Quick sum-up:

Investments are going towards Blockchain and NFT in attempt to bring the tech into the gaming industry;

Developers are adapting to rising UA costs, no iOS IDFA and increasing competition by hybridizing and mixing game features in attempt to set their games apart;

Valve's Steam Deck shows a lot of promise including high performance and OS flexibility however the question remains: will it be enough to beat the Nintendo Switch's exclusive titles and loyal fanbase?

Meta is officially announced by Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, leaving us to question if this will be the next form of social media or the most expensive cop-out?

For Mobile Gaming, every year brings something new, and 2021 is no different. So far, the buzzwords of the year are: Metaverse, Blockchain and NFTs.

Blockchain and NFT games are in the sights of many investors and developers alike, looking for a way to bring the technology in future games. All the while, Mark Zuckerberg is taking the plunge into making his idea of a metaverse into reality - under the name of Meta.

NFT/ Blockchain Private Placements according to Drake Star Partners - Global Gaming Industry Update, September 2021

Opinions are divisive on whether NFTs will be a mainstream feature of mobile gaming, while investors and tech enthusiasts hail it for giving players the chance to “play-to-earn”, others raise questions as to how much players will have to grind before earning any actual money? When it comes to the metaverse, we know games like Roblox and VR Chat are pretty much the starting point, however there are bigger plans for what a metaverse could mean. For people like Mark Zuckerberg,it is an opportunity to redefine social media as we know it.

Total Deals by Investment Companies/Groups Drake Star Partners - Global Gaming Industry Update, September 2021;

So far, it's too early to tell where the future will lead us and until then, we'll always be able to look at how mobile games are evolving. One of the most noticeable changes in mobile games is hybridization. There's plenty of games that mix and match features from different genres to set themselves apart from the ever-increasing competition that's cropping up in the Casual and Hypercasual genres. There are quite a few games that adopted hybridizing features, like Homescapes did by implementing guild social mechanics, which you'd expect from an MMORPG game. Top War, the 4X strategy game, chose vibrant cartoony graphics (instead of realistic graphics) to attract more casual mobile game players. From the Merge subgenre, we also discovered Twisted Towers (currently in Soft Launch), a Tower Defense game where upgrading units can be done by merging them.

Mobile game developers are dealing with no IDFA for iOS and a stiffer competition than ever in an ever-evolving market that is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon, so it makes sense to see bigger efforts in attempts to attract more players to their games.

If you want to know the details, then click HERE and read up on our Q3 Business Landscape Overview report for 2021.