Mobile Gaming Statistics, Revenue, Industry Data (2020 Report)

Mobile games run on mobile gadgets, which are for recreational purposes using by people all around the world. We cannot just call it the latest trend, but ever since its introduction, it has become part of our life, especially the tech-savvy people. All those who possess a phone may have played a mobile game at least once. For the youth of today, it has become a very addictive habit. It is not just a game anymore; it is an entire industry. The online gaming industry is a whopping $152 billion market, while mobile gaming has a share of $68.5 billion alone.

How many people play mobile games across the world?

Worldwide there are around 2.2 billion mobile game players. Out of these, 203 million belong to the U.S alone. Astoundingly 56%of these mobile game players play for more than 10 times in a single week. The number is growing exponentially, and more and more people are getting engaged in the mobile game each passing day. 

People started to spend more time with mobile games ever since Nokia introduced Snake Game in 1997. Then came an era in 2002 when games were easily downloadable through WiFi or could download from app stores in 2008. These games had become a must-have on the phone. Even if you don’t play, it has become something unavoidable now.

How did mobile gaming become addictive?

The introduction of some mobile games changed the gaming trend in the market. One such game was the Candy Crush, which entered the market in 2012. It is understood to have created an addiction to mobile gaming. By December 2018, candy crush has been generating $1.1 million daily alone. The games in the league are Fortnite with $1.3 million daily and Pokémon with $1.4 million daily as profits.

Time spent on these games:

Out of the total time we spent on mobile apps, mobile games consume 10% of the time. Every one out of two mobile users open games every seven days. Interestingly, 56% of game players on mobile have played more than 10 times in a week in the year 2018. The most mobile game usage pattern is between the peak hours of 6 pm to 10 pm. On a global average scale, every player logs into 2 to 5 games in a month.

  • Players spend 10% of their mobile app consumption time on mobile games.
  • 1 out of 2 players log into mobile games in a week.
  • 56% of mobile gamers log into 10 times in a week.
  • 6 pm to 8 pm is the most active time for using mobile games.
  • A player logs into 2 to 5 games in a month

Who plays more men or women?

You may be surprised by the figures; only 37% of the total people playing mobile games are men, according to Mediakix. It has found that women play more games and more often than believed. Women dominate the gaming world. Mediakix also suggests that 60% of females play mobile games daily. And a whopping 36% are willing to spend money on the games.

So, who all are playing mobile games?

It is incredible to know that the total number of people playing mobile games all over the world has reached 2.2 billion by 2019. The number of people engaged in playing mobile games is on the rise and has become around a 10% increase per year. At this pace, by the year 2022, around 45.9% of the whole population would turn into mobile gaming.

Are only the young playing games?

No, the general understanding that only the young are too much involved in mobile gaming is wrong. It is interesting to know that 55% of mobile game players are around the age of 55 years. Only 20% of persons above 55 years of age have not played mobile games. Among the mobile game players, 21% of people are within the age group of 25 to 34 years. And a minuscule portion; only 8% are teenagers. The statistics show that 85% of gamers don’t call themselves gamers. While 30% of them; play games daily, according to Applovin. It is interesting to know that around 80% of adults play games at home, or they even engage in multi-task while playing games. And another fun fact is that 50% of the players use these games in the bathroom too.

Which is the most popular playing mobile game?

In the open market, you can find different types of mobile games. Everyone doesn’t play the same game, and there are no common favorite games for everybody. User-friendly and average skill level games are the most commonly played games. But surprisingly, the most played games are puzzles followed by arcade games. The above information can validate by the statistical facts that in the year 2017, there has been a 34% increase in income based on the puzzle games at $3.8 billion. Next to is the Arcade games with $1.9 billion. The Arcade games have seen a rise of 95% between 2017 and 2018.

Who is playing more, Android owners or iOS owners?

As per GO-Globe, the download data is not very different for Android and iOS owners. 21% of Android owners and 25% of iOS owners download mobile games. When we see the worldwide data, we get to know that up to 78% of the mobile game players are Android owners. Out of these Android Owners, 59% prefer to play casual games, recorded in September 2017 by WePC.

