SweetieGames

You would never think it, but you could class a huge amount of people as gamers. Over half the UK population aged 16-24 played mobile games in 2024! However, a lot of the gaming world tends to look down their nose at mobile games. I’m just here to ask: Why?

Many of us tend to think of Angry Birds or Candy Crush if you bring up mobile games; puzzles with minimal gameplay that don’t qualify you as a video game fan. However, I’m a firm believer that the amount of “gameplay” in a game isn’t what qualifies it as a game. Puzzles require so much thought outside of pressing buttons or the screen; you’re still engaged!

Everyone has a smartphone now; they’re a real necessity in this digital age, and many people would have a phone and/or tablet over a laptop or PC. It’s not just Candy Crush on the app store; some super popular games are available there for a reason. Mobile games provide a real accessible space for people to discover their love of gaming; maybe playing through their phone will make them realise that a console or PC wouldn’t be such a waste of money after all?

I do also think it’s particularly looked down upon as many women and girls enjoy casual mobile games. Like many genres that have an overwhelming female fanbase, the fact that it’s mostly women who are enjoying mobile gaming makes it particularly easy for some game fans to ridicule them. Mobile gamers are quite often removed entirely from gaming conversation, despite the fact that someone could be playing the wildly popular Genshin Impact on their phone. You wouldn’t remove them if they were playing the same game on their PC!

I think if you play a lot of games, but it happens to be on your phone or tablet, you are a video game fan. You may not engage with certain popular PC or console titles, but you have your own niche that you enjoy. I got into one of my all time favourite video game genres through playing free mobile games first! There’s nothing wrong with it, and you deserve to be involved in gaming conversation as much as anyone else.