The mobile gaming sector is on the rise!

App Annie, the mobile audience specialist, has given some very good news on the state of mobile games and their downloads. After a very encouraging first quarter with the start of lockdown, the second quarter was also particularly successful. One man's luck is another man's misfortune, and the continuation of the lockdown in many countries has boosted the smartphone gaming sector.

Impressive figures for the second quarter

The first week of the second quarter broke all records with 1.2 billion downloads. This trend was not short-lived and continued throughout the quarter, reaching anaverage ofmore thanone billion downloads per week.
Compared to last year, this is a net growth of 20%. This is particularly reflected in the purchases made by gamers, who have been spending a lot of money.
In fact, over the whole quarter, 19 billion purchases were recorded. This is an increase of 15% compared to the first quarter. One can assume that in these difficult times, consumers wanted to treat themselves!
It is estimated that in 2020, spending on mobile games will be between 2.8 and 3.1 times higher than spending on PC or console games.

Comparison of mobile downloads on iOS and Google Play

The two download platforms continue to compete with each other. The vast majority of games are downloadable on both platforms. However, both platforms have their own strengths and markets.

• Google Play : Mobile game downloads have increased by 25%. They now represent 45% of downloads on the platform. India and Brazil are the largest markets. The focus is on action games, board games and hobby games.
• iOS : the increase in downloads is more significant, with a 30% growth. But mobile game downloads represent "only" 30% of overall downloads. China and of course the US are leading the way for iOS. The most popular games are simulation, action and adventure games.