The global mobile gaming industry earned $92.2 billion in 2021, which represents 50% of the total gaming industry that year.
The fact that more and more people are spending their free time in front of their smartphones shows in mobile gaming statistics. Find out:
- Which mobile games and genres are the most popular, most profitable, and most downloaded
- Gaming demographics on how many people play mobile games, and how many of them are female gamers
- What trick do mobile game publishers use to monetize their mobile games
Did you know “geolocation AR” is the least profitable mobile game genre? Find out which one earns the most in the article below.
Important Mobile Gaming Statistics
- The global mobile revenue reached $92.2 billion in 2021, precisely $1 billion less than in 2021.
- RPG (role-play games) is the most profitable mobile gaming genre, earning $21.9 billion in 2020 and $18.3 billion in 2019.
- China had a 35% of the global mobile market revenue in 2020, with the USA having 20%.
- There were 773,674 mobile gaming apps on App Store and Google Play, with the latter having almost twice as much gaming apps.
- Subway Surfers leads the pack with 191 million downloads in 2021, while PUBG Mobile leads in revenue, earning $2.8 billion in 2021.
- There were 2.6 billion mobile gamers worldwide in 2021, with half of them coming from Asia.
- 75% of mobile gamers in the US are females, and 65% of those aged 10-65 play on Android.
- The hypercasual game genre makes 94.09% of its revenue from ads, whereas RPG makes 80.94% of its earnings from in-game purchases.
Mobile Gaming Revenue
The global mobile gaming market earned around $92.2 billion in 2022.
That represents 52% of total global gaming revenue that year.
(Newzoo)
According to Data.ai, that percentage will increase to 61% in 2022.
(Games Industry)
Year | Global mobile gaming revenue |
---|---|
2022 | $92.2 billion |
2021 | $93.2 billion |
2020 | $77.2 billion |
2019 | $68.5 billion |
2018 | $70.3 billion |
2017 | $50.4 billion |
Mobile gamers spent $110 billion worldwide in 2022.
Candy Crush, Honor of Kings, and Genshin Impact were among the highest-grossing mobile games.
Year | Mobile gamers spending |
---|---|
2022 | $110 billion |
2021 | $116 billion |
Revenues from different video game segments in 2022:
Video game segment | Revenue in 2022 |
---|---|
Smartphone games | $91.4 billion |
Console games | $58.6 billion |
Boxed or downloaded PC games | $38.7 billion |
Tablet games | $12.1 billion |
Browser PC games | $2.3 billion |
The free-to-play mobile gaming market reached a revenue of $13.78 billion in 2021.
The revenue is estimated to reach $14.94 billion in 2023.
Year | F2P mobile gaming market revenue |
---|---|
2023 (estimated) | $14.94 billion |
2022 (estimated) | $13.2 billion |
2021 | $13.78 billion |
Growth of mobile gaming
The mobile gaming industry is growing by an average of 16.28% per year.
Year | Global mobile gaming growth |
---|---|
2022 (estimation) | +11% |
2021 | +20.7% |
2020 | +12.7% |
2019 | -2.5% |
2018 | +39.5% |
2017 | / |
Mobile Game Genres by Revenue
RPG game genre creates the most money worldwide, bringing $25.5 billion in 2022.
The second genre is strategy games, with $12.1 billion in revenue in 2022.
Mobile game genres | Revenue for 2022 | Revenue for 2020 | Revenue for 2019 |
---|---|---|---|
RPG | $25.5 billion | $21.9 billion | $18.3 billion |
Strategy | $12.1 billion | $15.1 billion | $11.7 billion |
Puzzle | $8.7 billion | $8.5 billion | $7 billion |
Casino | $8.3 billion | $7.2 billion | $4.9 billion |
Shooter | $4.8 billion | $5.7 billion | $3.8 billion |
Simulation | $8.1 billion | $4.1 billion | $2.7 billion |
Lifestyle | / | $3 billion | $2.2 billion |
Sports | $2.8 billion | $2.9 billion | $2.1 billion |
Action | $5.3 billion | $2.2 billion | $1.7 billion |
Geolocation AR | / | $1.9 billion | $1.3 billion |
US mobile gamers spent 14.8% more on arcade games in H1 2022 compared to H1 2021.
