Data.ai (formerly known as App Annie) recently released a new report on the state of mobile in 2022, featuring a gaming section with results for 2022 and projections for 2023. The new report shows that the mobile audience will spend the same amount of time spent on their games as always, but their money? Not so much.
According to the report, mobile game downloads and time spent gaming remain high, but actual spend has fallen. More specifically, downloads rose to 89 billion, up 8% year-over-year. In contrast, spending fell 5% year-over-year to $110 billion.
The report, which covers all kinds of mobile apps, notes that this change in spending is specific to gaming. Spending in non-gaming app categories, such as dating and entertainment, remained relatively flat and even showed modest gains. Lexi Sydow, head of insights at data.ai, told GamesBeat in an interview, “We’re not really seeing a slowdown in terms of demand and consumption, but more in the wallet… most of it happening for games. They take more of that hit.
2022 is largely considered a “corrective” year, after gaming boomed during the pandemic. Sydow also pointed out that overall mobile gaming spending and downloads are still higher than at the end of 2020. “We are still finishing on a high, but we have softened after our peaks in 2021… In some game genres, we are seeing a decrease in total spend. It could be a bit of that post-Covid reopening impacting players’ wallets, but individual titles are still performing well.
Breakout Hits
As Sydow said, individual titles in data.ai’s report have shown tremendous growth. Several games became breakthrough hits in 2022. Although app spending fell, certain games, such as Diablo Immortal, still scored high. earn money with the game.
The leader in breakout downloads in almost every market was party game Stumble Guys. The Wordle app was also a popular new hit. Simulation titles (a category that includes Roblox) have grown in time spending, while RPGs like Pokemon Go and Genshin Impact are leading consumer spending across multiple markets.
It’s also easy to see the decline of genres as a whole on mobile. For example, while certain heavy hitters like Free Fire remain popular, shooters in general declined in 2022. Puzzle games, on the other hand, got a big boost thanks to Wordle. Meanwhile, action-runner Subway Surfers is still going strong, a fact Sydow said came as a slight surprise, but she attributed its success at least in part to the power of social engagement.
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