I was excited to see the lineup of games that were unveiled at the Summer Game Fest 2024 this Friday and was keen to cover some new mobile games once showcased. However, as I watched and waited, I saw a gallop of Console and PC announcements, mobile was nowhere to be seen.
To my surprise, the show concluded with Supercell’s recently launched action title Squad Busters standing out as the sole mobile-only game. This made me reflect on the current state of mobile gaming and its representation at such major events and Supercell had to say about it too.
Squad Busters was showcased because of actor Ken Jeong’s suggestion
I read the recent interview of Supercell’s Marketing Head Rob Lowe with GI.biz, and he also had the same thoughts to express. Well, what surprised me the most was that the organizers of a huge event like Summer Game Fest weren’t always so sure about a mobile-only game being included, and could get entry only because of a friend.
The Finnish developer managed to secure a rare trailer slot with the help of actor and comedian Ken Jeong of the Hangover film series fame, who appeared in a chicken suit from Supercell’s very own Hay Day, which is part of the Squad Busters trailer, also featuring Chris Hemsworth and Will Arnett.
Given the eventual hesitance, it still took that kind of approach to persuade the event’s founder and host of Summer Game Fest 2024, Geoff Keighley, to run the mobile title on the show.
Lowe said, quite simply, that mobile gaming is just too big a part of the global games market for mobile games not to be awarded equal status with console and PC games. He likened Supercell’s approach to that of Nintendo in console gaming, stressing that mobile devices are essentially consoles that everyone carries in their pockets.
Despite a huge share, the mobile industry is still underlooked
Well, simply put, this reluctance suggests that mobile gaming is often viewed as less interesting by major event organizers compared to console and PC platforms. Without any doubt, handheld devices attract more audiences when it comes to gaming since they are easy to carry and are accessible everywhere, and the market is significantly bigger compared to the rest of the platforms.
Well, I have noticed that games are mostly targeted to be multi-platform, and there is no harm in it. The recently concluded NetEase Connect 2024 and Tencent SPARK 2024 had plenty of offerings for mobile, but they were mostly multi-platform titles.
I also remember a report where it was suggested that Mobile Game developers are pivoting to PC and Console despite having the lion’s share generating $90 billion in 2023 in the global games industry, you need to think about what the current situation is.
They find other platforms profitable, and until there is a change in this, the situation of mobile gaming not being a major attraction in shows remains. With the extra effort put in by developers on the same, I believe this will be achieved sooner or later.
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