According to a new report by mobile app market research firm Data.ai (formerly App Annie), global consumers are expected to spend $22 billion on mobile games in the first quarter of 2022, accounting for about 65% of the total revenue of the mobile app market in the quarter.
On the iOS platform, mobile game revenue and downloads account for about 60% and 28%, while in the Google Play Store, the proportions are 73% and 44%, respectively. Data.ai estimates that the total number of mobile apps downloaded worldwide reached about 14 billion in the first quarter.
Data.ai executive Lexi Sydow said in a statement: "While covid-19 controls are gradually being relaxed in most markets, we are finding that (mobile) game downloads continue to grow, and consumer spending on games is rising in tandem. This quarter set a record for global mobile game revenue in the first quarter, and we expect players to nearly double their total spending on mobile games over the next two years. This reflects the continued surge in consumer demand, the increasing number of new games entering the market, and the dynamic gaming industry. ”
According to Data.ai in the report, the most downloaded mobile game in the world in the first quarter of this year is the tactical best-selling masterpiece "Free Fire", which is also the most downloaded mobile game in 2021. Works such as Subway Parkour, Candy Legend and Roblox also entered the top of the Q1 mobile game download list.
In terms of revenue, the report said that the open-world RPG game "Original God" was the world's highest-grossing mobile game in the first quarter of 2022, and Roblox and "Glory of Kings" ranked second and third respectively. However, Roblox was the mobile game with the highest number of monthly active users (MAUs) in the quarter, and Original God failed to rank in the top ten in this statistic.
Sydow also mentioned the sudden popularity of the mobile game Wordle: As the web guessing game of the same name swept Europe and the United States, many players poured into the app store to search for the name of the game, which in turn drove the download of Wordle on mobile platforms.
"This phenomenon suggests that people think that mobile versions of the game will be released along with other versions. The user accidentally downloaded another game in the app store page game "Wordle", prompting its MAU to soar... Overall, this means that consumers default (or even expect) that all games will land on mobile platforms. ”