PlayStation and Xbox are betting big on mobile, and for good reason

digitaltrends.com:

Sony surprised PlayStation fans August 29 when it acquired Savage Game Studios, a mobile game developer. As part of this announcement, Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst unveiled the company’s new PlayStation Studios Mobile Division that “will operate independently from our console development and focus on innovative, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP.” The news comes in the wake of the Backbone One — PlayStation Edition’s launch and Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition that will also bring Candy Crush developer King and Blizzard mobile games into Xbox Game Studios. It’s clear that the big console players are investing more than ever in mobile. 

That might sound like a shocking development, especially for hardcore console and PC players who aren’t fans of mobile games for various reasons, including predatory monetization practices. But when you take a step back and look at the reality of mobile gaming, it’s entirely clear why two of the biggest names in console gaming want to spread their reach to an even more global and lucrative market — especially as overseas markets further embrace mobile as a gaming platform of choice.

Focusing on console and PC gaming makes it easy to forget just how big mobile gaming is. After Microsoft’s announcement of the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Omdia Principal Analyst George Jijiashvili told Digital Trends that while consumer spending on PC and console gaming is predicted to reach $62 billion this year, mobile game players will spend $111 billion overall in 2022. “If we look at our forecast for 2025, we expect the spend on console and PC games to remain relatively flat,” Jijiashvili said. “However, mobile gaming is set to grow considerably.”