As gamers, we tend to scoff at mobile games. They’re fine, but they’re just mobile games. What’s the big deal, right? 

According to a recent Newzoo report, mobile game revenue will make up half of all gaming revenue. The 2018 games market is projected to earn $137.9 billion across the board, with $70.3 billion (~51%) of that coming directly from mobile games.

Meanwhile, PC revenue is expected to amount to $32.9 billion (~24%) and console revenue stands to be around $34.6 billion (~25%).

Revenue from PC and consoles have been on the decline relative to mobile games since 2013, and they’re expected to continue to decrease through 2021. However, overall revenue for mobile, PC and consoles have continued to rise, both individual and as a whole, for the past decade. Newzoo points out that although mobile revenue has increased dramatically since 2012, it has managed not to cannibalize revenue from PCs or consoles.

Mobile gaming is expected to continue to eat away at market shares for at least the next three years, though. The analytics company predicts that by 2021, mobile games will account for nearly 60% of game industry revenue and over $100 billion in total revenue.

Of the $70.3 billion in mobile revenue expected this year, 80% comes smartphones, with tablets making up the remaining 20%.

Nowhere is mobile gaming more dominant than in China, where it accounts for over 60% of the country’s total gaming revenue. Japan on the other hand, spends the most on mobile games per capita, out-spending their North American and European counterparts by a considerable margin.

All told, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for approximately 52% of total gaming revenue, a whopping $71.4 billion.

So what explains the rapid growth of mobile gaming? There are a couple obvious answers. First of all, smartphones have gotten a lot better in recent years. The screens are gorgeous and the games look and feel a whole lot better now than they did five years ago. And thanks to those increases in technology, mobile games themselves have gotten demonstratively better.

On a less obvious note, more recognizable games have begun to make their way to mobile. Look no further than PUBG Mobile and Fortnite for evidence of that. These two powerhouse console/PC games were adapted for mobile and are breaking all kinds of records. And then of course you have Pokemon Go, a game that somehow managed to bring the whole world together for a few short weeks.

Even without taking the empirical data into account, there’s a clear trend of mobile gaming becoming a larger and larger part of the gaming community and the world as a whole.