In the last 5-7 years I’ve noticed that mobile games have devolved info always online p2w shit
What the fuck happened?
The only good games on phone are now emulators and a few Foss games
The good ones are mostly pc ports (dead cells, stardew vally)
Have they ever been good? The sad thing I can tell you as a mobile dev(not game though) is that people on Android don’t want to pay for apps or games, on iOS it’s a bit better but still way worse than PC or PlayStation. There’s also rampant piracy on Android, both from users but even more so from shady app clones Google ignores. As a result free to play, always online with microtransactions is basically the only way to make money
Enshittification, the rise of micro transactions in mobile games over actual in-game mechanics that make the game interesting etc
They always sucked.
No they didn’t. I have a 1st gen iPad loaded with old versions of popular games (e.g. Jetpack Joyride, Angry Birds) and there are literally zero ads and in-app purchases.
I’m fairly sure those were paid tho
True, but I would rather buy a dozen quality $0.99 games with high replay value (still fun 13+ years later) than several dozen “””free””” ad-filled games that constantly bug you for a $3.99/week subscription to get more BullshitCoins