2023 was a great year for Android games. Netflix Games brought more fantastic titles to Android, while the latest andgreatest gaming phonesandcontrollersmade our mobile devices indistinguishable fromdedicated handheld consoles. But it wasiOS that took the leadon mobile gaming this year, outshining Google’s mediocre attempts, and launched a handful of AAA titles with even more coming next year.
iOS will host multiple AAA games in 2024
On October 30th,Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil Village launched exclusively on iOS. While Apple has provided a brilliant platform for mobile gaming for years, primarily thanks to itscurated Apple Arcade library, this marked a distinct shift towards bringing household AAA titles to its devices. On top of this, Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Death Stranding are also coming to iOS in early 2024, letting Apple users enjoy games previously exclusive to gaming PCs and consoles. The gap in gamingquality between Android and iOS was already wide, but these exclusive releases are making the problem significantly worse.
What’s worse is that Netflix isn’t helping the situation. While the Netflix Games library on Android is absolutely fantastic, the company recently announced that its mobile port ofthe popular roguelike Hades would be exclusive to iOS. While there is precedent as Supergiant Games have historically only ported its games to iOS, Netflix assuredly has the power (money) to bring such a game to Android, as shown when Netflix published Into The Breach on mobile, a game that up to that point was never intended to see a mobile release.
Android hardware isn’t at fault; Google is
While more people use Android phones than iOS, many own budget devices incapable of running games like Resident Evil 4 without significant compromises in framerate. It would be understandable that developers of these high-performance games would prioritize the consistent experience of iOS, but hardware isn’t at fault here.
The latestQualcomm Snapdragon Gen 3chip boasts a hefty GPU capable of easily handling all themost demanding Android games. This chip is present in new Android phones like theNubia Redmagic 9 Proand will be introduced to more Android phones throughout 2024. Pair a phone like this with one of our favorite Android controllers and you’ve got the hardware to comfortably enjoy console-quality games.
The fault is Google’s. The suddenabandonment of Stadia came as a surpriseto us all, and since then, the company has seemed content to let opportunities to take advantage of Android’s best hardware slip by. Netflix and Apple are out there scoring exclusives, all the while Google is sleeping.
2024 could be a dark year for Android gaming
Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Death Stranding, and Resident Evil 4 would be perfect for Android. Gaming phones and controllers have the hardware to enjoy these games, and foldables like theSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 5offer bigger screens to show off their detail better than an iPhone ever could. But unless you delve into streaming apps like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Remote Play, you’ll struggle to find games on Android that match what iOS offers.
So, as we head into 2024, a few of us at AP can’t help but feel apprehensive about the future of Android gaming. While Apple snaps up exclusive rights to some of the best AAA games out there, Google seems content to let the Play Store drown in cheap, free-to-play titles designed to do nothing more than drain your wallet. That’s not to say we didn’t see plenty offantastic games released for Android in 2023, but these are the diamonds in the rough. Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Death Stranding, and Resident Evil 4 belong on Android just as much as they do on iOS. But unless we see Google’s reluctance to invest in Android’s gaming library reverse soon, more AAA titles may continue to be exclusives beyond the reach of Android gamers.
