Although mobile MMORPGs will never be quite the same as PC MMOs, the gap in quality and functionality has been shrinking over the years. While I’ve long enjoyed playing PC like MMOs on mobile like the Asobimo titles, but even auto-play mobile MMOs like Epic Seven and Grand ChaseMobile are fun titles. Just look at Epic Seven from SmileGate Megaport. It plays a lot like most other mobile MMOs in that it features auto-play and gacha hero elements, similar to games like Dragalia Lost and Knights Chronicle, but stands out because of its fantastic production value. In fact, I would argue that the interface and graphical quality of Epic Seven is far superior to that of most PC MMORPGs, especially older titles.
On the other end of the spectrum, more and more PC MMOs are releasing cross-platform play mobile clients. Dauntless announced during the 2018 Game Awards that it’ll be launching on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and Mobile devices and all platforms will be cross-platform compatible. Oldschool Runescape did the same thing earlier this year and Runescape’s playerbase hit an all time high concurrent number of over 150,000.
Battle Royale games on the PC have been a tremendous success in 2018 and the genre began to move towards mobile. Fortnite is already cross platform play with the PC and mobile versions, but there’s been a handful of new mobile Battle Royale games that are made specifically for mobile and offer a unique experience. Survival Heroes for example offers a Battle Royale experience unlike anything on the PC. The game blends MOBA and Battle Royale elements to create a unique experience. Players pick up one of 25+ weapons and depending on what they picked up, have access to a handful of unique abilities tied to that weapon. There’s nothing quite like this on PC just yet and it’s interesting to see mobile games starting to innovate. Keep in mind though, this isn’t the norm. Most mobile games are just generic auto-play nonsense games with minimal innovation. Era of Celestials and Iron Throne are relatively new titles that bring absolutely nothing new to the world. Having played games like Epic Seven and Survival Heroes, I’m more optimistic on mobile games than ever.