200+ Mobile Games Statistics: Market & Revenue Report [2024]

The mobile game market is constantly changing. If you’re a mobile game developer, publisher, marketer, or investor, you need to keep up with mobile games market trends and understand where the mobile gaming industry is heading. It’s the only way to make informed decisions. To help you out, I’ve put together more than 200 mobile games statistics for 2024 and beyond.

You’ll get valuable insight into the current state of the mobile gaming industry and its future. We’ve also included mobile gaming revenue,  gamer statistics, mobile game monetization statistics, mobile game marketing, and the most important mobile game KPIs.

Use these mobile gaming statistics to get ahead of the competition and win.

Mobile Games Market Analysis: Statistics for 2024

Let’s start with a mobile game market overview including size, share, and mobile gaming revenue statistics.

What’s the Current State of the Mobile Gaming Market?

In 2022 and 2023, we’ve seen the mobile game market correction following the two years of growth that happened as a result of the lockdown. The global recession, IDFA changes, and a tumultuous period in the Chinese gaming market also had an impact on the global gaming market’s decline.

However, the decline following the lockdown was expected, and the gaming market is stabilizing, which is why we’re optimistic about the future of the mobile gaming market. It’s important to remember that, mobile continues to be the most successful and profitable gaming sector in 2024.

Explore more mobile gaming statistics below!

Global Games Market Size and Growth

Global games revenue is projected to grow to $205 billion by 2026.

Global Game Market Size by Country and Region

The Asia Pacific game market is the biggest one – it reached $84.1 billion in game revenue with a -0.8% YoY decline.

In North America, the gaming market went up +1.7% YoY to $50.6 billion, and in Europe, it increased by +0.8% YoY to $33.6 billion. (Newzoo)

Mobile Game Market Share: How Much Revenue Is Attributed to Mobile Games?

In other words, almost half of all gaming is mobile.

Console games had a 29% revenue share, generating $53 billion. PC games had a 21% revenue share, generating $38 billion, and browser PC games had only 1% revenue share. (Newzoo)

Nothing has changed from previous years – mobile games still have the biggest market share.

How Big Is the Mobile Games Market?

The mobile games market is valued at $90 billion.

Mobile Game Revenue Statistics

This mobile game statistic tells us that the mobile gaming market has experienced a slight downturn following the pandemic years, but is in the process of stabilizing.

Delving deeper into mobile game revenue statistics, more than 1,500 apps and games generated over $10 million in 2023. 219 surpassed $100 million and 13 went over $1 billion in revenue. (data.ai)

Mobile Game Market Growth

The mobile game market is expected to continue to grow from this year (2024) onward.

These predictions tell us the mobile gaming market is still very lucrative and offers many opportunities for game developers.

How Profitable Are Mobile Games?

Mobile games are highly profitable because they have the highest market share out of all games and boast almost $100 billion in mobile game revenue.

However, to reach high mobile game revenues, developers must be smart about their monetization strategies. Currently, in-app purchases, in-app ads, and subscriptions are the most popular monetization models, as well as a hybrid strategy.

Mobile Game Market Size: Downloads Growth

Following the slight mobile game revenue decline, there was also a modest decline in mobile game downloads –2%.

Hyper-casual games were the main driver of downloads. (Data.ai)

What Are the Biggest Mobile Games Market Trends?

1. Bringing mobile games to PC and console – developers are expanding their audiences beyond mobile users.
2. Adapting to privacy changes – the mobile game market is adapting to a new policy and regulation landscape.
3. Innovative marketing – strong content and improved user acquisition strategies are helping developers get more users in a new privacy age.
4. Hybrid monetization – developers are combining several monetization methods, not relying solely on ads.
5. Hybrid casual games – a genre that’s replacing classic hyper-casual games and is famous for good engagement and retention.

What Is the Leading Mobile Game Market?

The top five mobile game markets by the number of downloads on Google Play are:

The top three mobile game markets by consumer spend in 2023 on Google Play were the United States, South Korea, and Japan. On iOS, top markets were the United States, China, and Japan. (data.ai)

What Is the Average Mobile Gaming Revenue Per User (ARPU)?

The average revenue per user (ARPU) for mobile games in the US is $57. It is predicted to reach $64 by 2027.

