Mobile gaming has changed the gaming industry in a big way and has also changed the way that people all around the world consume games. There has also been a massive growth in the mobile gaming market with the annual revenue being forecast at £61.3 billion in 2019, compared to 2013, where the market was worth just £13.7 billion. This shows a growth of over 400%. This trend is also forecasted to continue, with the market predicted to be worth $180.1Bn (£140.3Bn) by 2021.

The earliest known game on a mobile phone, was a Tetris variant for the Hagenuk MT-2000 phone, released by the Danish company Hagenuk in 1994. However, one of the most popular mobile games wasn’t released until 1997, when Nokia released Snake on preinstalled in most of their devices. The games were an early glance at the popularity of mobile games.

In 2008, Apple launched the iOS App Store and it allowed users to download different applications and games with ease and in the same year, Google launched the Android Market (now known as Google Play Store). These stores also made it easier for developers to shares their apps with the world. This can be evidenced by research done by PocketGamer.biz which showed the growth of the number of games released onto Apple’s app store. According to the data, the number of games released on the store rose from 151.46 thousand in July 2013, to 811.91 thousand in July 2018.

The growth in the total market revenue and the volume of games being released can partly be put down to the accessibility of game development for mobile devices. During the development process, there are a series of choices that must be made. One important decision that must be made at the start of development is which devices are to be supported. This is due to the different architectures of the devices, and each of them have different languages and native IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Although there are platforms which allow cross-platform development, such as the Unity engine and Microsoft’s Xamarin Tools. For platform exclusive development, each operating system will have different technologies to use. For example, applications and games can be developed within the xCode IDE with Swift being the supported language. For development on Android devices, the native IDE is Android Studios which supports Java as the main development language.

For each operating system on mobile devices, there are multiple different versions present on devices. With each new update to the operating system, new features and security patches – amongst other things – can be added, which need to be considered when developing. This is because whilst developing, if the code was written which relies on a certain feature, it may not be present on an earlier version. This means developers must find the best operating system which will offer the needed functionality, whilst being available for as many people as possible within their chosen demographic.
Mobile devices have had a huge impact on how games are played. The portable nature of the devices has spawned new genres of games and have also allowed other genres to thrive. One example of this Augmented Reality (AR) games. Although this genre has existed before the mobile games were a prominent part of the overall gaming industry, the hardware that is available within mobile phones opens up opportunities for AR games on these devices. Games such as Pokémon GO and Ingress make use of the camera on mobile phones as well as the location-based services.

The hardware within mobile phones have increased in computing power in the past few years and this has changed what developers are able to achieve both graphically and in terms of the overall size of the game. Mobile games requiring more power have started to emerge more frequently, with games such as PUBG Mobile and Fortnite being ported from their PC and console counterparts. In response to this, manufacturers have started to release phones marketed for games, such as the Razer Phone released in 2018. Although these phones are becoming more frequent nowadays, it is not the first time a “Gaming Phone” has been released. One of the earliest examples of a gaming specific phone was the Sony Xperia Play, released in 2011. The phone was tailored specifically for games and featured the iconic PlayStation buttons, along with two touchpad joysticks.
 Mobile devices being portable could also be a major factor in the increase in the number of people playing games. Mobile games have also enabled the introduction of different revenue streams for developers. Traditionally, games would have an upfront cost which the player must pay in order to access the content. However, advertisements have become more prominent, and have allowed games to become free to play, and feature ads at certain points that break up the gameplay or allow the player to get a reward. This has had benefits for both the player and the developers. It has allowed players to try different games which they may not have normally tried and allowing them to do so without the upfront cost. It has also allowed developers to make more money than they would have if it was a standard upfront cost.

Over the past few years, there have been ethical concerns about mobile gaming that have been brought up and discussed. One example of this is the issue of gambling which has grown since casino-style games have become more widely available. Gambling, in general, is a big issue that has had a major impact on people from all different backgrounds and the UK have started clamping down on forms of casino-style games in betting shops. Although changes have been made to protect consumer’s livelihoods, these games are largely unmonitored, and users can find themselves spending upwards to £20,000 per bet on certain apps.
One issue with these games being on mobile devices is the accessibility of them and being able to place high stake bets and satisfy a gambling addiction at any time.  The design of these type of games contributes to the addictive nature with the skinner box technique being used often to make the player enjoy playing the game, releasing endorphins on wins, and making the player want to continue playing.

Gambling in video games also come in other forms, such as loot boxes. Even though there are currently restrictions in some countries surrounding loot boxes, they still feature heavily in mobile games – where they can typically be purchased with a few clicks within the game. The main issue with this type of gambling within games is that it is not regulated, and no checks are completed regarding the player's age. As some games with loot boxes are aimed for a younger audience, they can be linked with childhood gambling addiction, as suggested by a report published by the Gambling Commission in 2018.