What might Brexit mean for mobile gamers?

We don't normally do politics here at Pocket Gamer, because we're a mobile gaming website. But when something on the political landscape has the power to change the entire industry, from root to branch, then it feels like the sort of thing we should be commenting on. Which is why we're writing about Brexit.

If you're not familiar, Brexit is a horrible word that's been used for the last couple of years to describe the United Kingdom leaving the EU. There are plenty of complex reasons for that, a lot of them involving money, lies, and racism, but we're not going to get into them here. Instead we're going to take a look at what impacts Brexit might actually have on you as a player of mobile games.

If you want to go deeper into the Brexit problem, then check out our sister site PocketGamer.biz, which has been talking to developers and other industry people about what Brexit is going to mean for them - spoilers, it's bad.

We've taken the decision not to paginate this list as well. Some things aren't about traffic, they're about making sure people know what's happening in the world, and how the decisions that other people are making could well change the things that you love.

I'm not going to lie to you here, nor am I going to talk on behalf of the whole team - I'm anti-Brexit, for a huge number of reasons, and that's obviously going to come through in what's written here, whether I want it to or not. What's important, however, is that you make an informed and intelligent decision off your own back.

Price hikes

After the original Brexit vote, according to The Guardian, Apple immediately changed the prices of games in the UK App Store. They went up about 25%. Remember when the lowest price band was 79p? Yeah, you've got a collapse in the pound post Brexit to thank for the fact that it's now 99p. Obviously that's setting a precedent, and while I'm not an economist, it wouldn't surprise if Brexit, if it does happen, will force another drop in the pound. Which may well trigger another price rise.

Roaming charges

If the UK leaves the EU, then there's a very good chance that in a couple of years you'll be paying more to use your mobile phone when you're abroad. If Brexit happens, then, according to the BBC, there's nothing to stop companies putting their prices back up when you're in the EU, even though you're using a network owned by the same people. Playing a game that needs to be online? Then you're going to get home to a huge bill.

The industry

According to games4eu, a pressure group set up in the wake of the original Brexit vote, 80% of the games industry in the UK voted to remain in the EU. And 63% of the industry now think that leaving the EU is going to have a significant effect on the cost of making games. That in turn could lead to companies leaving the UK for more financially stable markets. There's a lot more explained on the games4eu website, and we'd really recommend that you check it out by clicking this link.