Whiling away a few quiet moments with a game on your phone seems an innocuous distraction, but it is actually one of the most important areas of today’s leisure sector, with huge implications for national and global economies. Here, we take a look at the types of Android games that are leading the charge in terms of revenue generation, and we will see what that tells us about the true face of the modern gamer.
The puzzling truth about the top revenue generator
Most mobile games are free to download and play. 95 percent of revenue is generated from in-app purchases and 50 percent of this revenue comes from just 0.15 percent of players. In short, be ready for a surprise or two about which games generate the most revenue. You could be forgiven for expecting it to be the latest, greatest first person shooters favored by eSport wannabes. But you would be completely wrong. Their grandmothers are more likely to spend money on mobile games than they are, and puzzle games like Candy Crush Saga are the top earners, generating more than 21 percent of all mobile gaming revenue.
Casino games are a good bet
There’s an old joke that the best way to make a profit at the casino is by buying it. iGaming has continued to grow at an even faster rate than the overall gaming market over the past couple of years. Yet the fact that casino apps are the second from top in terms of revenue generation only tells half a story. This genre is unusual, as native apps account for a smaller proportion of the overall market than other types of games. That is to say that while 19 percent of mobile gaming app revenue comes from online casino apps, we must also remember the top-rated online casinos to play on your phone’s browsers. These, when added to the native apps, would actually place online casino apps into the top spot.
A good strategy game provides a mental work-out
Those of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s were often warned by our parents that gaming would “rot our brains.” These are often the same parents whonow play mobile games every day to “keep themselves mentally sharp.” In particular, strategy games, the 3rd best revenue generator at 18 percent, have been demonstrated to improve thought processes, decision making and intellectual abilities.
Describing the modern gamer
These three categories of games generate 58 percent of mobile gaming revenue. All are aimed at older gamers, and suddenly the fact that the majority of gamers are over 35 and more than 50 percent are female is not so surprising. The truth is, today, most of us play at least the occasional game on our Android. If you want to see what the average gamer really looks like, then just take a good long look in the mirror.
