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2023 Mobile Games Report OpenMediation
2023 Mobile Games Report OpenMediation
The content includes the personal opinion of the author of the report, which only Russia(RU), Egypt(EG), Saudi Arabia(SA),
provides reference to market trends, and does not serve as any investment and Turkey(TR), Hong Kong(HK), Taiwan(TW)
Executive Summary
In 2022, the mobile game industry has transitioned from As market verification speeds up and long-term operation
1 “Deceleration Phase II” to “Recovery Period”. In the early
4 space expands, casual game developers need to further
days of COVID-19, the growth of global Internet users integrate in-app purchases and advertising
accelerated, but in 2022 it has returned to the usual growth
rate.
The global game market can be divided into two categories, The emerging gaming markets as a whole have entered a
2 one is high-value regions led by the United States and Japan, 5 period of rapid post-epidemic economic recovery from 2022,
and the other is emerging markets. The importance of among which Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Malaysia, Vietnam,
emerging market economies is growing. Consumer Saudi Arabia, and Egypt all have nominal GDP growth rates of
spending on mobile games declined overall, but some more than 10%, driving the recovery of the whole mobile
emerging markets bucked the trend. game market.
Most regions of the world saw non-gaming apps outpacing To unlock more potential of the niche market like Brazil and
3 mobile games in 2022, Except for Indonesia and Malaysia.
6 Turkey, it is crucial to identify a group of core users.
In 2022, the mobile game industry has Deceleration
Phase II
Recovery
Period
Top 200 Mobile Game Downloads, 2021~2022 Top200 Mobile Game DAU, 2021~2022 Top200 Mobile Game IAP, 2021~2022($)
4.80B Deceleration 1.58B Deceleration Recovery $6.75B Deceleration Recovery
4.75B Phase II 1.56B Phase II Period Phase II Period
4.70B $6.70B
Recovery 1.54B
4.65B $6.65B
Period 1.52B
4.60B
$6.60B
4.55B 1.50B
4.50B $6.55B
1.48B
4.45B $6.50B
1.46B
4.40B
1.44B $6.45B
4.35B
4.30B 1.42B $6.40B
2021Q1
2021Q2
2021Q3
2021Q4
2022Q1
2022Q2
2022Q3
2022Q4
2021Q1
2021Q2
2021Q3
2021Q4
2022Q1
2022Q2
2022Q3
2022Q4
2021Q1
2021Q2
2021Q3
2021Q4
2022Q1
2022Q2
2022Q3
2022Q4
Global Internet Penetration Rate[1], 2009~2022
In the early days of COVID-19, the growth of 80% 15% Growth in
3 Years
global Internet users accelerated, but in 2022 70%
15% Growth in
6 Years
it has returned to the usual growth rate 60%
50%
2022: Slower
Growth
40%
In the six years of 2012~2017, the overall global Internet penetration rate increased by 15%,
while 2019~2021 only took three years , indicating that COVID-19 has brought about a "rapid 30%
networking growth". But by 2022, the growth rate of netizens has slowed down. Considering that 20%
the elimination rate of new games in 2022 is about 1/3, it can be inferred that new products in the 10%
100% 3% 4%
3%
90% 3%
1 80%
decreased 1% 2%
3
70%
60% 1%
50% 0%
-1%
40% -1%
30%
-3% -2%
20% -3%
10% -3%
0% -4%
非游戏 apps games
non-game 游戏 非游戏 apps 游戏
non-game games 非游戏 apps games
non-game 游戏
[1] Global Internet penetration rate: the data for 2019 and before comes from the World Bank, and the data for 2020~2022 comes from IWS
The global game market can be divided
into two categories, one is high-value Mobile Game DAU & IAP in Different Regions, 2022
DAU IAP
0M -3%
US GB DE FR IT ES CA AU IN PK BR MX AR CO ID VN TH PH MY TR SA EG JP KR TW HK
欧美地区
Europe and 南亚地
South 拉美地区
South Southeast
东南亚地区 中东及非洲
Middle 东亚地 中国港
Eastern HK
Asia East and Asia IN US BR ID MX TR VN TH GB DE JP SA FR PH AR KR IT ES EG CO PK MY CA TW AU HK
North America Asia America &
区 Africa 区 澳台
TW
the United States
U.S. Top Mobile Games DAU 2022
Casual gaming has seen the most impressive growth.
