Mobile gaming statistics 2024

The mobile gaming revenue reached $103.5 billion in 2022.

(Source: Statista)

• It generated $98.22 billion in 2021.
• It generated $86.9 billion in 2020.
• It generated $68.3 billion in 2019.
• On average, the mobile gaming industry generated $89.48 from 2019 to 2022.
• The market saw a 51.5% increase in profits from 2019 to 2022.

The mobile gaming market is so lucrative because many game developers will push microtransactions and subscription services into their games alongside the original purchase price if there is one. Although these microtransactions are generally frowned upon in the gaming community, they are an integral source of profit for modern games, and usually, the games don’t require you to purchase anything to progress.

There were 2.65 billion mobile gamers in the world in 2021.

(Source: Statista)

• 1.29 billion of those gamers were in Asia.
• 551.7 million mobile gamers were in Europe.
• 309.2 million mobile gamers were in Latin America.
• 207.7 million mobile gamers were in North America.
• 145.8 million mobile gamers were in the Middle East and North Africa.
• 126.2 million mobile gamers were in Sub-Sahara Africa.
• 25.3 million mobile gamers were in Oceania.

Considering that there are 8 billion people in the world, having 2.65 billion of them be mobile gamers is a huge milestone for the industry and a testament to the fact that mobile gaming is growing exponentially as more and more people are introduced to it, so we can definitely be expecting a lot more gamers to join in on the fun. Regarding the geographic positioning of the player groups, it is no surprise that the majority of mobile gamers are from Asia as the continent has a much higher population than the rest of the world.

Subway Surfers is the most popular mobile game with over 1 billion downloads.

(Source: Google Play Store, SensorTower)

• The game is estimated to have accumulated over $80 million in revenue.
• 51% of that revenue was generated from players in the United States.

It is no surprise that Subway Surfers is so popular on the Play Store since the game took after one of the most popular arcade mobile games of all time — Temple Run and put its own twist on it. Even people who have never heard of the game have most likely seen it on social media such as TikTok and Youtube shorts featuring Subway Surfers gameplay with different narrated stories attached to it.

Mobile gaming accounts for 70% of China’s video gaming market.

(Source: South China Morning Post)

• The market is worth ¥13.56 billion in October 2022.
• This was marked by a 3.9% rise across the entire month.
• The value of China’s general video game market rose by 4.7% in the same month.

China is another hard-hitter when it comes to the gaming industry, and mobile gaming is insanely popular in the country. One of the biggest mobile MOBA games, Honor of Kings is published by TiMi Studio, a subsidiary of Tencent, the Chinese gaming market titan. China is showing no signs of slowing down its gaming industry, with the only recent downfall being the severance of Blizzard’s licensing contract with NetEase.

Activision’s mobile gaming net bookings increased by 20% since 2021.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• This brought its total mobile gaming net bookings to approximately $1 billion.
• Diablo Immortal had over 20 million downloads on smartphones.

Activision is another very successful gaming company that has some strong hooks in the mobile gaming market as well. Since Activision and Blizzard were merged, they managed to combine their total profits and work together to broaden the horizons of the mobile gaming industry. Games like Hearthstone and Diablo Immortal bring in millions of dollars each year, and that is not stopping any time soon.

The mobile gaming market is projected to be worth over $214.61 billion by 2028.

(Source: Globe News Wire)

• The CAGR from 2022 to 2028 is expected to be 11.88%.
• This is largely due to the popularity of smartphones and tablets.
• The sales of smartphones and tablets from 2010 to 2021 grew from 296 million units to 1.6 billion units.
• It is expected to account for over 60% of the global gaming market.

As we have said in previous data sections, the mobile gaming market is massive. As the games on the market get improved and even better titles come out, there is sure to be a significant increase in the value of the market itself. That said, these projections span many years into the future and we cannot be 100% sure that the market is actually going to grow so much. Time will tell.

Subscription-based gaming is projected to reach $24.1 billion by 2030.

(Source: Pocket Gamer)

• It is projected to reach a 16.8% CAGR in the same period.
• This was sparked by a 200% increase in gamers over the age of sixty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The mobile sector accounts for 90% of India’s $1.6 billion gaming market.