What Are the Most Popular Mobile Game Genres?

Hyper-casual is the most popular mobile game genre in terms of downloads, while RPG is the most popular mobile game genre in terms of revenue, i.e., RPG is the most profitable genre.

Here are more detailed mobile game statistics about popular mobile game genres.

Data source: SensorTower and data.ai – mobile intelligence providers.

Mobile Game Revenue by Genre

According to SensorTower, these are the top mobile game genres worldwide by gross revenue. These mobile game revenue statistics by genre reveal the most profitable genres in mobile games.

1. RPG ($20.2 billion)
2. Strategy ($16.3 billion)
3. Puzzle ($9.1 billion)
4. Casino ($8 billion)
5. Shooter ($4.6 billion)
6. Simulation ($4.5 billion)
7. Action ($4.5 billion)
8. Sports ($2.7 billion)
9. Arcade ($2.1 billion)
10. Tabletop ($1.7 billion)

Interestingly two mid-core genres are leading in terms of mobile game revenue (RPG and strategy games). However, the casual genre (puzzle) is also high up – it’s third by mobile game revenue.

Mobile Games Statistics: Top Mobile Game Genres by IAP Spend

According to data.ai, these are the leading mobile game genres by consumer spend (in-app purchase spend) in the US.

1. RPG ($24.5 billion in IAP spend)
2. Strategy ($10.7 billion in IAP spend)
3. Match ($10.2 billion in IAP spend)
4. Casino ($8.3 billion in IAP spend)
5. Simulation ($7.7 billion in IAP spend)
6. Action ($4.7 billion in IAP spend)
7. Shooting ($3.8 billion in IAP spend)
8. Party ($3.3 billion in IAP spend)

The top game subgenres by consumer spend are:

1. 4x march battle strategy
2. MMORPG
3. Team battle RPG
4. Casino slots
5. Match-3 puzzles with meta-layers
6. Match 3 puzzles
7. Action MOBA
8. Idle RPG
9. Luck battle
10. Battle Royale

Top Mobile Game Genres by Downloads in the US

According to data.ai, these are the leading mobile game genres by downloads in the US.

1. Hyper casual (16.4 billion downloads)
2. Simulation (10.5 billion downloads)
3. Action (5.5 million downloads)
4. Kids (4.3 billion downloads)
5. Puzzle (3.1 billion downloads)
6. Match (3.1 billion downloads)
7. Racing (2.6 billion downloads)
8. Tabletop (2.5 billion downloads)

Top Breakout Mobile Game Subgenres

These statistics focus on subgenres that continue to grow despite global trends.

• The top breakout mobile game subgenres by consumer spend are Puzzle – Word, Match – Merge, Party – Party Royale, RPG – Roguelike ARPG, and Simulation – Creative Sandbox.
• If we look at downloads, the top breakout mobile game subgenres are RPG – MMORPG, Match – Match3, Match – Connect Tiles, Match – Merge, and RPG – Roguelike ARPG.
• The top breakout mobile game subgenres by hour spent are Simulation – Creative Sandbox, Strategy – 4x Strategy, Match – Match3, Tabletop – Solitaire, and Puzzle – Word.

Most Saturated Mobile Game Genres

1. Party
2. Shooting
3. Sports
4. Match
5. Tabletop
6. Strategy
7. Racing
8. Puzzle
9. RPG
10. Action

What are the Most Popular Mobile Games and Publishers?

We’re moving from top genres and subgenres to the most popular mobile games and publishers.

What Are the Most Downloaded Mobile Games?

Wondering what is the number 1 mobile game in the world? Check out this list of the most downloaded mobile games of 2023.

1. Roblox (217 million downloads)
2. Subway Surfers (214 million downloads)
3. Ludo King (164 million downloads)
4. Candy Crush Saga (155 million downloads)
5. Royal Match (146 million downloads)
6. 8 Ball Pool (128 million downloads)
7. Free Fire: The Chaos (127 million downloads)
8. My Talking Tom 2 (119 million downloads)
9. Race Master 3D (118 million downloads)
10. Bridge Race (113 million downloads)

Most Downloaded Games of All Time

The most downloaded games of all time on mobile are:

Top Grossing Mobile Games

This is a list of top-grossing mobile games (by estimated yearly IAP revenue in 2023 reduced by platform fees and taxes).

