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We might not be that far away from simultaneous console and mobile releases

Apex Legends Android

EA’s talk of bringing the new Battle Royale hit Apex Legends to mobile this week got us thinking: we might not actually be that far away from simultaneous console and mobile releases.

Woah there – take a breath and hear us out before you freak out.

Right now, the only game to have a successful launch across all major platforms is Fortnite, and it runs like a dream. With this week’s release of controller support and 60 frames per second, you can now play, and compete with, gamers on console.

At this point, the experience is pretty much identical no matter the platform you play on, and this is increasingly becoming the norm. Just last year, Apple made a big show of how the new iPad Pro is as powerful as an Xbox One. Meanwhile, Android paved the way for the Nintendo Switch with its Nvidia Shield devices.

The divide between mobile and consoles, in terms of power, is shrinking

The divide between mobile and console, in terms of raw power, is shrinking drastically. At the current rate of technological growth, mobile will likely surpass the PS4 and Xbox One before the generation is up, and might even catch up with, and even overtake, the PS5 and Xbox One during the next generation.

Where mobile falters though, is in the games department. While we have a bunch of awesome titles like The Room, Monument Valley, and Brawl Stars, you still can’t play the likes of The Witcher 3 in the palm of your hand. Huge console games are still just outside of our reach.

We’re expecting all of that to change though — especially as more devices move towards using USB-C. This versatile technology powers the Nintendo Switch, so its only a matter of time before we can fire our mobile phone screens to our TV with a lovely console-style interface and play games there and on the comfort of our phones.

Yes, we’re well aware that many of you are doing that already, but it’s hardly as simple as it is with the Nintendo Switch. It needs to get to that level before developers start taking mobile seriously.

Everyone owns a mobile, so the potential market eclipses PC and console by a wide margin

And why wouldn’t it? The number of people that own a mobile device far eclipses the entire PC and console market put together. It’s a device that we all carry in our pockets and the Wii has already demonstrated that anyone can be a gamer if we make it accessible to them.

So either Google or Apple need to step up and release a dock-style device, make it easier for console developers to port their games, and help grow our platform.

We’d love for the next generation of games console to sit in our pockets, and that’s very much a possibility. It just needs a little kick to get there.

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