Could the Move to Mobile Gaming Harm Upcoming Rockstar Releases?
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With Microsoft and Sony both making strides to shift their focus onto the mobile scene, it’s easy to see where the market is heading. In fact, the gaming industry has been moving to mobile as the ultimate platform for a good few years now.
It began back in 2007, when the release of the first iPhone made the smartphone far more accessible as a gaming device. The first sector of the industry to benefit was iGaming, with millions of players using their phones to play their favourite online games, bet, and trying to win a jackpot without so much as having to even log into their PC. As a result of this, more game developers began jumping on board to take advantage of the smartphone’s portability, accessibility, and convenient nature.
And things have only grown from there. Just last year, Apple announced that AAA games would be available on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, with key features being Resident Evil: Village and Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, both of which were big, open-world games that had been given their very own smartphone port. Over the next few years, even more AAA games are likely to become available, and while this is a good thing for many players, it isn’t exactly benefiting everyone.
The Rockstar Conundrum
It’s important to remember that iGaming titles and games available in the app store are very different to the games we’re used to playing on consoles like Xbox or Playstation. Take Rockstar, for instance, who are renowned for creating wide-spanning, immersive games that pay attention to all the little details.
Next year, they will be releasing the highly anticipated GTA VI, which promises to raise the bar with stunning graphics, intricate gameplay mechanics, and a richly detailed environment. We don’t want to presume anything, but we’d hazard a guess that this game will not be available on the iPhone 17. In fact, we’d guess that no Rockstar release will be available on a smartphone any time in the near future.
A Different League
This is because Rockstar is in a different league than Ubisoft or Capcom. While both of these companies have become masters of their own open-world games, Rockstar has established itself as the benchmark for truly immersive storytelling and expansive gaming universes. By nature, Ubisoft and Capcom titles lean more towards accessibility and multiplayer interactions, making them highly adaptable to mobile platforms.
In contrast, Rockstar prioritises single-player experiences that require the most powerful hardware to run effectively. There’s a reason why games like Red Dead Redemption II take an age to download onto your Xbox or Playstation! The sheer scale and complexity demand substantial storage and bandwidth – the kind that would be impossible to replicate on any smartphone in 2024.
A New Future
With this in mind, there is every possibility that Rockstar will be left behind in the mobile gaming revolution, simply because they are the best at what they do. We’re not saying that it’s impossible to create a port of Red Dead Redemption II or any other respected Rockstar titles – including the upcoming GTA VI, which is bound to be another beloved masterpiece – but they will have to be diminished in order to fit a smartphone’s hardware and run effectively.
So does that mean future Rockstar titles will be less immersive, or less mechanically superior to competitors? It’s hard to say, but it’s possible. In order to achieve profitability, the company will have to start prioritising mobile users rather than console, and while it’s an exciting prospect to be playing a Rockstar release on a smartphone, it does beg the question of what kind of Rockstar game that will be.