The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in increased demand for mobile games as banned consumers searched for online entertainment sources, including games. But even if the COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed, the demand for mobile games will not decrease. According to a new report from the mobile data and analytics provider App Annie Working with IDC, users worldwide downloaded 30% more games in the first quarter of 2021 than in the fourth quarter of 2019 and spent a record $ 1.7 billion per week on mobile games in the first quarter of 2021.
That figure is 40% higher than before the pandemic, the report said.
Credit: App Annie
From the first quarter of 2021, the United States and Germany led the other markets in terms of year-over-year growth in spending on mobile games in the North American and Western European markets, respectively. Saudi Arabia and Turkey led growth in the rest of the world outside the Asia-Pacific region. The latter accounted for around half of mobile game spending in the quarter, App Annie said.
The growth in mobile gaming, which has been accelerated in part by the pandemic, is also causing mobile to further overtake other forms of consuming digital games. This year, Mobile Gaming will expand its global lead over PC and Mac games to 2.9 times and its lead over home game consoles to 3.1 times.
Credit: App Annie
However, this change comes at a time when the mobile and console market continues to grow together, notes App Annie, as more and more mobile devices are able to offer console-like graphics and gaming experiences, including those with cross-platform and social gaming capabilities.
Games with real-time online features usually dominate the top box office charts in app stores, including things like player-versus-player and cross-play features. For example, Roblox was the top-selling mobile game worldwide on iOS and Google Play in the first quarter of 2021. It was followed by Genshin Impact, which just won an Apple Design Award for its visual experience during the Worldwide Developer Conference.
Credit: App Annie
The report also analyzed the gaming ad market and the growth of companion mobile apps for game consoles, including My Nintendo, Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation App, Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox apps. Downloads for these apps peaked in the U.S. under lockdown in April 2020, but continue to see heavier downloads than they did before the pandemic.
Credit: App Annie
On the ad front, App Annie said that user sentiment toward in-game mobile ads improved in Q3 2020 compared to Q3 2019, but the U.S. favored premium video and playable ads