The Monday Musing - What does E3 mean for mobile gaming?

By , on June 12, 2017
Last modified 7 years, 6 months ago

Well it's that time of the year again. The good and the great and the average of the gaming industry have gathered in Los Angeles to paste giant billboards on the side of buildings and get the hype trains started for the latest AAA releases.

But here at AppSpy we're far more concerned with the mobile side of things. And that got the cogs in my brain whirring round something rotten. It made me wonder whether mobile gamers should even be that bothered about what's going on at E3?

So I decided to write a piece of content about it. After all, content makes the world go round. Or at least I assume it does. It could be something to do with science, but I tend not to bother myself with such unimportant things as gravity and what not.

E3 - is it for me?

Look, the big publishers and developers are getting better at mobile. Take a look at Square Enix's GO games, or Nintendo's push into the medium with Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem: Heroes. But they're still lagging behind plenty of other mobile-focused companies.

And that means the mobile reveals we see from E3 just aren't that interesting at the moment. Sure there's the occasional gem revealed at a press conference, but in a very real way the AAA gang know that the audience at E3 doesn't really care about mobile games.

Think about it this way, it's a place to show off as many explosions and shiny pixels as you possibly can. And that's not something you really get with a mobile game. Sure, we have explosions, but are they the biggest explosions? I don't think so.

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So are we ever going to get a mobile focused E3? I think the question should really be, do we need it? Mobile games were the first to appear in Super Bowl commercials, remember, and the industry makes more money than console gaming already.

Plus it's not an industry that relies so heavily on a yearly cycle of marquee titles. Oh look, a new Assassin's Creed game. Oh look, a new Call of Duty. Mobile moves at a different pace, and that's just fine by me.

On top of that we all know that the best games on mobile aren't always the ones that make the most money. There are classics we've all still got on our phones that might not sit at the top of the top grossing charts, but they sit close to our hearts all the same.

Is E3 for mobile gaming? In all honesty, who cares? Mobile gaming is out on its own, doing what it wants. Let the bigger boys have their nerdy party, we'll just sit outside in the park playing Monument Valley 2 and having a much better time.