2021 2022 Growth Rate YoY
60M 30%
20%
50M
KEY FINDINGS 10%
40M
0%
30M -10%
• Casual DAU grew 6%, surpassing action games to become the -20%
20M
most popular mobile game category. -30%
10M
-40%
• Casual game IAP grew 13%, with the largest increase in 0M -50%
consumer spend.
• Action games and strategy games IAP shrank by 13% and 6%
respectively, two categories with relatively serious shrinkage in U.S. Top Mobile Games IAP 2022
the United States.
2021 2022 Growth Rate YoY
• Puzzle, RPG, gaming, and leisure achieved growth while 1200M 200%
ensuring a large amount of in-app purchase revenue. 1000M 150%
• Both the music game DAU and IAP are growing rapidly, with 800M 100%
400M 0%
200M -50%
0M -100%
Casual gaming: As market verification speeds up and long-term operation space
expands, casual game developers need to further integrate in-app purchases and
advertising
Consumer spending on hyper-casual games grew significantly in Q3 2022 [4] , exceeding the same period in 2021, with in-app purchases becoming increasingly important
for casual games. The old games “Subway Surfers”, “Candy Crush Saga”, “Township”, and the new games “Tall Man Run”, “Bucket Crusher”, “Snow Race” in 2022
have successfully benefited from in-app purchases.
Fast-growing new mobile games in 2022 Fast-growing old mobile games in 2022
0M 10M 20M 30M 40M 50M 0M 10M 20M 30M 40M 50M 60M
休闲 街机
Casual Arcade
模拟 休闲
Simulation Casual
动作 竞速
Action Racing
益智 冒险
Adventure
Puzzle
街机
Arcade 动作
Action
RPG
RPG 体育
Sports
竞速
Racing 策略
Strategy
It is difficult to achieve large user growth, and it is necessary to 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027
deeply cultivate and activate existing users. Japan Top Mobile Games DAU 2022
8M 40%
KEY FINDINGS 7M 30%
6M 20%
5M 10%
• You can start with old players and explore the preferences 3500M 253% 262% 300%
3000M 250%
and market opportunities of new players, so as to obtain new
2500M 200%
development opportunities.
2000M 150%
1500M 100%
1000M 9% 22% 13% 50%
1% -4% -3% 1% -2% -6% 0% -8% -1% -12%
-17% -19%
500M 0%
0M -50%
20%
-5% Europe and North America Southeast Asia South America South Asia Middle East and Africa East Asia HK & TW
-10%
-15%
Number of mobile gamers in Indonesia (in millions)[7]
54.7
The market has huge room for growth. 44.1
40.2
37.0
KEY FINDINGS
• According to Statista's forecast, by 2027, the number of mobile 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027
game players in Indonesia will reach 76.9 million, an increase
of 74% compared to 2019 and 28% compared to 2022. Indonesia Top Mobile Games DAU 2022
largest growth, with an increase of more than 1.5 million, and 20%
6% 4% 5%
15M 1% 0% 1% 10%
the growth of these three categories provided opportunities for -5%
-8% -8% 0%
the development of mobile games in Indonesia. 10M -13%
-10%
-27% -20%
5M
-30%
0M -40%
7.2
7.6 7.6
8.0
8.4
8.8
9.2
9.5
The number of players is predicted to grow rapidly in the next 5.8 5.9
6.2
five years.
