Zhitong Financial App learned that Sensor Tower data shows that from 2018 to 2021, global mobile game in-app purchase revenue continues to grow. As the impact of the pandemic on the global mobile market waned, global mobile game revenue fell for the first time in 2022 to US$78.8 billion, down nearly 9% year-on-year, but still 25% higher than 2019 revenue. It is expected that global mobile game revenue will return to the upward channel in 2023, and the revenue is predicted to exceed 92 billion US dollars in 2027.
In terms of downloads, global mobile game downloads in 2022 were close to 2021 levels, at 55.4 billion, but still 31% higher than in 2019. It is expected that the number of global mobile game downloads will return to the upward trend in 2023, and the global mobile game download forecast will exceed 76 billion times in 2027.
Global sports mobile game downloads are on the rise, and action mobile game revenue is bucking the trend
Driven by the 2022 World Cup, sports mobile game downloads such as FIFA Soccer and FIFA World of Football increased by 14% to 2.2 billion. In 2022, the download volume of casual mobile games such as hyper-casual, puzzle puzzle, and arcade remained at the level of the previous year, and it is expected that the download volume of casual mobile games will continue the previous growth trend in 2023.
In 2022, the revenue of medium and heavy mobile games such as RPG, strategy, action and shooting fell by 11% for the first time to US$46.3 billion, and the revenue of medium and heavy mobile games is expected to recover in 2023. Named with Survivor!. IO, represented by mobile games, global revenue bucked the trend and increased by 9% to US$4.5 billion in 2022.
Global RPG mobile game revenue fell to 2019 levels for the first time
In 2022, global RPG mobile game in-app purchase revenue fell by 15% for the first time to close to the level of 2019, and it is expected that the decline trend of RPG mobile game revenue will slow down in 2023. In terms of downloads, the number of RPG mobile game downloads worldwide in 2022 was 1.4 billion, basically the same as in 2021.
Different markets have different preferences for RPG mobile games in different subcategories. In the Chinese and South Korean markets, MMORPG mobile game in-app purchase revenue has a leading position. In the US and Japan, RPG mobile game user spend is the highest.
Chinese strategy mobile games have outstanding revenue performance in popular overseas markets around the world
In 2022, global strategic mobile game in-app purchase revenue fell by 6% for the first time to US$16.7 billion, but it is still higher than the pre-pandemic level. Strategy mobile game revenue is expected to rebound in 2023. Global strategy mobile game downloads in 2022 will remain the same as in 2021, and downloads are forecast to remain stable in 2023.
Strategy mobile games from China have outstanding revenue performance in popular overseas markets such as the United States, Japan and South Korea. Among them, "Awakening of Nations", "Pocket Raiders", "Age of Origins", "Watch for Dawn", "Age of Kingdoms" and many other 4X strategy mobile games were shortlisted in the top 10 of the best-selling US strategy mobile games in 2022.
Synthetic mobile game revenue is still growing
In 2022, synthetic mobile game revenue increased by nearly 25%, and the revenue share increased from 5% in 2021 to 7%. The classic match-3 mobile game represented by "Candy Crush Saga" contributes nearly 60% of the total global revenue of puzzle mobile games. In puzzle mobile games, the most downloaded subcategory is other puzzle mobile games.
Thanks to a significant increase in downloads of its bubble shooter mobile game Bubble Shooter - Pop Bubbles, publisher Ivy Mobile stands out in the highly competitive puzzle circuit, ranking 9th in the 2022 Global Puzzle Mobile Publishers Download List for the first time.