Data.ai: Mobile gaming begins to decline after peak of pandemic

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Data.ai (the analytics group formerly known as App Annie) released a new report on mobile gaming success in 2022 this week. According to the report, mobile gaming begins to decline slightly after its pandemic-era boom, but appears to be stabilizing at a high level. He also highlighted some games that defied the downward trend.

In the report, Data.ai clarifies that, although the mobile phone market is in decline, it still records better figures in 2022 than before the pandemic. For example, global consumer spending on games in February 2020 was $5.24 billion. The same number in September 2022 was $6.5 billion. While the latter figure is down sharply from a peak of $7.73 billion in July 2021, it is still higher than pre-pandemic spending.

In addition to the above, Data.ai's report suggests that more new games are making money faster, but their data is from 2020 and 2021. 25 new games created in 2021 reached the Top 100 consumer spending, down from 19 in 2020. The report does not include data from 2022, nor does it show whether it would be more comparable to 2021 or 2020.

iOS games have struggled to be monetized since Apple's privacy changes; their incomes are still falling. Despite this general slowdown, some games are bucking the trend. According to the report, games like Merge Mansion are doing well thanks to effective marketing and in-game narrative hooks.

Games associated with larger game franchises also seem to do well regardless. These include Apex Legends Mobile and Diablo Immortal. Genshin Impact, which is also available on other platforms, has a strong narrative and high marketing budget, is also booming. Another market that remains afloat is mobile casino games, which data.ai recently reported to be growing rapidly in popularity.

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