Have mobile games become the new console games ?
In Gori's century, we didn't play consoles as much as retro gamers like to think. What we really played the most was shareware DOS games, later Flash and Java games in the web browser.
What people forget is that consoles and games were really expensive in those days, and when we got one, we usually put a modchip inside to play games for (almost) free, that's how we got access to modern games.
Yeah, that's what we played in the days (The free version of course).
Then came online play services, like the Xbox live or WOW subscription, but most kids only saw it from very far away, because who could afford to $15 a month to play Splinter cell 3 online ?
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We also played a lot of emulators on our Windows 98 (then later XP), machines. Not that retro gaming was as big as today, but rather it was a free way to get many games to play for kids.
Funny fact; we didn't know Battletoads was a NES games, for us it was just "The impossible game on the computer".
That's what we played on, in 2002.
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So now some people are hating on mobile games because they are free to play, then they hate on them because they have gacha-type purchase options, but I think that if we look at them honestly, they are really good software available for free.
In Gori's time, we played a 2D hand-drawn flash game called "Skullkid" where you had to kill your boss with a chainsaw, and that was the coolest thing ever. (the game lasted less than 10 minutes)
Now you can play a 48-players war with dozens of weapons, customization options, vehicles, destructible environments, and each single game lasts around 30 minutes. (I'm talking about Delta Force) You don't even have to buy a console for this, as it's a phone game, and there's no subscription to pay.
What some people forget is that back in the days of so called "real games" you would have to pay a console, the game, and the monthly online subscription for half this game.
Of course, if you had a PC you didn't have a subscription to pay for (except for some big MMOs), but back in the days, computers were not at all as cheap as today.
When you bought a computer, it was expensive, it had limited storage space, and playing 3D games was intensive on the GPU. Now you can get a Ryzen powered laptop for a very cheap price and play most of current games on at least "Medium" quality.
And don't forget that parts were not as good as today, especially when games came in the picture. I remember people frying their GPU because of too much World of Warcraft which overheated the components.
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In the end, the snake ate them all.
What did I want to say with all of this ?
Mobile games are what people can really play, especially when a Play Station 5 is over €700 here, and that most new console games are just remakes or remasters.(Or mobile games ported to consoles, lol) So even if mobile publishers sell you overpriced skins in-game, or show ads, they often offer the real gaming experience that people will remember, so now my friends, let's play.