Subscription-based gaming is definitely not as popular as general gaming practices, and that is because people are much more likely to play a game that doesn’t have any complicated sign-up process or the requirement of inputting your credit card data for something that you might not play regularly. Despite this, subscription-based gaming is still growing quite well and we can expect to see it improve even more over the years.

Puzzle games take up 22.87% of global mobile gaming revenue.

(Source: Finances Online)

• Casino games take up 19.23%.
• Strategy games take up 15.54%.
• RPG games take up 13.8%.
• Simulation games take up 10.93%.
• Shooter games take up 5.32%.
• Lifestyle games take up 3.9%.
• Sports games take up 3.04%.
• AR/Location-based games take up 2.42%.
• Driving games take up 1.29%.

Puzzle games are very enjoyable and interesting to play because they offer near-infinite replayability and most of them have their own themes that are unique compared to other mainstream puzzle games. Other than that, the rest of the game genres are commonly popular in the general gaming industry, which is no surprise.

Mobile gaming user stats

Now we are going to be taking a look at some of the most relevant user statistics for the mobile gaming market, namely some user demographics and spending trends between genders and age ranges. Since mobile gaming accounts for such a massive portion of the gaming market in general, there have been quite a few trends and recurring topics in this industry, so let’s take a look and see what it looks like!

55% of mobile gamers are female, while 45% are male.

(Sorce: Udonis, Medium)

• 34% of mobile gamers are between 18 and 34 years old.
• 26% of mobile gamers are between 18 and 34 years old.
• 16% of mobile gamers are over 64 years old.
• 12% of mobile gamers are between 55 and 64 years old.
• 12% of mobile gamers are under 18 years old.

It is no surprise that the mobile gaming industry spans many age ranges, with some gamers in their late sixties as well! This just stands as a testament that gaming is becoming more and more popular, as well as more accessible to the general public, which is great for the future of gaming.

85% of mobile gamers do not identify as gamers.

(Source: Udonis)

• Mobile gaming sessions last 25% longer for women than for men.
• More than 50% of mobile gamers play games in the bathroom.
• 43% of female gamers have more than 5 gaming sessions a week.
• Hyper-casual mobile gamers download 10x more games than other users.
• 38% of male gamers have more than 5 gaming sessions a week.
• Gamers play 2-3 mobile games each month.
• Gamers spend 90% of their device usage on mobile gaming.

Here we have some more general user statistics that show us some differences between the genders. Likewise, we also have some stats that show us that gamers tend to log more sessions in one week than the number of days in the week, which implies that most gamers are quite dedicated to gaming in general.

77% of Gen Z players play on mobile.

(Source: Udonis)

• 73% of Millennials play on mobile.
• 54% of Gen X players play on mobile.
• Gen Z players enjoy sports, shooter, and puzzle games the most.
• Millennials enjoy adventure, strategy, and RPG games the most.
• 20% of Millennials and 23% of Gen Z players prefer good free-to-play games.
• 66% of Baby Boomers and 38% of Gen X players play games only in their spare time.

The final line of stats we have for you pertains to all of the different generations we have today and how much they tend to play mobile games. As is expected, the newest generation, Gen Z, or zoomers are the most prevalent in many spheres of mobile gaming since they are more in tune with technology compared to older generations. It is quite likely that newer generations of gamers are going to have even more affinity for gaming in the future.

To sum up

We all remember those times when you would get your brand-new phone from your parents and you would proceed to immediately fill it up with dozens of games to enjoy for days on end. When mobile gaming was still at its roots, no one could have expected it to grow into a commercial and economic titan as it is today, so that was a good surprise for everyone involved. As we have seen from the information we have provided here, mobile gaming has seen some massive success and a large portion of gamers in general are actually mobile gamers. While mobile gaming has seen some gatekeeping online, with many people claiming that mobile gamers are not “real gamers”, there is no denying that the mobile gaming scene is seeing more and more players each year, and we can’t wait to see where the coming years take us! We sincerely hope that the information provided here has been enjoyable and that you have learned something new!