Summary

  • Mobile gaming is the future, but not all triple-A ports are great.
  • The GameSir G8+ mobile controller enhances the gaming experience. It's not perfect, but ergonomic with good battery life.
  • The controller revolutionised my gaming time, making playing Xbox games on a phone feel great.

I’ve long believed that mobile gaming is the future of the industry, but I’ve never quite worked out how. I understand that the highest-grossing game on the planet is Pokemon Go and that Candy Crush is one of the most popular games of all time, but kids these days are playing Fortnite and PUBG on their phones. They understood touchscreen controls before ever being handed a gamepad. Phones are more powerful than some handheld consoles.

However, the road to progress is rocky. Not every triple-A game ported to mobile is great. Some are downright terrible, little more than glorified tech demos to please executives. Still, I believe we have to look towards a future where players are not restricted by expensive consoles, and look to regions like Asia and South America where mobile gaming is booming.

I’ve been trying to get the most out of my Xbox Game Pass subscription since the price hikes were announced, and that’s meant streaming more games to my phone. I’ve been enjoying it, even when playing big RPGs like Dragon Age: Inquisition, a game I’m struggling to love. But playing on mobile lowers the stakes, it makes the empty open world sections feel less important, it makes me feel less disappointed when I waste an hour of my life wandering around the desert looking for collectibles that I need to progress the story.

However, I still struggled with the touchscreen controls. Phone screens are massive these days, but it still becomes a struggle to see the screen when 30 percent of it is covered by my thumbs. That’s where mobile phone controllers come in.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been testing the GameSir G8+, and it’s made a world of difference. Suddenly, my phone was a Nintendo Switch, half a controller strapped to each end, connected to physical buttons and triggers by Bluetooth. I’m not going to be playing a competitive shooter with this, but for streaming RPGs and playing native platformers, it’s perfect.

The GameSir G8+ has a premium price point for a mobile controller, costing £79.99 ($79.99). When you can buy similar products for a tenner in those dodgy phone repair shops that blight every city centre in Britain these days, a product this price should be reflected in the hardware.

First impressions aren’t great. The two halves of the controller are separated by a sliding rectangle of plastic loaded with springs. You pull the two sides apart, pop your phone (or Switch) in the middle, and let the springs grip the device in the centre. The grip is strong, which is of utmost importance, but the G8+ can feel flimsy when pulled apart. There were a couple of instances where the plastic ‘back’ started to break apart where the two pieces connected.

However, it feels stronger when snapped into its resting position, phone in place. Connecting via Bluetooth is easy, and before long, you’re away. After this point, you forget about the prior issues and get lost in the game.

The G8+ isn’t the best-feeling controller I’ve ever used – I’m a Switch Pro Controller stan myself – but it’s by no means the worst. The joysticks are great; snappy and responsive. I’d prefer a little bit more tactile feedback on the face buttons, especially the D-pad which feels particularly lacklustre, but that may come down to personal preference.

The shoulder buttons and triggers perform adequately, and I was glad to feel out two buttons on the reverse of the controller, too. They’re not paddles like on the Xbox Elite Series, but rivalling Microsoft’s most expensive peripheral would likely double the G8+’s price.

However, none of this is particularly noticeable when playing games. I’d prefer a better buttonfeel on a device at this price point, but the controller is ergonomic and comfortable, which is far more important. The battery life is good, which is also a big plus for something created to be taken on the road, although the Bluetooth connection means it doesn’t support throughline charging. You don’t want to be tethered to a wall socket when mobile gaming, you want to be playing on the bus, the train, in a field, on the loo. All of those are options with the GameSir G8+.

Close

Most surprising of all, though, was how this mobile controller revolutionised my gaming time. I started picking up my phone instead of my Steam Deck. I made good headway through Dragon Age: Inquisition, played some Flock to chill out, and even managed to make progress through my current Soulslite obsession, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn.

Having my Xbox on my phone is a gamechanger. And having a decent controller to play my Xbox games on my phone changes the game further still. I’d even go as far to say that I prefer playing large parts of Dragon Age: Inquisition on my phone to playing on my Xbox connected to the big telly. I still switch over for important story beats, but for all the gruntwork, fetch quests, and collection challenges, I mindlessly grind them out on my phone like a good little gamer.

It almost feels like I’m playing two different games, the great story of Inquisition on my Xbox and some other soulless fantasy grinder on my phone. But it works. For low-stakes gameplay or the kind of fun frivolity I’d expect to play on my Switch, mobile gaming is in a great place – provided you grab a controller to keep your fingers from covering the screen.

Is the GameSir G8+ the controller you need? Maybe. At 80 quid, it’s an expensive bit of kit, and rumble and gyroscope functions don’t make up for the fact that it feels a little flimsy and the button presses don’t feel great. Those luxury additions do make it feel like you’ve transformed your phone into a fully-fledged console, but for this to be a truly barrierless entry to gaming, it needs to be half the price. I believe that day will come, whether through iteration or Black Friday sales, and at that point, it’ll be well worth grabbing.

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