Novel Mobile Gaming Platforms and Services to Explore in 2023

Mobile gaming in 2023 is an extraordinarily diverse sector. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that, especially if you confine yourself to the front-page of the app store. While there are many compelling mobile titles available in app form in both the Google Play and Apple App stores, it can sometimes be difficult to cut through the dense mass of shovel-ware to find the real gems. What’s more, there are actually so many alternative titles and platforms to explore beyond the confines of this official selection. Here we’re going to be taking a whistle-stop tour of some of the most innovative, exciting and novel options for gaming on both Android and iOS in 2023.

Browser-based Options

One of the key advantages of mobile platforms over rival consoles is the fact that they feature a full web browser. This opens up the ability to play many games that are situated online, and that are not to be found on the app stores or as proprietary software. One key example of these is games belonging to the iGaming and online casino sector, and with a range of no-deposit bonuses readily available by way of comparison platforms like oddschecker, it’s easier than ever to dive into some classic casino gameplay on the go. Other classic browser-based options include old Adobe Flash games, many of which survive as HTML5 titles. From Peggle to 8 Ball Pool, there are hundreds of engaging and casual mini-games out there to discover through your mobile web-browser. There are even a host of popular Free-2-Play titles, such as Fortnite, which can still be easily accessed through these on-board web-browsers. This circumvents issues of region-locking or ongoing disputes between developers, freeing you up to get on with the business of gaming.

Apple Arcade

One of the biggest obstacles to enjoying a range of games on the App store is their cumulative cost, as many of the best games can be quite pricey, especially when contrasted with the standard “freemium” fare. Apple Arcade is a novel solution that has Apple curating a list of over 280 app store games (and counting) and letting users play them all in exchange for a single subscription fee. Not only is this a great deal for anyone who plays a lot of mobile games, but it features cross-compatibility across all Apple devices meaning you can start a game on your iPhone, continue on your MacBook and then move over to your Apple TV, all seamlessly.

Google Stadia

Cloud gaming is still relatively niche among the wider games industry at present, but this will change significantly before long. This is because cloud gaming holds out the possibility for users to play a huge range of popular games without needing powerful gaming hardware to do so. This is achieved through streaming real-time gameplay content to your selected device from a remote gaming computer. Naturally, this means you need a stable internet connection in order to get the most out of it, but should you be able to meet that requirement, you can play new console games like Far Cry 6 on a decade old smartphone with little issue. There are a range of cloud gaming platforms out there, with Xbox Cloud Gaming able to claim the largest single library. Yet as of 2023, it’s Google Stadia that retains the crown among cloud gaming services. This is because the extent that it has been optimized to reduce lag and latency issues is remarkable.

F-Droid

One of the struggles that users of mobile systems often face is that of privacy concerns. While a person’s relationship to digital privacy is subjective, there’s no denying that there are many games on both the App store and Google Play Store that feature requests for suspicious permissions, and that appear to include malicious spyware. One of the best ways to safeguard against this prospect is to use open source app directories.

Netflix Games

Netflix, the world-spanning content behemoth, has taken its first tentative steps into the world of gaming. It’s hard to say whether, in the future, we will witness more sophisticated titles emerging from Netflix Games, as for the moment the existing options are pretty standard and accessible mobile titles. Yet there’s great potential there, and naturally Netflix has the resources to make it happen should they decide to. Among the few games available already, undoubtedly the best is Stranger Things: 1984 a delightful pixelated adventure game based on the hit series. With some of Netflix’s most popular series directly based on games, such as The Witcher, there’s every chance that we could see some novel new games emerging on this platform. 

Facebook Instant Gaming

Sometimes the thing that “makes” a game is having someone to play it with, which is often easier said than done. One of the best solutions we’ve found to this is Facebook Instant Gaming. With access to your entire friends list alongside a further 2+ billion registered users, there’s little chance you’ll run out of people to play with. And with a wide range of entertaining titles like Words with Friends, there’s something for everyone. The in-built social tools means you can invite people right from within a messenger chat, and you can share your successes or failures to your newsfeed to bolster the communal experience even further.

Roblox

One of the leading contenders in the race to become the world’s most popular metaverse, Roblox is a unique platform unlike anything else out there today. This is because it sits at the intersection of social network, games library, and community programming toolkit. What this means in practice is that Roblox has millions of games among its roster to play, all of which have been built by users of the site. This kind of collaborative gaming-world has to be experienced to be understood, but one thing’s certain – you’re never going to be lacking for new games to explore.