KEY FINDINGS
Nominal GDP[2] of Mature Gaming Markets, 2021~2022 Nominal GDP[2] of Emerging Gaming Markets, 2021~2022
2022 GDP (nominal) 2021 GDP (nominal) GDP (nominal) YOY 2022 GDP (nominal) 2021 GDP (nominal) GDP (nominal) YOY
0 -15.0% 0 0.0%
US DE GB CA FR IT AU ES JP KR IN PK BR MX AR CO ID TH MY VN PH SA TR EG
Eastern Southern Middle East and
欧美地区
Europe and North America 东亚地区
Asia 南亚地区
Asia 拉美地区
South America 东南亚地区
Southeast Asia 中东及非洲
Africa
[2] 2021 GDP data from the World Bank; 2022 GDP data from the IMF
Consumer spending on mobile games declined Top200 Mobile Game IAP, 2021~2022($)
the trend
Although the user spending of mobile games experienced a recovery of half a year in Q2~Q3 of
2022, on the whole, the spending power of game users has not returned to the level of 2021, and
the overall shrinkage in 2022 will fall by 5%, falling to 110 billion US dollars[3]. However, France,
2021Q1
2021Q2
2021Q3
2021Q4
2022Q1
2022Q2
2022Q3
2022Q4
Malaysia, the Philippines, Turkey, Argentina and Pakistan achieved increases in mobile game
user spend, up 0.8%, 1.2%, 0.9%, 0.2% and 0.7% respectively.
2021 2022 变化
Growth Rate YoY
12.00B 1.2% 2.0%
0.8% 0.9% 0.7%
0.4% 0.2% 0.2% 1.0%
-0.1% -0.1% 0.1% -0.1%
10.00B -0.3% -0.2% -0.3%
-0.6% -0.5% -0.5% -0.7% 0.0%
-0.8%
8.00B -1.5% -1.0%
-2.0% -1.9%
-2.7% -2.0%
6.00B
-3.6% -3.0%
0.00B -7.0%
JP KR US DE GB AU FR CA IT ES TW HK TH MY ID PH VN TR SA EG BR MX AR CO IN PK
Eastern Middle East
东亚地区 欧美地区
Europe and North America 中国港澳台
HK & TW 东南亚地区
Southeast Asia 中东及非洲 拉美地区
South America 南亚地区
South Asia
Asia and Africa
66.1
69.8 68.4
72.1
75.5
78.4
81.2
84.1
52.4 54.7
50.7
Brazil is a relatively good country in emerging markets where
mobile games are developing.
KEY FINDINGS
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027
• According to Statista, as of 2022, the number of mobile game
players in Brazil is 68.4 million, with a penetration rate of
Brazil Top Mobile Games DAU 2022
31.7%. It is predicted that in the next five years, the number of
2021 2022 Growth Rate YoY
mobile game players in Brazil will continue to grow, and by
35M 50%
2027, it will exceed 84 million, an increase of 23% over 2022.
39%
37%
30M 40%
0M -20%
18.7
19.5
20.5
21.4
22.2
23.0
17.5 17.9
KEY FINDINGS
16M 40%
• Compared with the DAU data of the past two years, the growth 14M
23%
28%
30%
rate of family (↑28%), music (↑23%), racing (↑16%), puzzle 12M 16% 20%
13%
(↑13%), simulation (↑9%), and cards (↑7%) is relatively fast, 10M 9%
5% 5% 7%
3% 10%
but the two categories of family and cards are very niche in 8M
-3% -2%
0%
-6% -5% 0%
Turkey. 6M
-12% -13%
-16% -10%
4M
-24% -20%
2M
0M -30%
6%
7%
1.00B
20% of the products of the game head occupy 80% of the market share, 4%
3%
But after a closer look, it turns out that the bottom 80% of games will 0.60B 2%
actually have more room for development. In 2022, the DAU of the
2%
bottom 50% of games will grow by 6%, outpacing the overall user 0.40B
0.00B 0%
头部产品
Top 20% 腰部产品
Top 21%~49% 尾部产品
Bottom 50%
Mobile Games Mobile Games Mobile Games
More About High-value Regions
Players love puzzle and casual games Mobile Games market is The popular gameplay in Japan is RPG, and more
the most. In 2022, the "dog" theme + similar to the United specifically, RPG games with the theme of saving the world
"line" gameplay is deeply loved by States. and IP and RPG games that integrate card gameplay are the
intelligent gamers; Casual games are types with the strongest willingness of players to pay.
more multi-theme life simulation Whether it is mainstream
gameplay. gameplay, mobile game Although Japan is the region with the highest mobile game
manufacturers, or mobile revenue, it is also extremely selective and belongs to the
The United States is the most mature game development trends, "high-value market". If mobile games cannot catering to the
region for mobile game development, they are very similar to Japanese netizens quickly, it will be very difficult to
and there are both opportunities and the United States, but in monetize in the later stage.
risks for new - such as the monopoly comparison, they are not
of giants. as large as the US market.