1. Honor of Kings ($1.4 billion)
2. PUBG Mobile ($1.1 billion)
3. Candy Crush Saga ($1 billion)
4. Genshin Impact ($940 million)
5. Roblox ($868 million)
6. Royal Match ($835 million)
7. Coin Master ($728 million)
8. Honkai Star Rail ($659 million)
9. Monopoly GO ($645 million)
10. Gardenscapes ($605 million)

Top Mobile Game Publishers by Downloads

These are the top mobile game publishers by downloads.

1. Azur Games (1.6 billion downloads)
2. Supersonic Studios (1.1 billion downloads)
3. SayGames (1.1 billion downloads)
4. BabyBus (879 million downloads)
5. Outfit7 (738 million downloads)
6. VOODOO (696 million downloads)
7. Zego Studio (590 million downloads)
8. CrazyLabs (576 million downloads)
9. Homa (511 million downloads)
10. Miniclip (500 million downloads)

Top Mobile Game Publishers by Revenue

This is a list of the top mobile game publishers by 2023 revenue.

How Many Mobile Games Are There?

There are more than 700 thousand mobile games on Google Play and Apple’s App Store. New mobile games are published every day, which makes the mobile gaming market very competitive.

Mobile Game Monetization Statistics

We’ve already answered how much money do mobile games make. But the question is how mobile games make money.

The following mobile game monetization statistics shed some light on various methods like in-app purchases and in-app ads.

• 74% of mobile gamers in the United States would watch a video advertisement if they got in-app content in return. (eMarketer)
• 82% of mobile gamers say they are more into free mobile games that include ads than paid games with no ads. (eMarketer)
• In-app purchases account for 95% of all user spend. (TechCrunch)

• Women are much more likely to make an in-app purchase than men. (Venturebeat)
• More than 30% of female players will pay for a mobile game. (MediaKix)
• User impressions per DAU are doubling every year. (data.ai)
• In-app bidding is now the dominant form of managing ad monetization. It replaced traditional waterfalls. (data.ai)
• Mobile game influencers affect users’ purchasing decisions by 21% more than non-gamer influencers. (Newzoo)

Global eCPM by Country

In this section, we bring you the eCPM report by country for rewarded, interstitial and banner ads on both Android and iOS.

Rewarded Video Ads (Android & iOS)

• The United States is the country with the highest eCPMs for rewarded ads – $12.91 on Android and $13.18 on iOS.
• eCPMs were slightly higher for iOS than Android rewarded ads. For the top 20 countries, eCPMs on Android range from $3.31 to $12.91, while on iOS, they range from $4.73 to $13.81.

Interstitial Ads (Android & iOS)

• Five countries with the highest eCPMs for interstitial ads on both Android and iOS were the United States ($11.06 Android, $9.58 iOS), Canada ($8.64 Android, $7.21 iOS), Australia ($6.65 Android, $6.88 iOS), Denmark ($6.34 Android, $5.76 iOS), and Switzerland ($6.27 Android, $5.73 iOS).

Banner Ads (Android & iOS)

• The United States is the country with the highest eCPMs for banner ads on both Android ($0.60) and iOS ($0.27).
• Across all countries, eCPMs for banner ads are higher on Android than on iOS.

Get more detailed eCPM statistics here.

Mobile Gamer Statistics for 2024

Here are some interesting mobile gamer statistics including size, demographics, interests, behavior, and player personas.

How Many Gamers Are There in the World?

If we look at the overall global gaming market, there are 3.2 billion gamers. The number of gamers in the world will grow to 3.5 billion by 2025. (Newzoo)

How Many People Play Mobile Games?

Some mobile gamers are more active than others. For example, mobile gamers in Indonesia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and South Korea play mobile games the most – they surpassed 5 hours per day playing mobile games in 2023. (data.ai)

Mobile Gaming Demographics

People of all ages play mobile games.

Slightly older generations are also into games – 23.1% of the mobile gaming audience are 35-44 years old, 12.8% are 45-54 years old, and 6.3% are 55 and older. (Zorka Agency)

Percentage of Gamers by Platform

77% of Gen Z players, 73% of Millennials players, 54% of Gen X players, and 34% of Baby Boomer players play on mobile. (Newzoo)

What’s the Average Age of a Mobile Gamer?