The second was the “tabletop” genre, with a mere 0.9% increase in revenue.
Otherwise, every other game genre saw a decline in revenue.
Game genre | Growth from H1 2021 to H1 2022 | Growth from H1 2020 to H1 2021 |
---|---|---|
Hypercasual | -2.2% | +41.3% |
Lifestyle | -4.8% | +2.6% |
Puzzle | -8.8% | +14.8% |
Strategy | -9.2% | +23.4% |
RPG | -10.4% | +6.6% |
Action | -10.5% | +68.9% |
Casino | -10.9% | +3.5% |
Sports | -11.7% | +1.7% |
Simulation | -14.9% | +10.7% |
Shooter | -24.5% | +16.7% |
Geolocation AR | -26% | -5.8% |
Racing | -28.8% | -3.8% |
Mobile Game Market Share
With a $3.03 trillion market cap, Apple is the highest-grossing mobile gaming company.
Apple stepped into the mobile gaming business in March 2019 when it launched Apple Arcade, a mobile game subscription service. Granted, Apple is predominantly a hardware and software company, and most of its revenue comes from non-gaming sources.
Company | Market cap |
---|---|
Apple | 3.03 trillion |
Microsoft | 2.28 trillion |
Alphabet | 1.84 trillion |
NVIDIA | 627.7 billion |
Tencent Holdings | 591.3 billion |
Qualcomm | 201.3 billion |
Intel | 198.7 billion |
Electronic Arts | 38.0 billion |
Roblox | 37.3 billion |
Take-Two Interactive | 19.5 billion |
Artifex Mundi was the highest-earning mobile gaming publisher on Android in September 2022, grossing $31.8 million.
Mobile gaming publisher | Earnings in September 2022 | Earnings in June 2022 |
---|---|---|
Artifex Mundi | / | 31.8 million |
King | $50.9 million | $28.86 million |
Moon Active | $48.2 million | $27 million |
Roblox Corporation | $18.26 million | / |
Garena International | $18 million | / |
Supercell | $14.08 million | / |
Blizzard Entertainment | / | $26.54 million |
Big Fish Games | / | $23.13 million |
Playrix | $35.88 million | $22.23 million |
Netmarble | / | $21.72 million |
Square Enix | / | $19.12 million |
Zynga | $21.23 million | $14.99 million |
Bandai Namco Entertainment | $12.55 million | $14.95 million |
Dream Games | $12.36 million | / |
Product Madness | $12.12 million | / |
iPhone’s highest-grossing mobile gaming publisher in June 2022 was Tencent Mobile Games, with $77.8 million in revenue.
Another Chinese publisher, NetEase Mobile Games, made it to the second spot, earning $56.26 million.
Mobile game publisher | Revenue made from iPhone’s gaming apps in September 2022 | Revenue made from iPhone’s gaming apps in June 2022 |
---|---|---|
Tencent Mobile Games | / | $77.8 million |
NetEase Mobile Games | $61.44 million | $56.26 million |
Shenzhen Tencent Tianyou Technology | $95.5 million | / |
Mobile game market country share
China generated 35% of the global mobile gaming revenue in 2020.
Another huge gaming market, the USA, generated 20% of the revenue (even though there are only 207.7 million of American players compared to 2.6 billion worldwide).
Interestingly, the top 5 countries have contributed to 75% of all mobile gaming revenue.
Country | Share of global mobile gaming revenue in 2020 |
---|---|
China | 35% |
US | 20% |
Japan | 11% |
South Korea | 5% |
UK | 4% |
Rest of the world | 25% |
China is also the first in mobile game gamers spending, being responsible for 38.5% of all mobile game revenue in 2022.
Here are the top 5 mobile gaming spending countries in 2022:
Country | Spending in 2022 | Revenue share |
---|---|---|
China | $42.4 billion | 38.5% |
USA | $24.02 billion | 21.8% |
Japan | $13.1 billion | 11.9% |
South Korea | $5.28 billion | 4.8% |
Germany | $2.47 billion | 2.2% |
Others | $22.73 billion | 20.7% |
Android game market share
Mobile games for Android brought in $81.5 billion in revenue in 2021.
