Tokyo game show highlights rise in social mobile gaming

Two elements of our technology which have been experiencing huge growth lately have been social networking and mobile gaming.  At this year’s Tokyo Game show it was clear that both social networking and mobile gaming go hand in hand, are already experiencing great success and are set to explode in growth in the future.

It was the little known company Gree Inc. that was star of the show, with their portfolio of ‘social games’ which are aimed at casual gamers who use their** smartphones** and**tablet** devices to interact with gaming content.  Gree is a social networking service, which is an alternative to Facebook and Twitter and currently has more than 140 million users worldwide.  Mobile gaming is an extension of the social networking service they provide and their popularity sees the company targeting up to 1 billion users in the next few years.

Mobile gaming has overtaken portable console gaming (such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP) and has now become the definitive handheld gaming device.  With smartphone use higher than it has ever been and continuing to rise, the customer base that software companies can market their games titles to is enormous.   Social mobile gaming is now set to be the ‘next big thing’ for smartphones, perhaps even as big as what**apps** were to the iPhone.  Multiplayer games on smartphones have already proven themselves popular but with the added interactivity and engagement of social networking integrated, companies will be able to provide a completely immersive experience.