The average age of a mobile gamer is 36. (MoPub)

This shows us that not only the youngest generation plays mobile games. In fact, people older than 35 make up almost half of the mobile gamer audience. (Mediakix)

What Gender Plays More Mobile Games?

Mobile games are almost equally popular with men and women.

Mobile Gamer Statistics: Interests and Behavior

• • Gen Z and Millennials spend more time gaming than on any other form of entertainment. (Newzoo)
  • 85% of mobile gamers do not identify as gamers. (Mediakix)
  • On average, mobile gaming sessions last 25% longer for women than for men. (MoPub)
  • 43% of female gamers play more than five times a week. (MoPub)
  • 38% of male gamers play more than five times a week. (MoPub)
  • Users spend 90% of their smartphone usage on apps and games. (eMarketer)
  • On average, gamers play two to five mobile games a month. (data.ai)
  • Users spend three and a half hours using mobile devices every day, and 11% of that time is spent on mobile gaming. (eMarketer)
  • On average, hyper-casual mobile gamers download ten times more games than other players. (VentureBeat)
  • More than 50% of gamers play mobile games while in the bathroom. (Mediakix)

Favorite Mobile Game Genres and Franchises by Generation

Here are more interesting statistics about generations and gaming.

• According to Newzoo’s research, Gen Z players prefer battle royale, sandbox, and MOBA games. Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, and Among Us were their favorite franchises.
• Millennials enjoy RPG, strategy, and adventure games, like Hearthstone, the most.
• Gen Z players are mainly into puzzle, shooter, and sports games.
• Baby Boomers are also into puzzles, as well as tabletop games and match games like Candy Crush Saga.

Share of Players’ Personas per Generations

• According to Newzoo, 23% of Gen Z players and 20% of Millennials fall into the group of so-called Bargain Buyers. This type of player enjoys high-quality free-to-play games.
• 38% of Gen X gamers and 66% of Baby Boomers identify with The Time Filler persona. These players play mobile games when they have some time to spare.

Why People Play Mobile Games?

Here are the main reasons why people play mobile games:

(Data source: Facebook Gaming)

What Influences Players to Return After 30 Days?

• Someone bringing up the game during an in-person conversation
• Hearing about new content or available updates
• Hearing about a reward for coming back
• Seeing the game mentioned on social media by friends/family
• Seeing news articles or blog posts about the game

(Data source: Facebook Gaming)

BONUS: How Youngest Generations Engage with Games

Wondering how the youngest generations interact with games? Here are the highlights from recent Newzoo research on Gen Z and Gen Alpha gamers.

• Gen Z spends 17% of their free time playing games, while Gen Alpha spends the majority of their free time on games – 21%, making games the number one source of entertainment for this generation.
• 90% of Gen Z and 94% of Gen Alpha gamers fall into the category of game enthusiasts, i.e., consumers who engage with gaming through playing, viewing, owning, and/or social behavior.

What’s the Most Popular Gaming Platform for Younger Players?

• Mobile is by far the most popular platform for Gen Alpha and Gen Z gamers. 73% and 69% of them play games on their mobile phones.
• On average, Gen Z gamers play for 6 hours and 10 minutes. Gen Alpha gamers spend even more time playing – 6 hours and 49 minutes.

Do Younger Generations Spend on Mobile Games?

• Younger generations are more likely to spend on mobile games. 52% of Gen Alpha and 52% of Gen Z gamers are payers, while only 42% of the total gamer population are payers.
• Newzoo’s research discovered that the number one reason for making an in-app purchase for both Gen Alpha and Gen Z is unlocking exclusive content. It’s followed by personalizing characters or items.
• 93% of Gen Alpha and 91% of Gen Z have spent money on in-game purchases during the past 6 months.
• Gen Alpha players spend the most on gear, playable characters, and in-game currencies. Gen Z players spend the most on in-game currencies, gear, and playable characters.

For more data, check out our article on Gen Alpha and Gen Z gamers.

 

Global Mobile Ad Spend

Each year, mobile is taking over advertising share more and more.

Data source: data.ai

Mobile Game Marketing Statistics

The following mobile games statistics are about marketing and advertising. They include highlights from the most recent SocialPeta research.

