Ever since its emergence in the mid-1990s, when we would spend hours playing Snake on tiny little green screens, mobile gaming went on to become a powerhouse within the video game industry, with a market that will be worth more than $90 billion in 2021, generating almost $200 billion in income and representing more than half of global gaming revenues.
The mobile market is also the fastest-growing video game segment, with a 4.4 percent increase year-over-year, and games – which have been the most popular category on both iOS and Google app stores for a few years – represent 10 percent of users time spent on apps. As smartphones become the leading gaming platform, developers and publishers have been focusing on this market to meet players’ demand for innovative mobile gaming experiences.
But apart from that, we’re in a blooming moment of the video game industry as a whole, with a new generation of home consoles and mobiles becoming much more powerful machines. The major companies and studios in the market put out new games almost on a monthly basis, providing us with innovative gameplay and unique gaming experiences more often than we have ever seen. If we take a look at the iGaming industry, for instance, we’ll see that new games are released almost every week and that US mobile casinos are constantly pushing for improvements, such as better responsiveness, immersive environments, and enhanced graphics and sound effects.
Nevertheless, the mobile gaming industry holds a lot for us in the future, with exciting new games coming up in the next few months, and the following titles are some of the most anticipated games coming out to mobile platforms in 2022.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition
In development for nearly two years and first reported in August 2021, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is the upcoming compilation of remasters of three iconic games in the GTA franchise: Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas. Featuring visual enhancements and gameplay upgrades, the compilation was developed by Grove Street Games and released for Windows and home consoles on November 11.
Officially announced by Rockstar Games in October 2021, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition will also be launched for mobile devices, and is scheduled for release on iOS and Google app stores in the first half of 2022.
Valorant Mobile
In June 2021, Riot Games announced its plans to bring the acclaimed first-person shooter Valorant to mobile devices, following the commercial success of the PC version. The announcement was made as the company celebrated the first year of Valorant, which recorded more than 500 million game sessions, with more than 14 million active users every month.
The exact details on this mobile version are still unclear, but it’s expected that the development would follow a similar path to another Riot Games awarded the title, League of Legends, which had its mobile version, League of Legends Wild Rift recently released for mobile devices. Despite the lack of information, Valorant Mobile is expected to be released sometime in 2022.
Apex Legends Mobile
Announced by Electronic Arts in October 2019, the mobile version of Apex Legends is currently under development in collaboration with a Chinese mobile company, and beta testing has already started in several countries around the world, including India, Mexico, and Colombia. Titled Apex Legends Mobile, the game will feature specially designed controls for touchscreens and will also support cross-platform play.
During this first round of beta testing, the game is only available on Android devices, but as testing advances, iOS support will also be added. Respawn Entertainment, the company behind the game’s development, is expected to expand the size of these tests, add new regions, and implement iOS support.
Diablo Immortal
The Diablo franchise will finally hit mobile devices in 2022. Developed by Blizzard Entertainment in partnership with NetEase, Diablo Immortal is an upcoming free-to-play mobile game in the acclaimed series. The game was first announced in late 2018, and according to recent reports, is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2022 for both Android and iOS devices.
Diablo Immortal will feature cross-platform play and progression carry-over between the two platforms, PvE raids, and dungeons, as well as ranked PvP and faction-based battlegrounds. In October, Blizzard launched a closed beta version of the game for Android players in Australia and Canada, later expanding to Korea, Japan, and China.
