Cybermedia India has delved into Western Europe’s mobile gaming market, and found that hardcore gaming has surged 27 per cent year-on-year throughout the region.

Casual gamers also saw a smaller boom of eight per cent, while the hyper-casual market declined 32 per cent over the same period.
The increasing maturity of mobile games, more powerful technology, and increased game time are cited as the driving factors for this boom.

Gamers interviewed as part of the study stated that they found mobile gaming improved their concentration (38 per cent), creativity (34 per cent), and helped them overcome social isolation (33 per cent), showing that mobile gaming isn’t just a past time – for a large number of people, it’s become a big part of their lives.

Chip developer MediaTek is making significant inroads in the market, three out of five serious gamers included in the survey thinking positively of the brand. These gamers cited fast game loading (70 per cent) and long battery life (51 per cent) as among the most important qualities to look for when deciding on a new phone.

The study also found that the average smartphone has seven games installed. Gamers play five games regularly, on average, an increase from four prior to the pandemic.

Post-Covid, there has been a significant increase in paid gaming, with one fifth of mobile gaming apps in the region being paid apps.

This falls in-line with the rise of midcore gaming, which aims to bring an experience more akin to that of an AAA game to mobile devices. Mobile devices are growing increasingly powerful with every successive generation and as such, while previous generations of mobile devices were severely limited in their capabilities, modern devices are powerful enough to play more advanced games. The result is the increase in what’s possible – and the increasing profile of mobile gaming among enthusiasts.