Enhancing Gaming Accessibility: Cross-Progression, Crossplay, and Mobile Gaming Revolution

TFD – Dive into the gaming revolution with cross-progression, crossplay, and mobile gaming advancements. Discover how Backbone is changing the landscape of gaming accessibility on TheFoxDaily.

Mobile gaming has never received the same respect as console and PC gaming. Yet it generated over $90 billion in 2023, accounting for half of the global games market, and runs the gamut from casual to AAA titles. It’s continuing to grow, and the boundary between mobile gaming and “regular” gaming is increasingly blurry.

There is a sizable untapped market of potential gamers who use smartphones as their primary device, even if most people who have a console beneath their TV use their phones for secondary gaming. My conversation with Maneet Khaira, the CEO and founder of Backbone, which produces a well-liked controller for mobile gaming, focused on his predictions for the future of mobile gaming. It’s not just better native games driving mobile forward; remote play and cloud gaming are also taking off.

Smartphone power is increasing. A future in which releasing your game on consoles, PCs, and mobile platforms might be standard practice is hinted at by titles like the reimagined Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which recently launched on the newest iPhone models. Developers want their games to be played by as many people as possible, and publishers are always looking to increase revenues. More processing power and bigger screens will continue to drive higher-quality games to phones.

Gamers may launch console or PC games and transmit them on smartphone screens via remote play. Even though Spider-Man 2’s New York isn’t the best for your phone, it’s a nice option if someone else in the house is watching the main TV or you’re not home. There are a few requirements though: you’ll need a mobile gaming controller, a fast internet connection, and a console to connect to.

Cloud gaming requires the same combination of a fast internet and controller. Cloud gaming, however often reviled and its reputation harmed by Google’s Stadia fiasco, nevertheless has enormous promise. While numbers are hard to come by, in October 2022, Microsoft revealed that more than 20 million people had used Xbox Cloud Gaming. There’s also Sony’s PlayStation cloud streaming, Nvidia’s GeForce Now, and Amazon’s Luna. Khaira feels that Apple’s opening up the App Store to game streaming services will reignite the space.

The fact that cloud gaming is now a benefit of PlayStation Plus and Game Pass memberships has made it simpler for people to take a look. You might want to give cloud gaming another shot if you tried it a few years ago but were put off by lag and buffering; the experience has already been greatly improved.

It’s difficult to say if silicon will continue to advance faster than the networking technology needed to make streaming economically feasible. Cloud gaming is expected to grow rapidly as a result of the rollout of 5G and Wi-Fi 7, and this promise extends beyond smartphones to smart TVs, tablets, and other screens. It’s possible that you won’t ever need a console underneath the TV if you get the correct controller, software, and subscription.

Despite the wide range of options available in mobile gaming today, the landscape is fragmented. You’ll need numerous apps whether you purchase individual games from Google’s Play Store, subscribe to a service like Apple Arcade or Xbox Game Pass, or use Steam Link to connect your game library to another device.

Khaira states, “We want to bring all these diverse gaming ecosystems and experiences together in one location.” The firm that created our favorite iPhone controller, the Backbone One, has since released 2nd Gen Lightning controllers and a USB-C version that works with Android phones as well as the newest iPhones. In collaboration with Hideo Kojima, it also just created a limited edition Death Stranding controller that came with the iOS version of the game. In a matter of days, it sold out.

Khaira is thrilled not just with the gear but also about the Backbone app and subscription. He thinks Backbone can accomplish for mobile gaming what Roku did for TV streaming, as it brings together all of your gaming options into one easily accessible interface. To put it briefly, Backbone consolidates all of your games and services into one location, making it simple to pick up where you left off in your most recent favorite game.

Additional benefits of owning a Backbone+ subscription are editing, recording, and game capture capabilities for people who enjoy posting content on social media. Promotions include 30 percent off new Backbone products and accessories, free months of Google Play Pass or Apple Arcade, and in-game goodies for games like Diablo Immortal.

Unfortunately, there is a price for this convenience. These days, selling yet another subscription is difficult. Even though having a single portal is convenient, not everyone will find Backbone+ to be worth the cost. It would be simple to suggest if the free app had the one-stop shop interface for all your games, but $50 a year is too costly for people who don’t care about the additional features or promotions.

There’s a constant idea that mobile games ought to be free. The majority of people are still not convinced with alternatives to in-app purchases and advertising, such as Google Play Pass and Apple Arcade. The most recent rumors imply that Apple Arcade’s survival is uncertain. That is unfortunate because, as a subscriber to both, I can attest that they are excellent resources for finding games that are worthwhile to play. Mobile game discoverability is still a major issue.

Khaira’s gaming sessions with pals were the reason he was fired from Backbone. Smartphones served as the common denominator in a house full of gaming PCs and consoles where they could all come together to play Fortnite after work. It’s difficult to anticipate what will happen next with the console wars raging and all the non-gaming corporations attempting to get in. However, the move to a subscription model and mobile’s agnosticism toward platforms seems more and more likely.

In response to the question of console exclusivity—in which some games are only available on a single system—Phil Spencer, the CEO of Xbox, stated recently that “the devices people want to play on should be in service of making the games as big and popular as they possibly could be.”

It appears that you will have more options when it comes to playing games on your smartphone, gaming PC, Xbox, or PlayStation. Up to 120 players can connect via the new Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile game on consoles, PCs, and mobile devices. Activision says more than 50 million players pre-downloaded the game, and Backbone is offering perks and in-game items for subscribers (plus releasing a Prestige Edition controller to commemorate the launch).

We are beginning to see more cross-progression, which transfers your video game progress from one platform to another, in addition to crossplay, which allows users to play games together across different devices. Games become more accessible and we can all play them more when they are available everywhere. That must be advantageous.