That’s 28.1% more compared to 2020.
Year | Android mobile games revenue | Growth |
---|---|---|
2021 | $81.5 billion | +28.1% |
2020 | $63.6 billion | +15.8% |
2019 | $54.9 billion | -2.6% |
2018 | $56.4 billion | +44.2% |
2017 | $39.1 billion | / |
How much do mobile games make?
The average earning for a mobile game with around 36,000 downloads is $549,630.
These are calculations from the BSG website, which represent the ideal average but don’t reflect real numbers. Some games do much worse, and some do much better.
According to their more realistic calculations, a game with …
- Less than 50,000 users
- $1 per every 4th user
… can expect around $12,500 in revenue, which is a lot less.
(BSG)
Mobile Games Statistics
How many mobile games are there?
Google Play and App Store combined had 698,627 available mobile games in Q3 2022.
In Q3 2022, Google Play had 490,267 mobile games, and App Store had 208,360. The latter is much lower than in Q2 2022, indicating Apple must’ve thoroughly cleaned their mobile game library.
Both stores can share the same game titles, so this isn’t the actual number of mobile games on the market.
Quarter of the year | No. of games on Google Play | No. of games on App Store | Google Play & App Store together |
---|---|---|---|
Q3 2022 | 490,267 | 208,360 | 698,627 |
Q2 2022 | 477,998 | 295,676 | 773,674 |
Q1 2022 | 449,497 | 288,153 | 737,650 |
Q4 2021 | 670,447 | 275,013 | 945,460 |
Q4 2020 | 427,056 | 298,290 | 725,346 |
Q4 2019 | 343,292 | 266,224 | 609,516 |
Q4 2018 | 288,848 | 298,455 | 587,303 |
Q4 2017 | 647,488 | 376,536 | 1,024,024 |
Q4 2016 | 515,268 | 495,558 | 1,010,826 |
Q4 2015 | 380,233 | 384,462 | 764,695 |
Types of mobile games
There are numerous types and subgenres of mobile games, but the most popular ones are:
- Action
- Adventure
- Arcade
- Battle Royale
- Casual
- Card
- Role-Playing
- MOBA – Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
- Puzzle
- Brain games
- Pretend play
- Education
- Board
- Racing
- Casino
- Strategy
- Sports
- Trivia
- Word
(AppSamurai)
MMORPGs like World of Warcraft aren’t that popular on mobile.
Most downloaded mobile games
Subway Surfers was the most downloaded mobile game of 2021, generating 191 million downloads.
Interestingly, this game was released in May 2012 and is still topping the charts.
Game | No. of global downloads in 2021 |
---|---|
Subway Surfers | 191 million |
Roblox | 182 million |
Bridge Race | 169 million |
Garena Free Fire | 154 million |
Among Us | 152 million |
Hair Challenge | 138 million |
Join Clash | 136 million |
8 Ball Pool | 130 million |
Ludo King | 125 million |
Candy Crush Saga | 119 million |
If you’re a mobile gamer, check the best earbuds for gaming.
Even in Q4 2022, Subway Surfers was still the most downloaded mobile game, with 59 million installs.
(GameDev Reports)
Globally, people installed 4.7 billion mobile games in April 2022 alone.
India was the country with the most downloads, generating 783 million installs. The US was the second, with 394.8 million installs.
Overall Downloads
- Subway Surfers (26.6 million downloads)
- Garena Free Fire (25.2 million downloads)
- Ludo King
- Roblox
- Fill The Fridge
- Candy Crush Saga
- Bridge Race
- Merge Master
- PUGB Mobile
- DOP 4
App Store Downloads
- Subway Surfers
- Good Pizza, Great Pizza
- Fill The Fridge
- PUBG Mobile
- Roblox
- Wordle
- Fishdom
- Honor of kings
- 8 Ball Pool
- Genshin Impact
Google Play Downloads
- Garena Free Fire
- Subway Surfers
- Ludo King
- Merge Master
- Roblox
- DOP 4
- Candy Crush Saga
- Bridge Race
- Race Master 3D
- My Talking Tom 2
(SensorTower)
App Store’s most popular category in Q3 2022 is gaming apps, with a 12.68% share.
