MOBILE GAMING MARKET ANALYSIS

The influence of digitization has led to a significant shift in consumer adoption-pattern from the usage of conventional to next-generation mobile devices. Increasing adoption of mobile devices is attributed to rising disposable income and high purchasing power of consumers. According to CMI’s analysis, in 2018, around 70% of consumers are smartphone users among the world’s population. These high-end mobile devices are majorly adopted by millennials for gaming applications, as these devices offer high picture, sound, and graphics quality. Furthermore, availability of high-speed internet connectivity has given a significant rise to online mobile gaming tournaments across the globe, which in turn boosts growth of the mobile gaming industry positively.

The 25 to 40 years user age segment was dominant in the market in 2018 followed by less than 25 years user age segment. Mobile games of specific categories are gaining popularity in these user age segments. For instance, according to CMI’s analysis, adventure and action mobile games are mostly preferred by gamers of less than 25 years user age segment, which will positively boost market share of adventure and action type games.

The advent of advanced technologies such as VR/AR, haptic feedback devices, and others have improved user experience, thus creating new opportunities for game developers and publishers to develop new gaming content.

Introduction of mobile versions of popular PC games is expected to boost mobile gaming industry

Mobiles have an advantage of ease-of-use and can be operated from any remote location as compared to PC or gaming console. Therefore, owing to this, major game developers such as EA Sports, TiMi Studios, and others have introduced mobile-based versions of their popular games such as FIFA, Call of Duty, GTA, Max Payne, and others. Several prominent game developers are introducing mobile games based on features such as GPS services which helps them to enhance user experience. For instance, the Pokemon Go mobile game developed by Niantic, Inc. gained high popularity and generated around US$ 3 Billion in revenue from 2016 to 2019.

Restrictions imposed by governments of various countries is expected to hamper revenue share of Asia Pacific region in mobile gaming market

Governments of China and South Korea have announced regulations with regards to game playtime, wherein they have restricted the time span of game play hours to reduce addiction of gaming among users in Generation Z. For instance, the ‘Shutdown Law’ in South Korea restricts online gaming companies from providing services to users under the age group of 16 after midnight. The State Council of China released a notice in November 2019, titled ‘Notice on Preventing Minors from Addicting to Online Games’. It states that, gamers under the age of 18 are restricted from playing at night and only 90 minutes on the weekdays of gaming is permitted for these young users. Therefore, these factors are expected to negatively impact growth of Asia Pacific mobile gaming market over the forecast period.

Mobile Gaming Market Taxonomy

• On the basis of platform, the global mobile gaming market is segmented into:
  • Android based
  • iOS based
  • Windows-based
• On the basis of game type, the global mobile gaming market is segmented into:
  • Strategy
  • Sports
  • Action
  • Adventure
• On the basis of user age group, the global mobile gaming market is segmented into:
  • Less than 25 years
  • Between 25 to 40 years
  • Above 40 years
• On the basis of region, the global mobile gaming market is segmented into:
  • North America
  • Europe
  • Asia Pacific
  • Latin America
  • Middle East and Africa

Major players operating in the mobile gaming market are Activision Blizzard, Inc., Electronic Arts, Inc., Gameloft SE, Niantic Inc., Glu Mobile, Inc., GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc., Kabam, Rovio Entertainment Corporation, Supercell Oy, The Walt Disney Company, and Zynga, Inc.