Written By Pavan Punja

Mobile gaming is at a staggering $95 billion valuation, by 2026, this value is set to hit a shocking $420 billion. This makes coming up with mobile game ideas incredibly profitable.

There’s much money to be made in mobile development with the right idea.

Today, we give you plenty of mobile game ideas to drive your creativity in a whole new direction.

Whether you’re an Android or iOS developer, these ideas are highly profitable.

Not a developer? Check out our guide – 10 programming languages for new game developers.

Let’s get started.

1. Racing Games

Sure they aren’t the real deal of having the wind in your face kind of thrill. But racing games provide immersive entertainment for the gamer with the added challenge of winning every race.

Competition is what drives this genre and the absolute thrill of being a winner.

Create a standard car or bike racing game. Next, add different tiers of rewards for every map the player completes. Rewards like headgears, driver skins, racing suits, and other cosmetic accessories are fun to give out to the top racers.

It’s important to create different maps to ensure there’s a challenging feel for the racers. Not to forget mesmerizing terrains that change with different laps.

All in all, racing games are ideal for game development and are profitable due to their challenging aspect.

2. Solving Puzzles

Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery? What’s better? The player gets to be the hero that solves the clues left behind by the murderer.

There’s no better feeling than being smarter than the rest of the crowd.

Puzzle games provide the player with challenges to solve within a time limit.

A murder mystery challenge is where the player finds concealed items in a murder scene leading the way to the killer.

Each item they uncover brings them closer to discovering the mystery that you’ve set.

Other puzzle games can involve crossword puzzles and guessing words.

3. Battle Royale

Games like PUBG and Fortnite have millions of players that compete in open battlegrounds against other players.

Players must use their wits and strategy to overpower their foes. This type of ‘King of the Hill’ playstyle is exciting and adds to the thrill of surviving until they are the last man standing.

If they do survive till the end, they get the bragging rights of beating others by outwitting everyone.

Battle Royale thrives on the addictive nature of survival. It’s about overcoming difficult scenarios to stay alive.

4. Fantasy Sports

Fantasy sports is connecting real-world sporting events to a virtual setup of players. Sports such as Basketball, Cricket, Baseball, Golf, Hockey, etc. are popular games watched by millions globally.

Every player that competes in a specific sport has a chance to perform well or poorly. The player selects a roster (depending on the sport) of their choosing and adds athletes based on their performance to their pool.

Once the match is live, the player is rooting for their athletes in real-time. By the end of the match, the player is awarded points based on the performance of their athletes.

The player predicts their team before the actual game and gets rewarded for their accurate calls.

Fantasy sports are especially fun with friends. The one with the most points has the bragging rights of making the right calls.

Cash prizes and other monetary gains can be given out to top players that make the leaderboards.

5. Tower-defense

The main goal of tower defense is to destroy the wave of enemies that make their way toward the player’s home territory.

The playstyle involves planning and using different towers that are great for some scenarios but bad for others.

For example, a standard ‘Ice Tower’ is meant to slow down enemies. Once slowed, the enemies are clumped together and Area of Effect (AoE) towers such as ‘Flame’ or ‘Cannon’ can effortlessly defeat the enemies.

With many combinations of towers available, it’s up to the player to fuse different tower combinations in hopes of dealing with the waves.

With each new level, more powerful monsters with increased health are spawned. The player has to mix up their strategies.

Tower defense is heavily based on strategy and positioning. It gives players a sense of accomplishment when they beat a wave and clear the round.

6. Endless Runners

Games like Temple Run have popularized the ‘Endless Runners’ genre.

Most runner games are extremely basic and are easy enough to learn.

Due to their simple playstyle and addictive nature, runners are notoriously popular. The mobile platform is ideal for runner-based games due to the ‘point and click’ nature of it.

On the game development front, runner games are relatively easy to build and don’t require long lines of code.

The idea is to create environments that the player uses to dodge enemies and collect bonus rewards. The element of risk vs reward plays heavily into this genre. One bad choice and the player is defeated.

7. Action RPGs

The original Diablo games were responsible for the birth of this genre. Action RPGs or ARPGs provide the most immersive gaming experiences ever.

With ARPGs like Diablo Immortal and Path of Exile making their way into mobile devices. There’s a gateway of ARPG enthusiasts craving similar gameplay on mobile phones.

ARPGs also thrive on the loot versus risk factor. The more dangerous the level, the bigger the loot explosion.

ARPGs aren’t easy to code due to intense graphic detail. However, it’s possible to create a simple ARPG platform ensuring the bosses are fun and dynamic. Build the complex stuff from there.

Conclusion

Mobile gaming is gaining popularity with every new day. Partly because people love indulging in gaming sessions whenever they get time – office breaks, beach parties, commuting, weekends, etc.

The perk of carrying your game along with you has resulted in people choosing a mobile device over an expensive console or high-budget PC.