azazelis March 14, 2019 at 18:09

Game Market, Trends and Predictions - Great Analytics from App Annie

App Annie company once again conducted a study of the mobile application market and posted a 160-page report with graphs and reports.

Translating them all is not a trivial task, so I chose the topic closest to me. Inside, about what happened to the mobile games market in 2018, and what awaits in 2019. Spoiler: everything is very good.

But first, look at the main points from the report .

194 billion downloads. Compared to 2016, the indicator grew by 35%.
$ 101 billion was spent by users in app stores. Compared to 2016, an increase of 75%.
The user spends an average of 3 hours on a mobile device. Growth from 2016 - 50%.
The market value of companies aimed at the mobile market in 2018, on average, grew by 360%.
Users from the USA, Korea, Japan and Australia have an average of 100 installed applications on a smartphone.
In 2018, China provided half of the downloads of mobile applications and 40% of the cost in the world.
More than 80% of the 48 companies that entered the IPO in the United States in 2018 are in the mobile market.
Spending on non-gaming applications increased by 120% compared to 2016.

Mobile games - the fastest growing segment of the gaming market, they surpass sales of titles on consoles, PC / Mac and laptops. In 2018, they accounted for 74% of all expenses of user accounts.

China, the United States and Japan remain the three most prominent markets in terms of consumer spending. Together, they provided 75% of all revenue from mobile games in 2018. A stable two-year increase in spending is noticeable in any market.

Games still confidently rank first in revenue and downloads on the App Store and Google Play.

In 2018, the line between mobile and console games has become less noticeable. The success of PUBG Mobile and Fortnite shows that mobile devices are already powerful enough to run games from consoles or PCs.

The tastes of mobile gamers in China, Japan and South Korea show the prevailing online gaming culture in these markets. The popularity of the Battle Royale genre in 2018 helped them make significant progress.

Hyper casual games also dominate most of the tops. Voodoo spent a good year releasing hits from Helix Jump and Hole io.

Candy Crush Saga maintained its position in Western markets. In 2016, Pokémon GO popularized local AR games, and two years later it was still one of the most popular games in the world. Partly due to the social aspect, PvP battles and events.

The new PUBG Mobile and the hyper-casual Helix Jump broke into the tops around the world in less than a year.

In recent years, Chinese publishers have been intensively looking for ways to get potentially high revenue in foreign markets, especially in the US. And their strategies are bearing fruit. The average overseas gamer in North America spends 140% more on Chinese games than in 2016.

In 2018, China suspended the issuance of licenses, but global consumer spending on games from Chinese publishers still increased. Though less than a year earlier. At the beginning of 2019, licensing for new games is gradually resuming, Chinese companies will continue to push for international expansion, and mergers and acquisitions may occur more often.

In 2018, we saw the growth of mobile gaming. Fortnite and PUBG - along with improved smartphone performance - provided a multi-user experience that put them on par with RTS and shooters on PC / Mac or consoles. Many publishers see great potential in the mobile market, which makes it especially attractive.

Hyper casual games with simple gameplay will quickly increase the number of downloads and player engagement in 2019. Mobile gaming users are expected to reach 60% of total revenue on all gaming platforms: PC / Mac, consoles, portable devices, and mobile devices.

The upcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite from Niantic will enter the top charts in terms of downloads, usage and consumer spending. But whether it will surpass Pokémon GO is an open question. Pokémon GO set a record for mobile games, earning $ 100 million in the first two weeks and earning $ 1 billion faster than anyone else.