As for the iPhone app publishers for games, Ketchapp was the leader. Around 24.07 million downloads registered in January 2018. All types of casual games are available on the Ketchapp. But the iOS-based users are the largest spenders; they spent 64% of worldwide customers. When we speak of the earning of the App Store, each dollar has a $0.74 share from games.

The earning of App Store and Google Play, when combined, comes up to $29.6 billion for the first half in the year 2019. It is 11.3 % more than the same time last year. The figures were $39 billion when we speak of the Android and iOS apps for the first half of 2019. Regarding the statistics of new games launch, in 2018, iOS had launched 1.1 million games, and Google Play had launched 1.6 million mobile games.

What is the net worth of the gaming industry?

A few people have started to believe that smartphones are losing their charm, but numbers are better proof than just gossip. It is interesting to know that, according to GO-Globe, mobile gaming alone generated 51% of the entire global revenue. While console had contributed 25% and PC games contributed 24% only. So slowly, being able to play while on the move has become a dependable option for the millennials. Also, it has become an addiction too. No one likes to sit in one place and play. The growth of mobile gaming had recorded 5% in 2018 and a further 3% in 2019.  The projected growth for the year 2020 is a 59% share in the global revenue of gaming.

Performance of mobile gaming app:

We can get a clear idea about who is better from the number of downloads. 33% of all downloads are of mobile games alone. In the online game sector, 46 games in the U.S stand top among the best 100 mobile games. If we consider the annual consumer spending, then 1200 games combinedly generated more than $5 million in 2016, but when seeing the data for 2018, the number of games had reached 1900 games.

Mobile gaming is the king in gaming

Around 56% of the game revenue comes from mainly three types of games, namely puzzles, skill, and chance strategy. When we speak of the worldwide figure, an estimated $152.1 billion had spent by online gamers in 2019. It is 9.6% more than the last year. In the world of gaming, mobile gaming alone accounted for $68.5 billion in the year 2019, making it 49% of the worldwide global gaming market.

The mobile gaming has had a tremendous rise in the last ten years. Mobile gaming began with a small share in 2012, and now it is estimated to reach a $100 billion industry by the year 2021. The projected valuation will be 730% of its original share.  Mobile gamers spend 12 times more than others, and we expect the gap to rise further in the future. 

What is happening in the global market as a whole?

In the year 2018, China has contributed 25% of global revenue in mobile gaming. In the meantime, China, the US, and Japan jointly contributed 75% of the worldwide revenue in the mobile gaming sector as consumer spending.  We can find a significant growth in the mobile gaming market in Southeast Asia in recent years.

As per available mobile download data for the last 2 years, India stands as the biggest market for mobile gaming in the world. It has estimated that the Asia Pacific region alone is going to generate a revenue of $72.2 billion in the year 2019, which is approximately 47% of the total worldwide gaming revenue.

Since 2015, for the first time, the US is going to be the largest gaming market in terms of revenue, with $36.9 billion in the year 2019. Interestingly there are around 203 million people who play games on mobile alone in the US. An average American believed to have at least 8 games on their smartphone. They spend an average of 23 minutes daily to play mobile games; this is equal to 13 years of a lifetime. Approximately 60% of all Americans or Canadians play mobile games.

How does mobile gaming affect online advertisement?

For a start, it has found that every 1 out of 2 mobile game players keeps himself updated with the help of advertisements regarding the products they want to purchase. Those who play mobile games are known to influence 23% more than anybody while making purchase decisions than friends and family members. As per the 2018 survey report on the US gamers in 2018, about 74% were willing to view a video advertisement along with in-app content.

Also, 82% prefer ad-supported apps rather than paid ad-free versions. It gives users both entertainment and rewards.  95% of customers spent on in-app purchases in the year 2018. As once you start playing a game, you want that best of everything, mostly requiring in-app purchases. Around 40% of mobile game players feel it is a relaxing activity, and they respond better to an ad when they feel comfortable and relaxed.

The year 2018 saw an increase of 15% in downloads of games due to the paid ads. But it has been noticed that 95% of the new ads fail to do better than the existing good performers. Those who play hyper-casual games tend to watch 48 video ads, which is two times more than other category players. There is an estimated growth of 65% in the year 2010 as compared to the year 2018 in terms of global App install ads. Also, we expect the spending on global app installs ads to reach $64 billion by 2020.