• In 2022, there were over 37k active mobile game advertisers each quarter – that’s 17.5% more than in 2021.
• There were more than 12 million quarterly mobile game ad creatives in 2022 – 15.9% less than in 2021.
• The majority of mobile game advertisers (more than 90%) released new ad creatives each quarter in 2022.

• North America contributed the most monthly advertisers.
• Genres with the largest percentage of ad creatives are casual (22.6%), puzzle (12.8%), RPG (11.3%), simulation (8.9%), strategy (8.7%), action (7%), casino (5.6%), card (5.4%), adventure (3.3%), and board (3%).
• In 2022, there were more quarterly ad creatives on Android than on iOS.
• More than 80% of all ad creatives for mobile games were videos. 14% were image ads, 2.36% were HTML ads, and 2.88% were other ad formats.
• Video ad creatives had the highest impressions in 2022.
• The game genre that had the highest impressions per creative was puzzle games.

Top Mobile Games by Advertising

In the images below, you can see the top 50 games by advertising on both Android and iOS.

Data source: SocialPeta

Top Games by Advertising on Android

Top Games by Advertising on iOS

Mobile Game Advertising Statistics by Genre

Here are essential advertising statistics for major genres – strategy, RPG, simulation, and casual.

Data source: SocialPeta

Strategy Mobile Games Marketing Statistics

• In 2022, the total downloads of strategy mobile games increased by 10.52% YoY. The estimated revenue declined by 9.48% YoY.
• In 2022, there were over 4,500 strategy game advertisers.
• The majority of strategy game advertisers came from Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.
• Africa had the most strategy game creatives.
• The majority of strategy game advertisers are on iOS (52%), while 48% are on Android. However, there were more strategy game creatives on Android than on iOS – 62% vs. 38%.

RPG Mobile Games Marketing Statistics

• Annual RPG downloads went up by 4.76% in 2022. The annual revenue went down by 13.06% YoY.
• In 2022, there were almost 5,000 role-playing game advertisers.
• The top 3 most popular markets for RPGs were Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Japan.
• Southeast Asia had the most RPG ad creatives in 2022.
• Android had a slightly bigger share of RPG advertisers than iOS – 52% vs. 48%, as well as a bigger share of ad creatives – 51% vs. 49%.

Simulation Mobile Games Marketing Statistics

• In 2022, simulation games saw an increase of 10.65% in downloads. The revenue for this genre declined by 16.67%.
• In 2022 there were over 9,600 simulation game advertisers.
• The majority of simulation game advertisers (54%) and creatives (55%) were on Android.
• 

Casual Mobile Games Marketing Statistics

• Compared to 2021, casual games saw a 56% increase in downloads in 2022.
• There were over 22,000 casual game advertisers in 2022.
• South America had the highest share of casual game advertisers, while Africa had the highest share of casual game ad creatives.
• The majority of casual game advertisers (74%) and creatives (78%) were on Android.

Advertising Traffic by Gaming Category

According to the State of the Market report by Apptica, a leading ad intelligence tool, gaming dominates advertising traffic, capturing over 78.6% on the App Store and 52.5% on Google Play. Puzzle and Casual games hold the largest share of traffic across both platforms. Specifically, on Android, Puzzle games account for a quarter of all gaming ad traffic.

Mobile Games Statistics: KPIs by Genre

In this section, we’ll focus on mobile games statistics based on the most important metrics across different gaming genres. The statistics include the following metrics: user retention, playtime, average session length, session count, and installs ratio.

Data source: GameAnalytics

The data is for the top 25%, median 50%, and bottom 25% of games in the casual, classic, and mid-core genres. Here’s how GameAnalytics categorized them.

Casual genre: action, adventure, arcade, casual, and puzzle games.

Classic genre: board, card, casino, trivia, and word games.

Mid-core genre: multiplayer, role-playing, simulation, strategy, racing, and sports games.

Mobile Games Statistics: User Retention

Let’s start with the average user retention statistics for the past year.

Casual Games

• Average day 1 user retention for the top 25% of games in the casual genre in 2023 was 28%. For median games, it was 20%, and for the bottom 25%, it was 12%.
• After day 7, the top 25% of games in the casual genre in 2023 retained an average of 6.7% of users. Median casual games retained 3.5%, and the bottom 25% retained around 1.4% on average.
• Average day 28 retention for the top 25%, median 50%, and the bottom 25% of games in the casual genre in 2023 was 2.1%, 0.7%, and 0.02%, respectively.

