Mobile games revenue rose to nearly $59 billion in Q1-Q3 2020: Report

Global mobile game revenue witnessed significant growth in the first nine months of 2020, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates.

As per data from Sensor Tower, global player spending on mobile games increased by 25.7 per cent year-on-year during Q1- Q3 2020 to approximately $58.7 billion.

“Mobile games revenue has surged this year, largely due to the global Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns,” Sensor Tower said.

“Player spending in mobile gaming has been boosted by consumers relegated to their homes and seeking entertainment along with ways to connect and socialise with others,” it added.

Spending on Apple’s App Store increased by 25.3 per cent y-o-y in Q3 2020 to approximately $35.2 billion while Google Play witnessed a 26.3 per cent growth in spending y-o-y, amounting to $23.5 billion.

“Analysing the year at a quarterly level, we can see that player spending has continued to rise throughout the first three quarters of 2020, although that growth is slowing since the height of the lockdowns in the middle of the year,” the report said.

In Q3 spending grew 4.1 per cent quarter over quarter.

The US accounted for the highest spending, generating $16.5 billion in spending across the App Store and Google Play, as per the report.

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Mobile game downloads

Along with spending, total downloads for mobile games also increased by 36.9 per cent y-o-y during Q1-Q3 2020 to an estimated 42.7 billion.

“Google Play downloads during the first nine months of 2020 rose 42.8 per cent Y/Y to an estimated 34.7 billion. On the App Store, meanwhile, downloads rose 15.9 per cent Y/Y during Q1 to Q3 2020 to about 8 billion,” as per the report.

India accounted for 2.9 billion downloads in Q3.

The most downloaded mobile game in the first nine months of the year was Garena Free Fire from Garena Games followed by PUBG Mobile and Subway Surfers.

PUBG Mobile from Tencent was also the top-grossing game during this time generating over $2 billion in player spending as per the report.

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