So which games are being liked more?

The category which gets all the active mobile game players is the hyper-casual games. In this category, we can find an addition of 101 million new gamers. The estimated market value of hyper-casual games stands at $2 billion or $2.5 billion. 20% of new players among IAP and Hyper-casual games started playing hyper-casual games first. Hyper-casual mobile game players install ten times more apps as compared to other category players. The share of Hyper-casual games shows 3.5 times increase in gaming app installation.

How are mobile gaming and social life interrelated?

It is interesting to know that mobile gaming has transformed into a culture, and people are proud to confirm their affinity with mobile games. Roughly 60% of the people who play mobile games love to be called as gamers and proudly identify. Gaming has become the second most common activity other than messaging on a smartphone. 69% of mobile gamers are willing to give up social life or television compared to other social media activities. A survey suggests that 27% of children play mobile games on their parents’ mobile gadgets.

Millennials agree to be paying more attention to ads in mobile games than elsewhere. Only 10% of gamers avoid those ads which give rewards, but 76% prefer watching rewarding ads. An estimated 68% of millennials like to play mobile games when relaxing at home, out of which 59% play more than four times a day. Parents of children too love to play mobile games. And interestingly 100% agree to play games at home on mobile. 87% of parents play more than two times a day.

Investment returns in the mobile gaming industry:

The mobile gaming industry is getting sufficient funding support from investment companies. Tencent is known to have invested $126 million in the company Glu Mobile accounting for 14.6% stake, while $90 million in Pocket Gems. Ubisoft is known to have acquired a 70% stake in Green Panda, who is a dominant player in the hyper-casual market. Supercell has invested $5 million in redemption games. Boom Fantasy has managed to raise $2 million through ESPN and MLB. While Gamelynx is known to have raised $1.2 million through various investors.

Kids and mobile games:

Now a day, kids are much into mobile games than physical games. In the year 2015, kid’s mobile gaming gave a revenue of $417 million in the US. It has touched $505 million in 2017. In the year 2016, premium kid’s mobile gaming generated a revenue of $144 million in the US, while $44 million was only for the in-app purchases. Interestingly the so-called free to play games in the US generated $317 million in 2016 and reaped about $344 in 2017.

Expected growth in the mobile gaming industry:

The mobile gaming industry continues to grow, without any geographical limit and the global market size of the industry was $151.9 billion in 2019. The 2.3 billion gamers are going to contribute as much as $165.9 billion in 2020, as per a revenue forecast.  As the number of smartphone users continues to increase day by day, we can expect a steady rise in mobile game users. More and more established companies take over startup mobile gaming companies. It is happy news for startup companies as freshers can get excellent responses from seasoned companies by way of investment or chances to work as a team by keeping the startup identity.

The growth of mobile phone game is beyond our imagination, and the exciting technologies on mobile games and cellphone units improve the gaming experience. The evaluation of the mobile phone to the smartphone is the main reason that has changed the mobile gaming experience from a communication device to allow people to have fun and entertainment.  Since we can see many new mobile game developers emerge daily, the gaming field also improves a lot on quality and presentation.

A lot of development happens around us in the connectivity and mobile devices. With the upcoming 5G internet, we can expect mobile gaming to have a new level of experience. People these days like to play games to relax rather than watch television as compared to previous days. Previously the mobile game was an entertainment for children, but today almost everybody tends to use the game.

The mobile gaming industry is a rapidly growing phenomenon. It is getting upgraded every moment, and as a result, we can enjoy a better gaming experience. The future of the mobile gaming industry depends much on the development of mobile games.

Ref links:

https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-games-market

https://medium.com/worldopo/impressive-mobile-gaming-market-growth-in-2019-b72ac7740218

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-12-12-mobile-gamers-spent-usd41.5-billion-on-in-app-purchases-in-one-year

mobilemarketer.com/news/mobile-games-sparked-60-of-2019-global-game-revenue-study-finds/569658/

14 Mobile Gaming Statistics, 2020 – Insights Into $2.2B Gamers Market

Researched by Brian and SaaS Scout team
Researched by Brian and SaaS Scout team

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