Mobile Gamers Are Gamers

The biggest gamer you know is not your teenage cousin who has failing grades and intense social anxiety because all they do is play League of Legends. No, it’s someone you think of as barely tech literate, someone you’d never think of as a gamer. Heck, they don’t even think of themselves as a gamer. The most hardcore, dedicated gamer you know is your auntie who is addicted to candy crush.

We, the NPR listening, matcha sipping, critical thinking, snobby gamers of the world need to get off our high horses and come to terms with something the business big wigs have known for a while now: mobile gaming is gaming.

In all the rowdy, idiotic, self-important discourse that comes with being that dirtiest of classifications, “a gamer”, casual gaming is often left out of the conversation. But it’s time to acknowledge our brethren on the go. Having paid thousands of dollars for a honkin’ rig with enough RAM to upload your grandma’s consciousness does not make you more of a gamer than the baby child tapping away at the latest update to Idle Miner Tycoon. The fact that I paid my buddy Darnell extra to pay a scalper extra to get my hands on my precious, beloved Playstation 5 does not make me more of a gamer than my mom who regularly stays up until 4:30 in the morning absolutely CRUSHING games of solitaire. 

The most played games in the world are mobile games, despite what your uncle who works at Nintendo says. According to industry reporting from Newzoo mobile games made 93.2 billion dollars in 2021. The music industry made 25.9 billion. That’s only mobile games mind you! All you rockstar musicians are looking pretty dumb right now. In this refuse blaze of a society, money is god and no one is making more than mobile. All hail Candy Crush. 

The commonly shared idea of what constitutes a “gamer” is no longer useful. Since it’s almost everyone now. So the next time you see someone on the train crushing candies, instead of rolling your eyes and scoffing while you contemplate your next Elden Ring build, tip your hat in solidarity and give that auntie a polite “m’lady”.