Mobile gaming on smartphones has evolved markedly over the years thanks to advancements in chip sets and RAM capacity, and due to greater investment by game developers in creating quality experiences for the platform. Listed below, for your reading pleasure, the most popular smartphone games in 2022 built around online play. Each brings something novel to the mix, and helps make the case that platforms such as Android can go toe to toe with the best home consoles and PCs can offer today.
Roblox
Those uninitiated into the world of Roblox may suppose that it’s little more than a Minecraft rip-off given its iconic ‘blocky’ character designs, but in reality Roblox is something utterly distinctive.
Oft touted as one of the world’s first prototypical metaverses, Roblox is as much a community platform as it is any particular game. Roblox offers its users a simplified programming toolkit with which they can make their own games. After completing their creation, players games list to Roblox’s servers where it joins no less than 40 million other user-created titles.
This unbridled creativity gives rise to unique and anarchic gameplay experiences you won’t find anywhere else, with all genres of popular titles capable of being replicated within its blocky world from FPS’ to racing games and puzzles.
What’s more, a comprehensive cross-play function means that you can play with users across all platforms from PCs, to home consoles and even VR, all from your smartphone. That gives you access to the game’s 55 million daily active users, ensuring that whenever you have some time to spare, you’re guaranteed a great time in firing up this unique title.
Online Chess
While many of the most popular games across any medium achieve their high ranking for being accessible, straightforward and easy to pick up, certain games derive their enduring appeal through being quite the opposite. Chess, for example, regularly appears alongside surveys of games that require their players to have no small measure of concentration and focus.
Yet in spite of this, the historic title has emerged as one of the leading online games enjoyed on mobile platforms in the 2020s. Why is this? Several factors explain chess’ unstoppable rise as an online mobile title.
For one, a new generation of players, exemplified by world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, have done much to sweep away the stuffy mystique that historically surrounded this game. These new players tend towards blitz chess. A variant of the game that eschews long matches in favor of frenetic 10-20 minute games. This timescale proves far more fitting for our modern social media environment.
A growing number of streamers – among them esports pros, on Twitch, has further helped increase visibility of the game to new audiences. And the success of Netflix’s 2020 chess drama The Queen’s Gambit brings new players in weekly.
In light of all this, Chess.com, the world’s leading platform for online chess for mobile and browsers, reported over 5 million new user sign-ups at its site in Q4 2021 alone.
PUBG Mobile
Mobile esports are a rapidly growing sector, with the likes of League of Legends: Wild Rift, Arena of Valor, Fortnite and Free Fire all actively vying for downloads and player-counts across both Android and iOS.
Yet to date none have managed to pose a significant challenge to the mobile version of PlayerUnknown BattleGrounds, which enjoys no less than 30 million daily active players signing in to participate in its pioneering brand of battle royale carnage.
Built from the ARMA 2 engine, PUBG has enjoyed enormous success in creating a game that deftly walks the line between realism and absurdity. In offering its unique multiplayer experience on the Free to Play model, it’s no wonder that PUBG Mobile continues to be among the most entertaining and popular mobile online games played today.