Business apps are second, with a 10.35% share.
Quarter of the year | Games category popularity share in the App Store |
---|---|
Q3 2022 | 12.68% |
Q2 2022 | 13.54% |
Top-Grossing Mobile Games
The highest-grossing mobile games of 2021 were PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings, each earning $2.8 billion worldwide.
Game | Revenue 2021 | Revenue 2020 | Revenue 2019 |
---|---|---|---|
PUBG Mobile | $2.8 billion | $2.6 billion | $1.5 billion |
Honor of Kings | $2.8 billion | $2.5 billion | $1.5 billion |
Genshin Impact | $1.8 billion | / | / |
Roblox | $1.3 billion | $1.1 billion | $508 million |
Coin Master | $1.3 billion | $1.1 billion | $539 million |
Pokemon GO! | $1.2 billion | $1.2 billion | $658 million |
Candy Crush Saga | $1.2 billion | / | $1.5 billion |
Garena Free Fire | $1.1 billion | / | / |
Monster Strike | / | $958 million | / |
Playrix and Playtica were the mobile game publisher whose games appeared on top charts the most times.
Six times, to be precise. Games from publishers King and Supercell appeared 4 times, whereas games from Lilith Games appeared 3 times.
Mobile game publisher | Share of times their mobile game appeared on top charts |
---|---|
Playrix | 16.2% |
Playtica | 16.2% |
King | 10.8% |
Supercell | 10.8% |
Lilith Games | 8.1% |
Activision Publishing | 5.4% |
Niantic | 5.4% |
Product Madness | 5.4% |
SpinX Games Limited | 5.4% |
Phantom EFX | 5.4% |
Top mobile games by monthly active users
PUBG Mobile had an average of 511.6 million monthly active users in April 2022.
That makes it the top mobile game in the number of monthly active mobile gamers.
Game | No. of monthly active users | No. of daily active users |
---|---|---|
PUBG Mobile | 511.6 million | 42.6 million |
Among Us | 415.5 million | / |
Garena Free Fire | 311.2 million | 41.5 million |
Candy Crush | 261 million | 13 million |
Roblox | 210 million | 21 million |
Minecraft PE | 173.5 million | 16 million |
Clash of Clans | 105.7 million | / |
Pokemon GO! | 81.2 million | 8 million |
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 80.6 million | 13 million |
Call of Duty: Mobile | 57 million | 6.5 million |
Mobile Gamers & Demographics
How many people play mobile games?
There were more than 2.6 billion mobile gamers in the world in 2021.
Most of them, 1.3 billion, come from Asia.
World region | Number of mobile gamers |
---|---|
Asia | 1.3 billion |
Europe | 551.7 million |
Latin America | 309.2 million |
North America | 207.7 million |
MENA | 145.8 million |
Sub-Saharan Africa | 126.2 million |
Oceania | 25.3 million |
Percentage of players by gaming platform
At 57%, smartphones are overall the most popular gaming platform in the US.
46% of gamers play on a console, whereas 42% use PCs.
Gaming platform | Percentage of users |
---|---|
Smartphone | 57% |
Console | 46% |
PC | 42% |
Mobile game demographics
Around 49% of Android mobile gamers are females, according to Google Play stats.
Interestingly, 75% of American mobile gamers are females, according to eMarketer.
(Google, eMarketer 2)
64% of American gamers aged 35-44 play games on smartphones.
Age group | Percentage of those who also play games on a smartphone | Preferred genre |
---|---|---|
18-34 years | 57% | Casual (53%) & Shooters (53%) |
35-44 years | 64% | Casual (66%) |
45-54 years | 59% | Casual (72%) |
55-64 years | 52% | Casual (75%) |
65+ years | 34% | Casual (81%) |
American mobile users aged 18-24 were the most committed mobile gamers in Q2 2020, with 62% of them playing once or several times per day.
