Narz takes a deep dive into the current state of mobile gaming
Join Narz as she visits Videogamesnewyork to learn more about the evolution of gaming and the current state of mobile gaming. Afterwards she takes to the street to interview New Yorker's on their favorite mobile games, and which games they're waiting to hit mobile platforms.
Video Transcript
NARZ: Welcome to season two of The Power Up. I'm Narz, and we are at Video Games NYC, one of the most iconic video game stores in the five boroughs. Now this place is located downtown in Manhattan in the village. It's considered a video game museum with some iconic and rare stuff that's never been seen before. If you're actually a gamer, you need to make a pilgrimage here.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The word cartridge just feels old, but this is what it was like. Once upon a time, if you wanted the hot new game release, you had to wait in line. But now with the click of a button, you can be able to download games to your tablet, console, PC, Switch and phone. More and more people want their games on the GO. Mobile is the future.
Users spend about 248 billion hours on mobile gaming worldwide. That's about 53 billion downloads, which amounts to about $81 billion spent on just mobile gaming. "Pokemon Go," "Among Us," and "PubG Mobile" are some of the billion dollar best sellers. Now with 14 years running this place, I'm hoping that Dan can help me understand, how do we get from this to the insane mobile gaming landscape?
All right Dan, I got to know, why do you think mobile games sales have outpaced hard game sales?
DANIEL MASTIN: Generations and generations of gamers have continued to grow and join us as the game market just continues to expand.
NARZ: How are local stores like this being able to catch up with the times?
DANIEL MASTIN: The physicality of it, you know, the medium itself is something people seek after. You know, where digital stuff comes and goes, but to actually own it, to own a physical copy that no one can take from you is very important. You know, a store like this, we've branched into actual like, production, so now we're actually helping to produce games onto physical medium for future generations.
NARZ: I feel like this is like a video game museum, so of all the items that you have here, what is-- what is like, the most rare item you have in store right now?
DANIEL MASTIN: It would probably be a lot of our signed stuff, you know, the Kojima signed things, the [INAUDIBLE] signed items.
NARZ: And are they for sale, or are they just for show?
DANIEL MASTIN: We are still a store as well part museum, so a lot of the things that we put in the back, we don't put prices on. That way you don't have to buy it to come and see it. You know, it's a service for someone to come and see something that's incredibly rare. Everything can be technically made him offer on, but you wouldn't really be able to walk into the store today and buy like, one of our museum pieces.
NARZ: Thank you for having me, I do appreciate it. You be safe.
DANIEL MASTIN: OK.
NARZ: If you're not moving, then you're in the way. That's how New Yorkers feel every single time they step out into the street. Whether they're grabbing a slice of pizza or ordering their groceries or picking up their dry cleaning, they still manage to kick butt in "Trivia Royale." This city is crawling with pedestrian gamers and I'm dying to find out what's on their screens. Let's see what a city of 8 million people have on their screens right now and get the scoop on the hottest games in mobile.
Yo, what's up guys? I'm here with Jae and Lee. Now I got to ask you a question, what mobile games are you playing right now?
- I'll play like, "Call of Duty" or like-- like, the technical games where you bounce like, the ball--
NARZ: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
- A bunch of like arcade games to kind of kill the time on the subway. "Call of Duty Mobile."
NARZ: Nice.
- And "PubG Mobile" I've tried a couple of times as well.
- "Minecraft" I've been playing, "Animal Crossing."
- I play some "BitLife" a lot.
- I like [INAUDIBLE], like "San Andreas."
- "Mario Kart" I'm always into.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
NARZ: So how long would you say you play the games, like an hour, two hours, do you play on the--
- A long time.
- Yeah.
NARZ: A long time?
- If it's good, I'm stuck in it.
- Two hours, mainly from one AM to three AM.
- Maybe like, 30, 45.
NARZ: Like 30-- like 30 minutes? Or like--
- 30, 45 minutes, yeah.
NARZ: Oh OK, I thought you said 30, 45 hours, I was like, oh jeez. What console games would you like to see ported to mobile?
- "Spiderman." I'm not even gonna lie.
- I've always been an "Assassin's Creed" fan.
- Yo, "Assassin's Creed."
- "Super Smash Brothers."
- I would say "GTA 6" when it comes out.
- I think, of course, all Playstation games. Every single one of them. I'm Team Playstation all the way.
- Probably a good version of "FIFA" maybe.
- I want to make a good mobile adaptation of "FIFA."
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARZ: Now we're going to play a little game. It's called Buy, Try or Pass. I'm going to tell you three games and you're going to tell me which one would you consider buying, which one do you want to trade right now, and which one you're like, I will pass on that completely. You ready?
- OK.
NARZ: So the first game is "PubG Mobile," the second game is "Genshin Impact," and the last game is "Taxi Chaos."
- I would buy "PubG Mobile." I've played that before and not too bad. I would try Taxi, and then I would pass on the other one.
- I would probably buy "PubG Mobile." I'd like to try "Taxi Chaos."
- I would buy "PubG." I've never heard of the other two, so I would try them.
- I tried "Genshin Impact."
- So the other two besides "PubG" I've never heard of. I'd probably pass on "PubG." I'd probably try out Taxi Chaos.
- I would try "Genshin Impact." I think I would buy the Taxi game, it's something different, and I would pass on "PubG" because I've played it before.
NARZ: Well, it just so happens that I have--
[RECORD SCRATCH]
Hold on, it's stuck. I have "Taxi Chaos" here.
- Oh, wow.
- I think my game's better than yours, though. I got a dragon.
- Thank God I don't have a driver's license in New York.
NARZ: [LAUGHS]
- [INAUDIBLE]
NARZ: You got to keep going, keep picking up, keep dropping until the time runs out. What's your favorite driving game?
- I say "Midnight Club."
NARZ: Oh, nice.
- I'll take--
NARZ: Playing that "Midnight," yeah. So, "Genshin Impact" is like an RPG gacha game. Yeah, it's beautiful. It's free to play. This, unfortunately, you have to pay for.
- How much is this?
NARZ: You really want to know?
- Yeah.
NARZ: It's like, what, $15? $40?
- $40?
NARZ: $50? So this game is free and this game is $50.
- What?
NARZ: Would you still buy this game?
- His game was fire, I'm not gonna lie.
NARZ: After playing it, would you keep playing the game?
- Definitely. It's kind of like a good time kill game, especially on the Switch.
NARZ: You did good, you did good. What are you, top? I can't even see.
- I had one kill.
NARZ: You had one kill, you did good. Thank you guys so much.
- No problem.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
- You guys have a great day.
NARZ: Have a good one, guys. This city will never die. No hurricane or pandemic will ever stop us from pulsating. With ambition, perseverance and a healthy dose of mobile gaming, nothing can stop us. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time on The Power Up.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
