New Research Reveals Diverse Demographic Appeal of Mobile Games

Mobile gaming was initially viewed with skepticism, with some claiming that it might not appeal to serious gamers. In spite of the fact that this is the case, the mobile gaming industry has grown at a rapid pace and has now outstripped certain traditional gaming formats in terms of overall revenue. The International Data Corporation (in collaboration DataAI) has just released a report that revealed that mobile games now bring in 60% of the revenue of the total industry.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that mobile games are predicted to bring in around $136 billion in 2022, which is almost two thirds of the $222 billion that the entire gaming industry is expected to earn. That indicates that the mobile gaming industry has grown over 4.5 times since 2014 when its total value was around $30 billion with all things having been considered and taken into account.

This is in stark contrast to the 25% growth that PC and console gaming industries have seen during the same eight year time period. Market saturation plays a role here because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up limiting the growth of a given industry once it reaches a certain saturation point. However, mobile games are also bringing in more revenue than PC and console games combined, which suggests that they target niches that these other forms of gaming fail to cater to.

One of the factors that contribute to mobile gaming’s startling rise is accessibility. Gamers don’t have to buy expensive equipment, instead they can just use relatively inexpensive smartphones that they would have needed to purchase anyway.

Another important and interesting aspect of mobile gaming is how wide its appeal is, since it caters to a far more diverse array of demographic niches than other gaming formats. Also, the days of mobile games being restricted by technological limitations are now long past us as well. Mobile phones these days are highly advanced, and they are capable of supporting relatively robust game designs which lends mobile games even more legitimacy.

Games like Genshin Impact and Roblox would not have been out of place in a PC gaming environment previously, but they are played almost exclusively on mobile phones and they target niches that previously were not known for high gameplay hours. Genshin Impact has been downloaded over 118 million times so far and has received a consumer spend of around $2.8 billion. Roblox, a game initially thought as a Minecraft rip off, climbed 15 places from number 16 in 2019 to the number 1 spot in 2021 in terms of consumer spend.

Casual games are also appealing to baby boomer demographics who were once considered entirely isolated from the gaming ecosystem. Candy Crush is not just enjoying enduring popularity amongst the older crowd, its popularity is growing. It and other casual games that are geared towards baby boomers and Gen X users now comprise 25% of the total market, up from the 19% share that such games had back in 2019. All forms of gaming are growing and they are appealing to a much more diverse user base.
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