February 1st, 2023, Rishad Dsouza
The global mobile gaming industry has blossomed over the last decade and, as per some estimates, is projected to draw in revenues of close to $200 billion globally by the end of this decade. Which genres of mobile gaming are driving the industry?
In this piece we focus on British mobile gamers who played or purchased the most titles based on the genre of mobile games they play. Looking at some of the most popular genres of mobile gaming, British mobile gamers who play strategy games like Clash of Clans are among the most likely to have downloaded or purchased five or more titles over the last six months (43%).
Gamers who play card/casino games such as poker are next on the list with 37% of them having installed five or more titles in the last six months. Over a third of shooter gamers (35%) and just under a third of adventure gamers (31%) also installed and/or purchased five or more games.
Three in ten of those who play action games (29%) and racing games (29%) installed five or more titles. Players of farm/city/island sims (25%) and brain games (23%) also made a significant number of purchases and downloads.
Players of puzzle and breakout games were among the least likely to make new purchases and installs, with less than a fifth of these players (17%) downloading five or more titles. This is particularly interesting given that puzzle and breakout is the most popular mobile gaming genre in Britain, played by a third of all mobile gamers (32%). This could mean that there’s simply less churn in these titles than in other categories.
On the other end of the spectrum, shooter games appear to attract a lot of fresh installs even though a much smaller proportion of British mobile gamers play the genre (11%). This is also the case with empire-building or strategy games.
This data could well mean that game developers need to tailor their revenue-models differently to each genre. For example, focusing on developing and marketing new releases might be the prudent option when it comes to strategy games, whereas leveraging strong existing properties (with adverts and in-game purchases) might be the smarter option in the puzzle/breakout genre.
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