As we enter a new decade, there’s a powerful new leader emerging in the global gaming industry: Mobile. Consoles are no longer king, as more and more people across the world are turning to their smartphones and tablets to play their favorite games. So great is mobile’s influence on the gaming industry, that it’s expected to generate a massive $52 billion in revenue by the end of this year (2020), increasing to as much as $56.6 billion in value in 2024.
Mobile revenue increased by almost 20% since 2017
At the end 2019, mobile gaming app spend accounted for 60% of the total global gaming market, generating a profit of $16.9 billion from $49 billion total revenues. The most lucrative verticals being mobile versions of online casinos/poker rooms, augmented reality apps, eSports games, and hyper-casual apps.
Comparing this to the 2017 figures of $44.2 billion in revenues, shows a clear growth of 16% within less than two years. According to industry experts, the industry will grow at an additional rate of 2.1% per year for the next four years.
In terms of the power players, China is the dominant force in the market, with statistics indicating the region will generate almost 40% of 2020’s total gaming revenues at $19.9 billion. Next up is the United States, which is expected to generate $10.1 billion in 2020. Japan is the third most powerful market, with revenue predictions of $6.4 billion, and South Korea and the United Kingdom make up the rest of the top five with projected revenues of $2.2 billion and $1.4 billion.
Breaking down the numbers
As global revenues have shot up in the mobile gaming industry, so too have the numbers of mobile gamer. According to research published by Statista, the number of mobile gamer in the world has been increasing by 100 million a year since 2017. That year, there were 1.1 billion people in the world playing mobile games, while in 2019 that figure increased to 1.2 billion. At the end of this year the total number of global gamer is predicted to hit 1.4 billion, increasing to over 1.7 billion in 2024.
Millennial gamers (players between 25 and 36 year old) were the demographic that held the largest share in 2019 at 36%, but breaking down the numbers according to genre also shows a clear split by gender:
Immersive hardcore games, which are designed for long gameplay and are similar to console titles, are largely played by male gamers, who account for 91% of global users.
Midcore mobile titles like Asphalt 9 and Plants vs. Zombies are also preferred by male players, making up 87% of global users.
The casual genre, which includes iGaming, is dominated by female players, who account for 58% of global users.
And the lightweight hyper-casual genre is also a vertical dominated by female players at 63%.
The allure of mobile gaming
In less than three decades, mobile gaming has risen from being a novelty to a multi-billion dollar industry, developing hand in hand with our increasing reliance on smartphones, tablets and mobile technology. Each year, smartphones are becoming more and more powerful, providing a wealth of opportunity for both mobile game development and smart monetization of the mobile gaming landscape.
In the past few years, the industry has already seen the emergence and development of powerful verticals like iGaming and eSports, and now major global brands are also becoming involved in the gaming space.
Entertainment powerhouse Marvel has just released its first open world multiplayer RPG for mobile in partnership with Net-marble, Marvel: Future Revolution. This ambitious free to play title weaves together the different worlds, characters and landscapes that make up the Marvel Comics universe; enabling games to play as superhero characters like Spider-Man, Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange as they deal with the aftermath of the Convergence.
Meanwhile, global coffee house chain Starbucks is attempting to tap into the Augmented Reality (AR) trend with the release of its mobile game Star-land on iOS and Android. Sort of like a Pokemon Go for coffee lovers, the game, which can only be played twice a day, features a real world star hunt and gives gamer the chance to win rewards and prizes.
