2023 is a year that marks a transformation in the mobile gaming industry. While market dynamics are changing and user acquisition is facing challenges, game operation practices are constantly evolving, innovative IP collaborations are emerging, new games and genres are emerging, and casual mobile games are and emerging market revenue bucked the trend.
This report will provide an in-depth interpretation of the data behind the global mobile game market trends since 2023, explore the main factors affecting the huge changes in the mobile game market, explore the innovative cooperation strategies of leading games and top publishers, and discover how successful games seize market trends to attract players and explore different types of monetization opportunities while gaining an in-depth understanding of the operational strategies behind popular games such as “MONOPOLY GO!” and “Royal Match.”
Special note: This report only counts app store IAP estimates and does not include advertising monetization revenue and third-party Android channel revenue in China. Revenue figures are net revenue after deducting 15-30% tax and app store service fees.
Global mobile game in-app purchase revenue fell by 2%, while casual mobile games bucked the trend and grew by 8%
2023 will be a year full of changes for the mobile game market. On the one hand, the decline in Google Play platform revenue still caused the overall in-app purchase revenue to fall by 2% to US$54 billion, but this has slowed down compared to the 9% correction in 2022. . On the other hand, mid-to-hardcore mobile games are facing the challenge of declining revenue, while casual and mixed-casual mobile games are growing against the trend.
In a market environment where user acquisition costs are constantly increasing, the mobile game industry is transforming to cater to casual player groups, and the trend of “casualization” of mobile games is becoming increasingly obvious. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the global revenue of mid-to-hardcore games fell by 9% year-on-year, while the revenue of casual games with simpler gameplay, such as “MONOPOLY GO!” and “Royal Match”, increased by 8% year-on-year. Revenue from hybrid casual mobile games combined with monetization mechanisms soared by 30% year-on-year.
From the perspective of mobile game types, card and board games performed the best, with a year-on-year growth of 18%, especially due to the outstanding performance of Scopely’s “MONOPOLY GO!”. Thanks to the strong performance of evergreen mobile games such as “Royal Match”, “Candy Crush Saga” and “Gardenscapes” in maintaining high retention rates and monetization, revenue from puzzle games also increased by 10% year-on-year. Action mobile games increased by 7% year-on-year, among which hybrid casual games such as “Survivor.io” effectively retained players and increased revenue. Moderate game types such as RPG, strategy and shooting fell by 10% to 13% year-on-year.
Revenue rebounds in markets outside Asia, and mobile game player preferences vary significantly in different markets
Although total global mobile game revenue fell by 2%, the trends in major markets are not the same. Benefiting from the outstanding performance of strategy games such as “Whiteout Survival” and “Awakening of Kingdoms”, mobile game revenue in the Middle East market increased by 8%. Although downloads fell by 12% in the European market, revenue increased by 7%, with casual puzzle games such as “Candy Crush Saga” and “Gardenscapes” as the main growth driver. In the Latin American market, shooting games such as “Call of Duty Mobile” and “Garena Free Fire” performed well, driving revenue in this market to grow by 4%. In contrast, downloads and revenue in the Asian market fell by 10% and 6% respectively.
Mobile game players in European and North American markets show a preference for casual games, while in the Asian market, mid-core games account for 79% of mobile game spending, which is also the main factor in the decline in revenue in this market. In the Middle East and Latin American markets, mid-core games account for about 53% of overall spending, providing growth opportunities for mid-core games such as “Garena Free Fire” and “League of Legends Mobile”.
Innovative online activities have become an effective strategy for acquiring and retaining users for mobile games
With user acquisition costs high, it has become crucial for games to retain and monetize existing user groups through online operations. The “Baking Partners!” campaign of “MONOPOLY GO!” and the “Timeless Travels!” campaign of “Pokémon Go” helped mobile game revenue surge by 250% in the first three days, earning more than US$2.3 million and US$1.5 million respectively.
In 2023, cross-border cooperation between game IP and non-game entity brands to launch in-app activities is becoming a new operating trend. “Stumble Guys” is a typical example: the original game IP has launched specific new props, skins, maps and game modes through cooperation with brands such as Hot Wheels, NERF, Rabbids, Barbie and Internet celebrity Mr. Beast. Among them, the cooperation with Mr.Beast has the most outstanding effect, causing downloads to soar by 600%.
Novel advertising materials open up new market territory for mobile games
In the field of mobile game distribution, game manufacturers are constantly optimizing digital advertising strategies and launching innovative and diverse advertising materials to effectively increase mobile game downloads, revenue and user data.
Utilizing the game’s own IP or cooperating with other IP has become an important strategy for popular advertising materials. Take “Roblox”, which will rank third in global mobile game revenue in 2023, as an example. The game has cooperated with many world-renowned brands such as NIKE and GUCCI to expand its popularity and user base. “MONOPOLY GO!” highlights the Monopoly IP in almost all advertising materials, and has been downloaded more than 100 million times in less than a year after its release.
The popular evergreen mobile game has launched creative advertising materials to attract old users and maintain its stable user activity. In April 2023, “Gardenscapes” launched a large number of advertising materials to re-attract old users, and successfully drove downloads and revenue to increase by 270% and 64% year-on-year.
Celebrities, Internet celebrities and UGC real-life advertising materials have brought players closer and have become a popular creative marketing strategy for mobile game advertising. In May 2023, “Candy Crush Saga” cooperated with the American rock band Jonas Brothers during the game music season to launch online activities and advertising materials to attract players to download and pay. UGC creatives featuring real players showing gameplay have the advantages of low cost, natural traffic and visual appeal, and are also widely used.
