{"id":10187,"date":"2024-03-24T23:05:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T23:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=10187"},"modified":"2024-03-24T23:05:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-24T23:05:47","slug":"mobile-gaming-is-having-a-moment-and-backbone-wants-to-unite-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=10187","title":{"rendered":"Mobile Gaming Is Having a Moment\u2014and Backbone Wants to Unite It"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Other perks to being a Backbone+ subscriber<\/a> include game capture, recording, and editing tools for folks who like to share content on social media. There are promotions, like free months of Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass<\/a>, in-game content for titles like Diablo Immortal<\/em><\/a>, and 30 percent off new Backbone products and accessories.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this convenience comes at a cost. Yet another subscription<\/a> is a hard sell nowadays. As nice as it is to have a single portal, shelling out for Backbone+ may not be worthwhile for everyone. If the one-stop shop interface for all your games is included as part of the free app, it would be easy to recommend, but $50 a year is too much to pay for folks who don\u2019t care about the other functionality or promotions.<\/p>\n

That old expectation that mobile games should be free is persistent. Most folks are yet to be sold on alternative models to in-app purchases and advertising, like Apple Arcade<\/a> and Google Play Pass<\/a>. The latest rumors suggest Apple Arcade’s future is in doubt<\/a>. That is a shame because, in my experience as a subscriber to both, they are a great way to discover titles worth playing. Discoverability remains a big problem for mobile games.<\/p>\n

Breaking Down Barriers<\/h2>\n

Khaira kicked off Backbone because of the gaming sessions he had with friends. In a house full of consoles and gaming PCs, smartphones were the common denominator where they could all play Fortnite<\/em><\/a> together after work. With the console wars raging and all the non-gaming giants trying to break in<\/a>, what happens next is tough to predict. But the shift towards a subscription model and the platform agnosticism in mobile feels increasingly inevitable.<\/p>\n

When the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, recently addressed the console exclusivity issue<\/a>, where certain games are only available on one console, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s not about games in service of a device, but rather the devices people want to play on should be in service of making the games as big and popular as they possibly could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether you want to play games on your Xbox, PlayStation, gaming PC, or smartphone, it looks like that choice is opening up. The new Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile<\/em><\/a> game promises to connect up to 120 players across console, PC, and mobile platforms. Activision says more than 50 million players pre-downloaded the game, and Backbone is offering perks and in-game items for subscribers (plus releasing a Prestige Edition controller to commemorate the launch).<\/p>\n

Beyond crossplay<\/a>, which enables people to play games together on different devices, we are starting to see more cross-progression<\/a>, carrying your video game progress from one platform to another. Making games available anywhere makes them more accessible, allowing us all to play more. That has to be a good thing.<\/p>\n

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