Global spending on smartphone apps is about to increase more than it has before.
According to analysts at SuperData Research, by the end of this year, mobile gaming revenues will reach $21.1 billion, which means that compared to 2013’s $17.7 billion mobile games revenue, this will work out to a 19% increase since last year.
Asia mobile users are the major reason behind the growth in this market.
The lead researcher and SuperData founder, Joost van Dreunen, said in the report that “Much of this growth is due to Asia.” Van Dreunen added that Asia “accounts for over half of the worldwide mobile market and its booming smartphone industry as devices become more affordable and ubiquitous in the region.” What has been discovered is that while Western consumers tend to focus on mobile games spending on a per-player basis, the contribution Asian nations like China, South Korea and Japan are making are far bigger.
Based on what was found by SuperData, by the end of the year, Asia’s revenue for mobile gaming will climb to $11.3 billion. This amount includes revenue that results from in-game ads and in-app purchases. Furthermore, the intelligence firm anticipates that by 2016 the global gaming revenue will be at $28.2 billion once more smartphone consumers come online in Russia, India and china.
In the West, mobile gaming spending is growing, but slower than the global average.
The report noted that although spending is increasing in the west, as it is estimated to grow by 16% from last year to 2014, it is growing at a rate that is slower compared to the average worldwide.
That said, Western gamers do spend a lot of money on mobile games. The research from SuperData has shown that the average mobile player who pays for games in the US and the UK, spends much more than other mobile gamers in just about everywhere else in the world. However, the reason why this is believed to be the case is that both the UK and US mobile technology markets are well established and consumers have had a long time to become accustomed to how mobile games operate.
Nevertheless, in every region the mobile games market is growing. Therefore, if in the next few years, revenue does reach almost $30 billion, the companies who establish a presence in the mobile gaming space now are likely to be glad that they did.
According to the report, it estimates that in 2019 only around 6 percent of mobile games will be paid for by consumers at the point of download and the real revenue generation will come from advertisements. It also noted that diversified gaming offerings have lead to a sudden boost in not only the number of gamers across wider demographics who engage in social/casual gaming, but also how long consumers play games.