Could Handheld Gaming Make A Comeback?

For many of us, some of our earliest memories in gaming could certainly be found in different handheld consoles through classics like the Gameboy that brought many of the big names in gaming to the household – the likes of Mario, Pokémon, and The Legend of Zelda were able to find huge success through handheld gaming, but the release and success of modern smartphones over a decade ago has led to a huge shift away from handheld gaming in a sense – but there is still some hope, as one platform continues to keep the handheld gaming market alive.

The Nintendo Switch has been quietly outselling the other big platforms since it’s release and posts huge numbers and is regarded as one of the best consoles released of all time – the games that have come along with it are also widely regarded as some of the best released with names like Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild being absolute blockbusters, and shows that there is in some regards still a huge market – whether or not this market is so successful because of the names attached and how ingrained into gaming they are, or if this is because the platform and the games speak for themselves, but it does show there is still an opportunity at hand.

(Image from expertreviews.co.uk)

The other hand has mobile gaming in mind as the replacement to handheld gaming – accessibility has made the success of mobile gaming rocket as the lack of limited access has brought gaming to a much wider audience than any other platform prior, and with no additional cost for the games that are played it shows no signs of slowing. It has also provided an opportunity for different genres to emerge and grow – the most popular for this growing demographic has certainly come from the gambling industry, online betting has been on the way up as different operators have been providing bigger bonuses for joining like this BetRivers code for example that provides a big sign up bonus to the site – given the changing demographic for these sites specifically, it does muddy the waters a little of what to be expected, as the handheld market would typically be aimed at a younger audience, and mobile gaming now geared toward an audience that is starting to look a little older, especially as time passes and the demographic continues to change. Unseating the established mobile market is the biggest challenge for handheld gaming, the added cost has always been a heel for dedicated gaming but as mentioned the Nintendo Switch has certainly shown that it is possible – if any big developer is looking to make the move the time is certainly now, however, as the mobile market seems to only be continuing to grow – it won’t be likely that the big names previously mentioned ever move across to mobile, at least not for the foreseeable future, but not having big games like Mario in the gaming world in the near future would be a huge loss, and although the Switch still has a number of good years left behind it, change will have to come eventually.