Qualcomm and the Mobile Video Game Revolution

 

The video game market is divided into five segments: legacy PCs and consoles, emerging mobile devices – mostly phones but some tablets, and emerging cloud. That's four, I'll get to the fifth segment in a minute.

Observing these segments, Qualcomm is mostly present in manufacturing mobile devices. At the same time, it has an interesting connection to the emerging cloud segment where you can't play games in the cloud unless you have a client device — at least not yet. The preferred client device is a smartphone because it is almost always with you.

Now for the fifth segment: VR gaming, which is mostly surrounded by Meta's Oculus Quest 2 which also uses Qualcomm tech.

Let's talk about Qualcomm, gaming evolution, and the obstacles that currently prevent it from expanding beyond consoles and PCs to mobile devices and the cloud. and video game trends.

Then we'll close with our Product of the Week, the best gaming smartphone on the market.

Console Gaming

It is the oldest form of mass market video game. I say "broad market" because there were video games you could play on mainframes, but only a few people knew how to play them and had access to the mainframes to do so. Console gaming has many enduring advantages, but also some significant disadvantages.

On the plus side, the hardware is dedicated, and all patching and updates are handled by the console manufacturer as long as that version of the console is supported. You usually don't have to worry about malware if you use approved games (which are often downloaded these days), and you can almost be sure that any current title on a current console Will go well. The hardware is cheap—usually under $500 to start—and you can use a decent TV screen, so you don't need an expensive monitor.

The downside is that a game console only plays games. Chances are you don't have it with you unless you're at home because it's a little inconvenient to take it on vacation, and good luck playing a game on the console in the car or plane while in transit. This is offset by consoles like the Nintendo Switch that allow mobile gaming but are targeted at a younger audience.

So, consoles are great for gaming, but not flexible or portable enough for how most people want to game today. But gaming on a TV at home is good if you have the room and don't want to use another TV while gaming.

PC Gaming

The PC gaming market really took off after Windows 95, as this operating system came bundled with games. This segment has a different set of pros and cons.

Advantages include being able to game and work at the same time, and PCs come in both desktop and laptop forms, allowing both a greater variety of hardware and greater mobility than most consoles. Is. Games that use keyboards and mice work best with PCs, but you can often use gaming controllers if needed. You can build a custom desktop PC that's a status symbol for yourself and other gamers, and buy your way to a strong competitive edge.

The disadvantages of PCs are that gaming rigs are expensive. You can easily drop more than $5,000 on a top desktop gaming rig. Gaming on a laptop can result in using a smaller display and dealing with reduced battery life. A gaming laptop can cost as much as a gaming desktop when fully equipped. Although we carry our PCs more often than most consoles, we can't have them with us when we want to game. They are bulky which makes it difficult to use in a plane or car.

I find that laptop gaming is too limited on the size of the display that I want to use often. I mostly play on a custom gaming desktop rig with a Dell 49-inch display.

Mobile Gaming

This is where Qualcomm has exposure, and it's the fastest growing segment. It also has advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages relate to availability and flexibility. Like PC gaming, you can use a smartphone for more than just gaming, and you can multitask. The smartphone is always connected, which can lead to a better connected experience. People carry their smartphones with them so they can play wherever they are and often where a PC or console isn't feasible, such as standing in line. Titles are constantly improving over time, and the richness of mobile games can approach what you'll see on a console or even some PC games.

The disadvantages are that smartphones are generally designed for connectivity, not gaming, and a non-gaming smartphone, even if it has Qualcomm's latest and most powerful Snapdragon processor, can be used for gaming. But will start dropping very fast because the phone can't. Dispose of the generated heat in sufficient quantity. Performance is usually traded off against mobility. The screen sizes are very small (but can be offset with a head-mounted display) and the small screen is also a control surface (but can become a dedicated controller with a head-mounted display).

Overall, smartphones are surpassing the utility and capabilities of PC and console games but are still limited by the lack of head-mounted displays that would normally force people to play on phones with much less capable displays. are Qualcomm is pushing this effort hard, funding gaming tournaments with decent prizes and pushing its flagship Snapdragon 8 and 8+ platforms hard to meet the needs of gamers.

Cloud Gaming

This is highlighted by services like Nvidia's GeForce Now that provides cloud instances of high-performance gaming PCs for remote gamers.

The advantages are that you get good PC-level performance with any device that can be used as a client. These services support games designed for PCs, but can be played on a set-top box such as Nvidia's own Shield or smartphone depending on the controller interface. These services offer the most flexibility in terms of hardware and the lowest cost of entry for high-end games.

The disadvantages are that they are highly network dependent which means you probably can't use the service on a plane or cruise ship where network bandwidth is low, and latency is high. You have to pay a monthly fee. You do not own the Service, and the Service may not contain the game you want to play.

However, it is likely that cloud gaming represents the ultimate future of gaming. We don't yet have the network infrastructure to make it dominant.

VR Gaming

While there is VR gaming on a PC, the need for a PC and the limitations of connecting a cable to it have limited the popularity of this approach. Currently, the most popular VR gaming platform is Meta's Oculus Quest 2.

The advantages are that it is portable and does not require a tether. Games, especially those involving movement, are fun and very playable. You can play it in the car or on the plane, and you can watch movies on it privately, just like you do with a head-mounted display on your computer or smartphone. Like a game console, you have dedicated controllers and the cost is under $400 to get started.

Disadvantages are that VR gaming expectations are ahead of the hardware. Resolutions are lower than people expect, and game content is limited. People are often ridiculed for using this technology, which creates resistance to adoption. There isn't much in the way of cloud games yet, and Meta seems to be building an unsustainable $1 billion a month experience and, if Meta fails, there's no one in the wings to pick up the slack. Is.

There's also AR gaming, as highlighted by games like Pokémon Go, but it's still very limited and the promise of this type of game, as highlighted by the old HP video Roku's Reward, never made it into production.

Wrapping Up

Console and PC gaming continues, but the real growth is seen in mobile gaming in how fast it's growing and how easy it is. However, this is hampered by mobile screen sizes and the fact that you need a gaming phone to experience truly robust mobile gaming. With head-mounted displays, mobile gaming has a lot of potential, but these displays are not yet in widespread use which reduces their impact.


VR gaming has massive untapped potential and, I expect the long-term future of gaming to be in the virtual space, but we may not get there for a decade because we still have to reach consumer expectations. A better human machine interface is needed. Something like a holodeck.

As a result, gaming is in flux. Console and PC gaming are still viable markets, but mobile gaming is growing rapidly and has the potential to overtake both by the end of the decade. For now, Qualcomm is well-positioned in both mobile and VR gaming, which puts it in a good position to help define the future of gaming.