Classic Games

• Average day 1 user retention in 2023 for the top 25% of games in the classic genre was 31%. For median games, it was 22%, and for the bottom 25% of games, it was 12%.
• After day 7, the top 25% of games in the classic genre retained 11% of users on average. The median 50% of casual games retained 6%, and the bottom 25% retained just 2%.
• Average day 28 retention for the top 25%, median 50%, and the bottom 25% of games in the classic genre in 2023 was 5.5%, 2%, and 0.2%.

Mid-Core Games

• Day 1 retention for the top 25% of mid-core games was 26% in 2023. For the median 50% of games, it was 18%, and for the bottom 25%, it was 11%.
• After one week, the top 25% of games in the mid-core genre retained 5.4% of users on average. The median 50% of games in this category retained 2.7%, and the bottom 25% retained 1.2%.
• Average day 28 retention for the top 25%, median 50%, and the bottom 25% games in 2020 was 1.6%, 0.6%, and 0.03%, respectively.

Mobile Games Statistics: Average Playtime

Another important game metric is playtime.

 Casual Games

• Top 25% of games – 28 minutes
• Median 50% of games – 15 minutes
• Bottom 25% of games – 9 minutes

Classic Games

• Top 25% of games – 48 minutes
• Median 50% of games – 31 minutes
• Bottom 25% of games – 18 minutes

Mid-Core Games

• Top 25% of games – 34 minutes
• Median 50% of games – 17 minutes
• Bottom 25% of games – 10 minutes

Mobile Gaming Statistics: Average Session Length

Below is the average session length for games in the casual, classic, and mid-core genres in 2023.

Casual Games

• Top 25% of games – 7 minutes
• Median 50% of games – 4 minutes
• Bottom 25% of games – 3 minutes

Classic Games

• Top 25% of games – 10 minutes
• Median 50% of games – 6 minutes
• Bottom 25% of games – 4 minutes

Mid-Core Games

• Top 25% of games – 8 minutes
• Median 50% of games – 5 minutes
• Bottom 25% of games – 3 minutes

Mobile Gaming Statistics: Session Count

Let’s move on to sessions.

Here are the averages for the previous year (2023).

Casual Games

• Top 25% of games – 5 average sessions per day
• Median 50% of games – 3 average sessions per day
• Bottom 25% of games – 2 average sessions per day

Classic Games

• Top 25% of games – 6 average sessions per day
• Median 50% of games – 4 average sessions per day
• Bottom 25% games – 3 average sessions per day

Mid-Core Games

• Top 25% of games – 4 average sessions per day
• Median 50% of games – 3 average sessions per day
• Bottom 25% of games – 2 average sessions per day

Mobile Gaming Statistics: Installs Ratio

Moving on to installs.

Casual Games

• Top 25% of games – 52%
• Median 50% of games – 33%
• Bottom 25% of games – 17%

Classic Games

• Top 25% of games – 33%
• Median 50% of games – 15%
• Bottom 25% of games – 6%

Mid-Core Games

• Top 25% of games – 57%
• Median 50% of games – 39%
• Bottom 25% of games – 21%

References

Most of the data used in this article comes from the following sources:

1. Newzoo Global Games Market Report 2023
2. Statista
3. State of Mobile Gaming 2024 by data.ai
4. SocialPeta’s State of Mobile Game Advertising report
5. AppMagic

Mobile Games Statistics for 2024: A Summary

Judging by these mobile gaming statistics, it is evident that the mobile gaming market experienced a slight decline in 2022 following the boom in 2020 and 2021.

However, this market correction was expected and we’re certain that the mobile gaming market will continue to grow in 2024 and the years to come.

Furthermore, user acquisition strategies are constantly evolving and now is more important than ever to target the right audience with the right creatives. If you need any help with acquiring users, make sure to contact us – it’s what we do best!

In any case, it will be exciting to see how the mobile gaming market will change and evolve in the future – we’ll keep you posted. We update these mobile gaming statistics regularly so make sure to check in.

Which mobile gaming statistics did you find the most surprising? Let me know in the comments below!