More About Emerging Markets
Brazil has always Casual simulation Turkey is known as the "first stop Malaysia is a region
implemented the concept of games that incorporate for games to go overseas in the with a high ARPU for
idle elements are Middle East", and from the mobile games in
"football for all", and the
popular. "Save X” performance point of view, the Southeast Asia.
hosting of the 2022 World themed puzzle games growth of mobile game revenue in
Cup has promoted the rapid are also popular, such Turkey in 2022 is also very Romance themed
growth of football games in as Save the Dog. impressive. scenario puzzle games
Brazil. are growing very fast
Sandbox games are growing rapidly. in Malaysia.
Players are particularly fond There is also a market for racing Social mobile gaming
of women-oriented life games, and most of the new games is growing rapidly.
simulation games. that are growing are hyper-casual
parkour games.
About OpenMediation
OpenMediation, as a third-party platform for mobile App developers providing full industry chain support services, focusing on user
life cycle management and App monetization. Based on a SaaS platform, it integrates front-end and back-end services to provide a
one-stop full publishing service for SMBs. Since the establishment of the project in November 2019, it has served 2000+ developers
and helped a variety of mobile games publish globally.
demand side at the same time, which launches the overall number of users, can also ensure the
an auction, the highest bidder wins the stability of its own user pool to maximize revenue
opportunity to show
www.openmediation.com
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Global Mobile
Mobile Games Startups Games
Audience Research Competitor Analysis Publishers
www.openmediation.com
XTiming Case Study: Publish Globally from Scratch
The Challenge
Back in 2019, management simulation games with idle gameplay haven’t made a hit globally. With no experience in global
publishing, Gravity Games needed a reliable partner to guide Idle Fossil Museum to publish in the highly competitive global
market and avoid setbacks and pitfalls.
The Solution
Game Evaluation: After identifying competitor’s performance and market trends, XTiming evaluated and optimized the game,
and saw great market potential.
Idle Fossil Museum UA Test: Using the target region recommended by XTiming, Idle Fossil Museum acquired around 1,000 users in Europe to test
the game metrics. XTiming analyzed Idle Fossil Museum’s operation, ad monetization and user acquisition data, and generated
Gravity Games develops and an Advertising Test Launch Data Analysis Report to provide optimization suggestions.
publishes high-quality mobile Global Publishing: XTiming empowered Idle Fossil Museum through their whole publishing journey in the U.S. iOS market,
games across multiple game from account opening, store page design, advertising platform integration, Facebook authorization, cross-border payments,
genres for Android and iOS.
cloud service, to event tracking points, etc.
Games released by Gravity
Monetization Optimization: XTiming adjusted the game’s waterfall, monitored the fluctuation of data, and provided feedback
Games include: Adventures in
Dreamland, Nightmare No.k, about the monetization situation in real-time, to ensure that the needs of players can be met in the game.
Puzzle Germ, and Idle Fossil
Museum. The Result
XTiming Accelerator Program accompanied Idle Fossil Museum from a demo project to global publishing. The evaluation
Idle Fossil Museum is a optimized the game from the core gameplay, graphic design and interactive experience, acknowledged its potential and
Simulation game with Idle recommended a suitable test region. The launch test verified our market forecast, with the CTR (click-through rate) 10% higher
gameplay. It is the first title that than similar games. As Idle Fossil Museum launched globally, XTiming offered vast resources, industry experience, manpower,
entered our XTiming Accelerator data and expertise to help Gravity Games better understand the whole process and avoid pitfalls. With our data-driven tools and
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