App Game Revenue to Comprise 61 percent of Gaming Market

App Game Revenue

Data collection website data.ai has just confirmed what we’ve all suspected: mobile gaming is the king of the industry. That is, at least, as far as app game revenue is concerned. But for many game developers: what else is there?

A new report by the data.ai and IDC entitled Gaming Spotlight 2022 has laid out in no uncertain terms just how big of a beast app games are. If trends continue throughout 2022 (and with the advent of huge titles like Apex Legends Mobile and Diablo Immortal, why wouldn’t they?), then mobile gaming will comprise 61% of the overall market share. That’s a lot of dollar bills.

To be specific, the report estimated that app gaming will reach a valuation of $136 billion by the end of 2022, with the gaming industry’s total market share being $222 billion. An estimation that was reached based on the 45% increase in app game downloads in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the year previous.

If we know one thing about businesspeople, it’s that they like to see the line going up in a chart. So companies like Sony and Take-Two will no doubt be high-fiving all the way to the bank after seeing the graph unveiled by data.ai and IDC.

It should also come as no surprise that the vast majority of app game revenue generated is thanks to in-app spending, otherwise known as microtransactions. In Q1 2021, app gamers were spending around $1.6 billion per week on app games – an increase of 30% on the previous year.

What is even less surprising is that while most of the revenue came from in-app spending, consumers are more keen to endure ads as long as the game is free. Unfortunately for them, however, the number of app games that are adopting a ‘hybrid’ system of both IAPs and ads are increasing.

The report also delved into more specific findings, such as the fact that app games are ‘more democratized’ – with the top ten games being played comprising 8 distinct subgenres. Meanwhile, online and cross-platform games such as PUBG Mobile are where consumers are spending most of their money, with open-world RPGs such as Genshin Impact seeing the biggest rise in consumer spending.

We’d recommend taking a look at the findings for yourself. But if there’s one take-home from the report it’s this: we’re probably on the brink of an app game golden age. And we can’t wait to see what else is in store.