Mobile games are now dominating App Store and Google Play downloads. According to gaming research firm Newzoo, mobile gaming will generate more than $70 billion in 2018, which is over three-quarters of total app store revenue, and there will be over 2 billion global players.
Mobile attribution and data analytics company AppsFlyer’s report on The State of Gaming App Marketing 2018 takes a look at what is driving gaming use and sales.
Boom In Midcore And Strategy Games
The explosion in sophisticated smartphone adoption has driven play of mid-core and strategy games. These now account for a 60% share of overall gaming downloads. The use of what is known in the industry as, ‘pick and play’ hyper-casual games, became three times as popular in 2018, but despite this, these games still only made-up just over 5% of total gaming downloads this year.
Gaming Increasingly Supported By Ads
More than 50% of gaming revenue in several genres is now primarily supported by advertising, the AppsFlyer report found. In-app ad monetization is really taking off for hyper-casual games. For casual games, there is a nearly 60-40 split favoring ad monetization versus in-app purchases. When it comes to mid-core and strategy games, however, 70% of all revenue still comes from purchases and this isn’t expected to change.
In-App Gaming Purchases Less Popular In Emerging Markets
The report found that players in developed countries are three and a half times as likely to pay for games than gamers based in emerging markets. Developed gaming markets, such as Japan and Australia, have an average 3.5% conversion rate when it comes to making gaming-app purchases. Compare this with Indonesia and Brazil where there is a 1% conversion rate.
Reference: Forbes.com
