In May 2021, Tencent, a Chinese multinational tech conglomerate, entered a partnership with Xbox. The new-found relationship between the two organisations indicates that Xbox Game Studios, a Microsoft product, wishes to take the mobile gaming sector by storm over the coming years. But, while the partnership opens the door to exciting crossovers, any future releases will enter a very competitive market. Aside from mainstream smartphone games, the companies will also face competition from various aspects of the online casino industry. So, let’s consider what the future may have in store in the Tencent-Xbox era amid its various rivals.
The Rise of Online Casinos Shows Why Targeting the Mobile Market is Integral
It’s no secret that mobile gaming is currently one of the globe’s highest-performing industries, with Business of Apps stating that the sector generated around £56.7 billion in 2020. Along with that, data from Mordor Intelligence highlights that online betting is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets. As a result, few can argue that Tencent and Xbox aren’t seeking to break into an industry that is somewhat dominated by web-based betting opportunities.
However, the rise of online casinos should give Tencent and Xbox food for thought. In establishing itself as a go-to aspect of the gaming industry, modern-day operators have successfully intertwined different gaming concepts, such as Paddy Power’s Slingo games at https://bingo.paddypower.com/p/slingo-games. The platform’s offerings merge both bingo and slots to create a fused product that breaks away from convention. As such, titles like Centurion Slingo uses a Roman theme to capture the fundamentals of grid-based slots and numbers-driven bingo.
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The significance of bingo’s mobile and slot evolution lies in the fact that the already-popular sector is continually evolving. As a result, Tencent and Xbox will have to create high-quality, appealing content in order to compete with digital casinos on the wireless market, they’ll have something to aim for which could inform and improve their strategy.
Suggestions of Xbox Franchise Crossovers
The combination of Xbox’s popularity and Tencent’s knowledge of the mobile market, means that there’s nothing to say that the newly-formed partnership can’t operate alongside online casinos. According to https://www.verdict.co.uk/tencent-xbox-partnership/, the parties involved have agreed to a strategic partnership, in which they will work alongside each other to create new video games. As touched on above, the Chinese organisation are no strangers to the mobile gaming world, having worked on Call of Duty: Mobile, for example.
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Rather excitingly for mobile gamers, the link-up between Tencent and Xbox Game Studios opens the door for the Microsoft-owned development team to transition many popular console titles over to the smartphone sector. Due to Tencent’s history in taking shooters to the mobile market, there’s a widespread belief that Halo would thrive if transitioned away from consoles, as per https://www.tomsguide.com/uk/news/.
Will Crossovers be Enough to Compete?
At the time of writing, neither Tencent, nor Xbox Game Studios, have given any indication as to what the future may hold. However, it’s clear that the pair face the troublesome task of breaking into a somewhat betting-dominated mobile market. That said, in seeking to transition onto mobile platforms, there’s an opportunity to learn from creations like Slingo and hit the ground running.
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