Freemium Mobile Gaming by the numbers.
According to the TomiAhonen Almanac 2013 there are 7.1 Billion people on earth. Of those, 4.3 billion have mobile phones, and 1.3 billion have smartphones. Additonally, there are an estimated 1.2 billion mobile gamers.
The real exciting stuff though is the growth of iPhones, iPads, and their Android counterparts. Since 2007, the Apps Industry has already created over 500,000 jobs in the US. According to 148Apps.biz there are 792,398 active apps (and counting), of these – 132,963 are games.
In terms of overall revenue, in 2012 it was edging towards $10 Billion with games taking over 80% of the pie, as reported by Flurry. When it comes to app consumption on both iOS and Android smart device consumers spend over 40% of all their time in games.
With their favorite monetization model being..
*drum-roll*
Freemium.
Of the top freemium games, 47% have average revenue per daily active user at more than 25 cents. The average cost per install is around $4 (non-incetivized no doubt for that much). iOS also generates 3.5x more in revenue than android despite its similar user base.
When looking at the charts, the #10 top-grossing game makes about 10x the revenue of #100, said Chris Williams a VP at Big Fish Games.
Forrester Research found that 46% of mobile users use games on a daily basis, and most users prefer apps that include ads instead of paying a premium.
When surveying Tapjoy Magid Associates found that 4/5 smartphone users and 9/10 tablet users have played a mobile game.
Thanks to Kakao, the Google Play app store in Korea generates 95% of its revenue from games, VS 76% in the U.S. In the worldwide Google Play app store, several Kakao-based games are on the top 10 grossing list at any given time. Apple generates more game revenue than Google Play in the United Kingdom, China, Australia, Canada, German, France, Russia, and Italy. Still, Google Play earns a higher percentage of its revenue from games compared to the Apple iOS app store.
When it comes to searching for apps, users do about 80% of their searches by interest, 10% by inspiration, 5% function, and 5% by brands according to consumer app search engine Xyologic.
The top 3 countries generating the most revenue for games are: Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. (in that order). Interestingly, Google Play app revenues are 95% based on games.
Asian countries also lead the way in percent of revenue coming from games on the iOS app store. China has more than 80% of its iOS app store revenue coming from games. Followed by Japan, Macau, Singapore, and Canada.
In the U.S., the top revenue generators among games in the iOS app store were Supercell’s Clash of Titans, Electronic Art’s The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Supercell’s Hay Day, Backflip Studios’ DragonVale, and Kabam’s Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North.
Kevin is an Online and Mobile Marketing Strategist who has worked with companies of all sizes over the last 6 years. You can follow Kevin on any of the social platforms below.