Age group | Play once or several times per DAY | Play once or several times per WEEK | Play once or several times per MONTH |
---|---|---|---|
18-24 | 62% | 19% | 11% |
25-34 | 53% | 19% | 16% |
35-44 | 51% | 21% | 13% |
45-54 | 55% | 13% | 12% |
55-64 | 42% | 11% | 14% |
65-74 | 36% | 15% | 13% |
75+ | 26% | 14% | 9% |
65% of 10-to-65-year-old women in the US play Android mobile games.
Around 43% of them play more than 5 times per week, compared to 38% of men.
- 60% of women players say they feel good when playing mobile games.
- 58% feel the same when playing a new game, compared to 70% of men.
- On the other hand, 60% of female mobile gamers think that only 30% (or less) of mobile games are geared toward women.
(Google, Newzoo)
How long does an average mobile gamer play?
African players spend an average of 26 minutes playing casual mobile games.
That makes them the most dedicated mobile players in the world.
Genre | North America | Latin America | Europe | Africa | Asia- Pacific |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hypercasual | 5.4 min | 5.8 min | 6.7 min | 6.6 min | 7.2 min |
Casual | 15 min | 18.8 min | 23.7 min | 26 min | 21 min |
Midcore | 15.4 min | 23.7 min | 18 min | 17.5 min | 16.4 min |
Hardcore | 18.1 min | 26 min | 19.7 min | 13.8 min | 16.5 min |
Social Casino | 11.4 min | 21 min | 19.9 min | 17.1 min | 21.4 min |
But playing too much can be a problem, see gaming addiction statistics.
Females are more dedicated mobile gamers than males, averaging higher playtime in almost all genres.
Except in the hardcore genre, where males play an average of 17.4 minutes per day, compared to 15.4 minutes on the female side.
Game genre | Females | Males |
---|---|---|
Hypercasual | 6.4 min | 6.4 min |
Casual | 22.8 min | 19 min |
Midcore | 17.5 min | 15.1 min |
Hardcore | 15.4 min | 17.4 min |
Social Casino | 16.9 min | 16.2 min |
Interestingly, users aged 50+ spend the most time playing mobile games.
Their average is 7.7 minutes per day.
Game genre | 0-19 years | 20-29 years | 30-39 years | 40-49 years | 50+ years |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hypercasual | 4.9 min | 6.2 min | 6.2 min | 6.7 min | 7.7 min |
Casual | 15.2 min | 20.3 min | 21.8 min | 22.5 min | 22.8 min |
Midcore | 12.3 min | 14.8 min | 17.5 min | 18.1 min | 17.1 min |
Hardcore | 15.9 min | 16.9 min | 17.5 min | 16.1 min | 14.1 min |
Social Casino | 14.4 min | 13.9 min | 17.8 min | 18 min | 18.4 min |
Mobile Game Monetization
Mobile game monetization statistics
Mobile gaming apps earn money using these 6 methods:
- Selling games for a price (paid games)
- Games with a subscription model (battle or season passes) – the latter helped some games to significantly boost their revenue, for example:
Game | Increase in revenue |
---|---|
Lords Mobile | 102% |
Gardenscapes | 85.5% |
Hay Day | 46% |
- Offering premium upgrades in otherwise free mobile games (freemium apps) – this includes an “ad removal” monetization mechanic, with 90% of users willing to pay to get rid of the ads (SensorTower 3).
- In-game advertisement
- In-game purchases (microtransactions)
- Licencing and selling merch
(Starloop Studios)
The in-game advertisement market was worth $137.26 billion in 2020.
If the growth of mobile gaming popularity continues, it’s expected to rise up to $221.5 billion by 2027.
(Business Wire)
79% of mobile game developers say a mix of ads and microtransactions is the best way to monetize gaming apps.
Specifically, 53% think rewarded videos (ads that you have to watch in order to receive a reward) are the main drivers for in-game purchases.
(Facebook)
82% of mobile gaming app publishers say video ads are the most popular way to monetize gaming apps.
(Statista 10)
Around 33% of mobile game publishers that use ads and in-app purchases believe playable ads are their most successful format.
