A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone, tablet, PDA to handheld game console, portable media player or graphing calculator, with and without network availability. The earliest known game on a mobile phone was a Tetris variant on the Hagenuk MT-2000 device from 1994.
WatchESPN was a branding of the Internet television website and mobile application operated by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation.
BlueStacks is an American technology company known for the BlueStacks App Player and other cloud-based cross-platform products. The BlueStacks App Player allows Android applications to run on computers running Microsoft Windows or macOS. The company was founded in 2009 by Jay Vaishnav, Suman Saraf, and Rosen Sharma.
Sonic Dash is a 2013 endless runner mobile game developed by Hardlight and published by Japanese game studio Sega. It is Hardlight's second Sonic the Hedgehog game, the first being 2012's Sonic Jump. The game was released in March 2013 for iOS, November 2013 for Android, and December 2014 for Windows Phone and Windows, along with an arcade release in November 2015 as Sonic Dash Extreme. It was initially released as a paid application, but was made free-to-play a month after its iOS release.
Google Play Games is an online video gaming service by Google for Microsoft Windows, Chromebooks, and Android devices.
Crossy Road is an arcade video game released on 20 November 2014. It was developed and published by Australian video game developer Hipster Whale, with the name and concept of the game playing on the age-old joke/anti-joke "Why did the chicken cross the road?" The game has also been described as endless runner version of Frogger.
Steam Link is a hardware and software product developed by Valve Corporation for streaming Steam content from a personal computer or Steam Machine wirelessly to a mobile device or other monitor. Steam Link was originally released as a hardware device alongside the debut of Steam Machines in November 2015. Valve discontinued the Steam Link hardware device in November 2018, in favor of supporting its software-based Steam Link application for mobile devices and smart televisions, as well as providing Steam Link as a software package for the Raspberry Pi microcomputer.
Apple News is a news aggregator app developed by Apple Inc., for its iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS operating systems. The iOS version was launched with the release of iOS 9. It is the successor to the Newsstand app included in previous versions of iOS. Users can read news articles with it, based on publishers, websites and topics they select, such as technology or politics.
The Apple TV app is a line of media player software programs developed by Apple Inc. for viewing television shows and films delivered by Apple to consumer electronic devices. It can stream content from the iTunes Store, the Apple TV Channels a la carte video on demand service, and the Apple TV+ original content subscription service. On iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Apple TV devices it can also index and access content from linked apps of other video on demand services.
Sega Forever is a service from the Japanese video game developer Sega for re-releasing past games from the company on modern platforms. The service was launched for Android and iOS devices on June 22, 2017. By 2020, the service included over 30 games.
Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) is an online subscription service for the Nintendo Switch video game console. The service is Nintendo's third generation online service after Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and Nintendo Network. Following an interim period which began with the launch of the Nintendo Switch where Nintendo offered online multiplayer free of charge and the launch of the Nintendo Switch Online Smartphone App on July 21, 2017, the subscription service officially launched on September 18, 2018.
Stadia was a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. Known in development as Project Stream, the service debuted through a closed beta in October 2018, and publicly launched in November 2019. The service was to compete with Sony's PlayStation Plus cloud streaming, Nvidia's GeForce Now, Amazon's Luna, and Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming. Stadia initially received a mixed reception from reviewers, with most criticism directed at its limited library of games and lack of promised features. Google had initially intended to develop in-house games in addition to hosting games produced by third parties, but abandoned this plan in February 2021, shutting down its studios. The service continued to sell third party games, and Google offered the game-streaming technology as a white-label product. Google announced in September 2022 that it would be shutting down Stadia; the service went offline permanently on January 18, 2023, at 11:59 pm PST.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is Microsoft's Xbox cloud gaming service. Initially released in beta testing in November 2019, the service later launched for subscribers of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on September 15, 2020. Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming is provided to subscribers of Ultimate at no additional cost.
Apple Arcade is a video game subscription service offered by Apple Inc. It is available through a dedicated tab of the App Store on devices running iOS 13, tvOS 13, iPadOS 13, and macOS Catalina or later. The service launched on September 19, 2019.
Google Play Pass is an app subscription service by Google for Android devices. It was launched on September 23, 2019 in the United States. In July 2020, the service launched as planned in other Western countries, including Germany, Australia, and Canada. Subscribers can access the included apps and games without ads and in-app purchases for a monthly or yearly subscription. There are over 460 curated titles available under the service, which range from puzzles to podcasts. In March 2022, Google Play Pass launched in India.
The popularisation of mobile games began as early as 1997 with the introduction of Snake preloaded on Nokia feature phones, demonstrating the practicality of games on these devices. Several mobile device manufacturers included preloaded games in the wake of Snake's success. In 1999, the introduction of the i-mode service in Japan allowed a wide variety of more advanced mobile games to be downloaded onto smartphones, though the service was largely limited to Japan. By the early 2000s, the technical specifications of Western handsets had also matured to the point where downloadable applications could be supported, but mainstream adoption continued to be hampered by market fragmentation between different devices, operating environments, and distributors.
Pre-installed iOS apps, referred to in the App Store as 'Built-In Apps', are a suite of mobile applications developed by Apple Inc. which are bundled with iOS and installed by default or through a system update. Many of the default apps found on iOS have counterparts on Apple's other operating systems macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS, which are often modified versions of or similar to the iOS application. As each app is integrated into the operating system itself, they often feature greater support for system features than third-party alternatives and are quick to adapt new features of iOS.
Various Daylife is a role-playing video game published by Square Enix. The game was developed by DokiDoki Groove Works and key staff in charge of developing the Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler games. It was released on iOS, exclusively on their Apple Arcade service, in 2019 and on Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 in 2022. It was re-released on iOS as a paid version named VARIOUS DAYLIFE mobile with an Android release on January 23, 2023.
The Backbone One is an attachable game controller for iOS devices. Both the controller and the Backbone iOS app are created by Backbone. The app acts as a social hub and allows for editing and sharing recorded gameplay through social media platforms.
Backbone is an American technology company located in Vancouver, Washington. The company specializes in consumer electronics and computer software products for gaming on Apple iOS and Android devices. Backbone operates the Backbone app, a social and content creation hub for mobile devices.
