yeah, so how, in general, make people understand and feel this connection between entertainment and real use cases.”

Localisation

Another of his big predictions for mobile gaming in the near future will be an increase in localisation. Meaning that instead of titles just being available in English and maybe French or Spanish, they will be translated into the player’s native tongues - when a few years ago that wouldn’t have been the case.

He said: “Five years ago, if you were building the game for India, you are doing that in English. Like two years ago, if you are doing that, you are mostly saying I will do English and I will do Hindi.

“But now you see more and more developers understand okay. There are actually other languages where, like, you know, 50 million people speak that language in India, which is, like more than most of the nations in Europe.

“So, I think that is becoming a big part of the gaming experience. How to actually adjust the gaming experience to the people's expectations.”

I am at the World Congress on Innovation and Technology from 4 October to 7 October. You can find all my stories from the event here. You can get in touch with me by emailing:[email protected]