Playable ads allow users to play a game within an ad before downloading it.
(Facebook)
Hypercasual mobile games receive a whopping 94.09% of earnings from ad revenue and only 5.91% from in-game purchases.
On the other hand, role-playing (RPG) games get most of their revenue from in-game micro transactions (80.94%) compared to 19.06% from ads.
Game genre | Ad revenue | In-game purchases |
---|---|---|
Action | 23.4% | 76.6% |
Adventure | 24.3% | 75.7% |
Arcade | 67.1% | 32.9% |
Board | 69.7% | 30.2% |
Card | 46.5% | 53.5% |
Casino | 23.8% | 76.2% |
Casual | 36.7% | 63.3% |
Hypercasual | 94.1% | 5.9% |
Puzzle | 25.2% | 74.8% |
Racing | 26.6% | 73.4% |
Role-playing (RPG) | 19.1% | 80.9% |
Stimulation | 34.7% | 65.3% |
Sports | 56.4% | 43.6% |
Strategy | 29.4% | 70.6% |
Trivia | 59.6% | 40.5% |
Word | 80.2% | 19.8% |
The average amount that American mobile gamers spend on in-game purchases is $61 per year.
(Statista 14)
Around 31.1% (out of 2,005 respondents) of parents from the Sell Cell survey in 2020 allowed their kids to make in-game purchases.
40.3% of parents that allow, don’t let their kids spend more than $10 per month.
23% say their limit is $50 per month, whereas 8.2% let their kids spend even more than $100.
Monthly amount spent on in-game purchases | Percentage of parents that allow kids to spend |
---|---|
<$10 | 40.3% |
$10-$20 | 14.1% |
$20-$30 | 9.3% |
$30-$40 | 5.1% |
$40-$50 | 8.2% |
$50-$100 | 14.8% |
$100+ | 8.2% |
- Nonetheless, 67.1% of parents were worried their kids are spending too much on in-game purchases.
- Shockingly, 40.8% of kids made a purchase without parental knowledge, with an extra 9.5% of parents not being sure about the purchase.
- Strangely, 60.6% of parents didn’t bother asking for a refund if their kid made an accidental purchase.
(sellcell)
Mobile game downloads from app referrals in App Store have increased by 12% from 2018 to 2020.
Here’s the table of what referrals result in most downloads:
Year | Downloads from browse | Downloads from search | Downloads from app referrals | Downloads from web referrals |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | 26% | 44% | 26% | 2% |
2019 | 24% | 42% | 31% | 2% |
2018 | 24% | 35% | 38% | 3% |
62% of the App Store’s revenue in 2021 came from game purchases.
(Games Industry 3)
Read more:
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Conclusion
These were the most interesting mobile game stats. This industry can be very profitable if the game succeeds. The freemium app model can generate large sums of money, so it’s no surprise a lot of gaming app publishers want their piece of the market.
What is your view on mobile gaming? Do you think the metaverse will come to the mobile too?
Please let us know in the comments below.
Sources: Newzoo, Newzoo 2, Newzoo 3, Newzoo 4, Newzoo 5, Newzoo 6, Newzoo 7, Games Industry, Games Industry 2, Games Industry 3, Statista, Statista 2, Statista 3, Statista 4, Statista 5, Statista 6, Statista 7, Statista 8, Statista 9, Statista 10, Statista 11, Statista 12, Statista 14, Statista 15, INN, eMarketer, eMarketer 2, AppSamurai, Forbes, SensorTower, SensorTower 2, SensorTower 3, SensorTower 4, XFire, Theesa, Google, adjoe, Starloop Studios, Businesswire, Facebook, BSG, Apptica, sellcell
Newzoo 8, The Games Market in 2022: The Year in Numbers. Published Dec 21, 2022. Accessed Feb 22, 2023.
Games Industry 4, Data.ai: Global mobile game revenue dipped 5% to $110bn in 2022. Published Jan 11, 2023. Accessed Feb 22, 2023.
GameDev Reports, Sensor Tower: Mobile Market Downloads in Q4 2022 Report. Published Feb 17, 2023. Accessed Feb 22, 2023.
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