With Sony and Microsoft actively pushing contemporary AAA gaming into the palm of the player’s hands with remote play and web-based integrations, the urgency for a comfortable way to game on a smartphone has grown. It’s not just the console leaders that are expanding into the mobile gaming market. Steam and NVIDIA, for example, offer ways to play on the go, be it via a direct link to your PC or a cloud gaming service. Even before that, mobile gaming proved itself as a multi-billion dollar market on both iOS and Apple platforms, prompting the development of smartphone peripherals like the Backbone One.
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The Backbone One was the brainchild of YouTube intern and Columbia University student Maneet Khaira, who saw the potential of AAA-equivalent gaming on a mobile platform. The design is simple and intuitive, allowing players to slip their mobile device between two halves of a controller, not too dissimilar to the Nintendo Switch.
While the Backbone One is a well-received mobile gaming controller, at $99.99, it’s pricey. Luckily for those of us with lighter wallets, it’s not the only option. Using a mix of hands-on experience and user reviews, we’ve compiled a list of cheaper alternatives.
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