Handheld gaming devices found their origins during the 1970’s but it was Nintendo that turned the industry on its head and cemented the handheld games popularity in 1989 with the release of the Game Boy. There was a time when single game handheld devices dominated the early gaming industry, now only after thoughts in an ever advancing, high tech, high speed, multi-player, multi-game, world of technology and entertainment. With the explosion of the handheld and console based gaming industry it was only a matter of time before the trend permeated the mobile phone industry with its powerful influence.

According to Reuters, the video game industry was valued at $65 billion in 2011, the three biggest players being Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. One interesting piece of this massive $65 billion dollar industry is online revenue, including digital delivery, subscriptions, and Facebook games, which made up a whopping $18 billion.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play

Given the size of the gaming industry, it’s no surprise that the mobile phone industry wants to take a bite out of this enormous pie.

“Gaming is now a ‘need to have’ category, not a ‘nice to have’ category for mobile devices, whether they be tablets or phones,” said PJ McNealy, videogame analyst at Digital World Research.

Somewhere along the way the kid inside each of us never really left, leaving us yearning for this type of entertainment. With the advent of games on mobile devices it allowed us to maintain our professional appearance while catering to the kid inside and no one is the wiser. With the rapid deployment of new apps and advancing smartphone capable gaming devices, there is no telling where this ends.

Soon we may see the $65 billion gaming industry dominated by the smartphone. These all-in-one devices provide practical usability and entertainment that are here to stay.