The advent of mobile computing devices has replaced the need for many of their standalone counterparts across a wide range of use cases. But lack of good games make a strong case for owning handhelds.
It seems impossible to find a good game for the iPhone. Something that isn’t filled with ads or doesn’t drain your bank balance. Despite mobile phones packing great graphics it seems hard to find good games.
Microtransactions is at the core of almost every game in the app store.Finding titles that follow the old “pay once, play forever” model is nearly impossible It could be that these games are stashed away behind Apple’s arcade paywall, but I have no interest in paying a recurring fee just to play a game or two. Give me a fair one-time price for a game I enjoy, and I’d gladly pay it.
An extreme case for this microtransaction driven game is Rise of Kingdom. It’s ads were beautfiul and extremley luring. It deserves credit - as the game played just like the ads which also seems like a rarity in the mobile gaming space. But without spending money, you will eventually hit a wall. The game becomes heavily skewed in favor of paying players, turning everyone else into bottom-feeders. At that point, the balance collapses and the fun disappears.
The other problem - there are so many kock offs and copy cat games with minor modifications to justify their presence/acceptance into the app store.
The last two games that I played on the mobile, which I genuinely enjoyed were Stardew Valley and Clash of Clans. I quit CoC because it also eventually turned into a game where spending money started to feel imperative to a sustained fun - admittedly not as aggressive as other games.
I understand that anyone serious about gaming should look towards Nintedo Switch or dedicated handheld consoles. But it is somewhat shocking there isn’t a good repertoire of games on the App store for casual/semi-casual gamers who don’t want to commit to owning and playing on handhelds.