As stated by PwC, the gaming sector is incrementing at a stunning pace. Just in a few years, by 2026, it’s anticipated to amount to $321 billion. Perhaps, the most obvious reason for this surge in interest is a necessitated two-year-long lockdown that moved millions to look for new ways to socialize and entertain themselves. Hanging out on social media and discovering the variety of games turned out to serve these goals well. In this piece, we’ll explain how to boost your company with cross-platform play games and consider the outstanding products in this area.
The growing popularity of cross-platform play
Eager to learn why the market sector is burgeoning? Well, being involved in a gaming experience brings along tremendous opportunities for broadening one’s network of contacts and unleashing creativity and skills. This is possible through framing individualized avatars that best correspond with consumers’ personalities. Meanwhile, contending is often hurdled by the difference in devices players turn to.
Crossplay efficiently tackles this challenge. Cross-platform games perform equally smoothly regardless of whether they run on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, or Android. Furthermore, they guarantee the same stellar experience to consumers no matter whether they battle on their PCs, or use the latest models of Xbox or a PS console.
Thus, one doesn’t need to abrupt their gaming journey and make adjustments to be able to seamlessly switch from one platform to another. Moreover, a group of gamers doesn’t need any subtle maneuvering to indulge in leveraging the same cross-platform application.
This is a significant asset given that, according to Deloitte’s fresh survey on tech-driven media evolutions, there is a variety of platforms that attract end-users in the US. By hitting the market with cross-platform play games, producers avail themselves of integral and comprehensive marketing analytics and extensive audience coverage. Thus, they can deliver targeted content and increase ROIs winning the loyalty of their clients.
3 popular cross-platform games
Below are remarkable illustrations of crossplay games that skyrocketed and gained millions of followers across the globe.
Fortnite
Released by Epic Games about six years ago, this battle royale ecosystem now boasts an impressive fan base. It attributes its success, among other things, to its cross-platform nature.
In this cross-platform play, contestants find themselves on an island where they fight for survival, player versus player. The one who overcomes all the rivals, with the help of arms and assets gained throughout their journey, comes out on top. Audiences avail themselves of the sundry experiences they have in numerous application variations, i.e. Save the World, Creative, and the actual Battle Royale.
Widely scattered enthusiasts interact with each other without any boundaries and seamlessly communicate tailor-made maps and other artifacts. The widespread community that spawned as the project has been advancing now has its marketplace with digital artifact purchases, tournaments, and exciting social events like concerts organized by influencers, etc.
Minecraft
This legendary project by Mojang Studios debuted over ten years ago. Its enthusiasts immerse themselves into an imaginary world adroitly constructed of sundry materials, i.e. stone, wood, ores, and dirt. Their task is to accumulate assets and make use of them by creating items and structures. The project belongs to a category of sandbox games which means that one’s only limitation when devising their universes is fantasy and imagination. This is done within the conditions of one’s preferred mode, i.e. Survival, Adventure, Creative, or Spectator.
FIFA 21
This thriving sports simulation project by Electronic Arts broke into the market of crossplay games three years ago. Owing to its cross-platform compatibility, one effortlessly shows their abilities and contests with mates in dynamic matches, exchanges soccer stars, and assembles teams. At this, you can proceed within a Career Mode, Ultimate Team, or Volta Football, according to your preferences. The effect is augmented by a lifelike design and realistic mechanics.
5 engines of the crossplay revolution
How can we be confident that the future belongs to cross-platform mobile games? Below are the reasons that speak for themselves.
Market competition: driving cross-platform play as a business strategy
Even outside the gaming sector, industries now strive to unify their offerings across diverse channels to deliver seamless experiences to their discerning and tech-savvy clients.
A company doesn’t need to boast a millionth turnover like, say, Sony or Microsoft, to win audiences and heighten their interest and involvement. To stand out in overwhelming industry competition, you just need an accomplished cross-platform mobile application development company on your side.
The profits are increasing with the envisioning of virtual artifacts for purchase and adding enhanced possibilities that come with paid subscriptions.
Enhanced gaming experience
By diversifying and augmenting the pool of contestants, producers nurture community expansion and provide fresh opportunities to end clients for finding worthy adversaries with similar interests.
Crossplay also contributes to intuitive navigations and consistent and coherent experiences, allowing consumers to uninterruptedly swap devices in the course of action. This, in turn, has a positive effect on satisfaction rates.
Larger player base and community: fostering the surge in crossplay games
As we’ve mentioned earlier, enthusiasts who devote themselves to discovering the worlds of cross-platform mobile games, are often lumped together in interest groups. There, they get largely involved with non-gaming activities like attending thematic concerts with their favorite celebrities, buying and distributing themed souvenirs and merchandise, and alike. Thus, it’s not anymore the perks of the application themselves that unite the fans but also a desire to develop and retain social affiliations. This is possible, in particular, thanks to the transferability of their crossplay avatars, identity, and assets, and eliminating boundaries between sundry audiences.
Convenience and flexibility
Among the advantages of cross-platform mobile apps is that one can be on the same page with their mates round-the-clock and via any gadget. In this manner, one always has access to their profiles, with no need to interrupt their progress as they go. This gives end-users the feeling that they are in full control of their data, content, and application functionality, irrespective of the gadgets employed.
Since a single codebase lies at the foundation of such games, they are uncomplicated to maintain and support. This guarantees their flawless performance and swift updates, adding to accessibility and user-friendliness.
Cost savings
Since we’ve touched on the matter of support, it’s worth mentioning that the core process, cross-platform development, is significantly streamlined. Working on a single codebase for numerous games shortens the timelines and allows developers to economize on resources. This includes the resources needed to handle diverse program versions as there’s no need to worry about several updates at once.
Project expenses can also be minimized as a result of focusing on a single interoperable payment mechanism for various microtransactions and pay-to-win model purchases.
It’s worth highlighting that the monetization mechanisms applied in the sector have shifted from paying in a lump sum to purchasing avatars and customization items that help you through the game, in other words, the content. In this way, fans convert into long-term buyers of digital services, being additionally attracted by the events and brands centered around the product. Accordingly, if your company nurtures the idea to become a sales leader, your primary focus even at the early stages of the development should be on devising content that is harmoniously integrated with numerous systems and not on the hardware.
To wrap up
Cross-platform development holds myriad perks for both a publishing company and its clientele. These are the enhancement of a user base, a qualitatively new level of playing experience, refined adjustability and user-friendliness, and development expense trimming, among other things.
To fully capitalize on the advantages of cross-platform mobile apps, one can turn to an adept software developer. Andersen boasts over a decade of hands-on experience in the industry and is ever-ready to handle tech challenges of any complexity to deliver truly outstanding results.
