The slots industry has shown itself to be one of the most consistently evolving industries in the world over the past century or so, let alone the overall gambling market. It all started when Charles D. Fey brought out his immensely successful Liberty Bell machine at the turn of the 19th century, however since then slot games have been developing at a frightening rate, and have since become the No. 1 gambling game in the entire world.
Of course, the creation of video slots in the 1980s helped this somewhat, and then the emergence of online slots right at the beginning of the 21st century sent the market into overdrive. But here’s the thing: whilst most people say that the online slots explosion is what really made the phone slots industry balloon in size, it was actually the arrival of mobile slots that had the most profound effect on things. Read on to find out how mobile gameplay has affected the slots industry.
The first online slots
Before we get into mobile slots it is worth just giving a recap on the overall progression of the online slot industry, as it can help frame the crazy growth of mobile slots even better. Developers such as Microgaming and NetEnt were trying to make online slots since the mid 90s, however it wasn’t until the early 2000s that the technology was there to make them work on the online platform.
And it was actually the Australian developer Eyecon who are regularly credited as having created the world’s first commercial online slot with Temple Of Isis. These slots were impressive, however they lacked the graphic clarity and expansive bonus features of the modern titles we accustomed too now.
The first mobile slots
What many people don’t actually realise when it comes to mobile slots is that they were around for far longer than what is commonly though. For example, the first mobile slots actually arrived in 2005, not too much later than the first online slot for desktop computers. It was called Pub Fruity, and it probably would have taken off if more people actually had phones they could play it on.
Whilst Pub Fruity was a Java compliant slot game, and was theoretically able to be played on most mobile phones, the technology wasn’t there to make sure that it was actually a smooth and easy thing to play. Hence why people don’t often think of mobile slots as existing back in 2005.
Popularity of smartphones and the rise of mobile gameplay
This all changed when modern smartphones such as the iPhone started to become more and more popular, as gamblers actually had devices that could handle mobile slots as they were supposed too.
Advances in HTML5 technology also resulted in the rise of mobile gameplay, and in just a few years more gamblers ended up gambling with their mobile phones than computers.
The prominence of modern mobile slots
Mobile gameplay has had a profound effect on the slots industry, with there being far more mobile slot gamblers now than ever before.