When we talk about games, first of all, something entertaining and frivolous comes to mind. The older generation even considers them a useless activity, a time killer, etc.
However, the craving for entertainment is in our nature. In recent years, computer and mobile games have become part of the chronic recreation of billions of people around the world.
The mass craze has led to a boom in the gaming market, which is already generating huge amounts of money for the business and continues to gain momentum.
According to the first forecasts, the market size of mobile games reached the first billion mark in just a few days in 2023.
The global mobile games market continues to set new records, and 2023 is actively starting for companies, investors, and gamers.
For comparison, in the first quarter of 2022, the total revenue of the mobile gaming industry reached $22 billion, up 42% from two years ago.
So the mobile gaming industry’s size is expected to be by the end of the year. But let’s go in order.
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Mobile Gaming Industry Overview
Based on the mobile gaming industry analysis, many experts agree on an approximate market figure of $200 billion.
The main growth drivers will be the development of gaming technologies for mobile gamers, the cyber aspect, and free-to-play projects with in-game purchases.
The US, China, and Japan continue to be the largest markets for mobile games, while China, Taiwan, and Turkey will see the fastest revenue growth. China is leading this race.
The mobile game industry revenue will be about $50 billion this year for China. The United States is slightly behind, and games can bring them $40-45 billion.
In total, over 3.2 billion players worldwide will get $200-220 billion to the global market in 2023, which is 2.1% more than in 2022.
Mobile Game Industry Growth: From Hyper Casual Games to Triple-a Projects
The large market size of mobile games is inherently due to the three giants of gaming – Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, and Genshin Impact. It is these three giants of the mobile industry that were leaders in 2022 and will remain so at the moment. What is the reason for their success?
Simple, unique, and at the same time, optimized projects that gamers liked even before the release. Despite the great success, unlike many hyper-casual projects, the developers continued to actively ignite the content of mobile gamers, which is why they were constantly in the game and played for dozens of hours.
Such success could not bypass the media and the gaming community, so soon, everyone was talking about them.
According to the Sensor Tower mobile gaming industry report, Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, and Genshin Impact entered the top 3 most profitable mobile games.
These games develop technologies and force gamers to upgrade their devices to more powerful ones because the old processors of the same Xiaomi or iPhone 8 no longer exported the game even at medium settings.
There is a trend with PC games where, in parallel with games, you have to wait for new video cards or processors for more comfortable gaming.
Game Art Outsourcing: an Unexpected and Necessary Trend
Mobile gaming market share actively sponsored other gaming fields. We have already mentioned eSports, the technological aspect, but it was a mistake not to add game art outsourcing.
Many have not played Genshin Impact, but everyone has seen little Paimon at least once or an anime character from the game somewhere.
HoYoverse has become, to some extent, hostage to the constant addition of content, particularly new characters that run into the hundreds. For a giant of the mobile gaming industry, it is critical to constantly update and delight players with new products; otherwise, you can get a big loss in the budget.
Realizing the character in the game is not a problem, and the difficulty is in inventing it. Therefore, they actively use game art outsourcing for each update.
As a result, starting from 2023, in addition to the market size of mobile games, the volume of projects with the participation of outsourcing studios will also increase, which will positively affect the mobile gaming industry.
The Mobile Gaming Market Size Will Exceed $175 Billion by 2027
Reportlinker research predicts that the mobile gaming industry size will reach $175.3 billion by 2027. Every year in the world, the mobile market, as a profitable and rapidly growing one, is taken more and more seriously.
This is reflected in the growing popularity of special awards that attract the attention of gamers from different countries, various tournaments, and promotions. Marketers and management of many large studios already intend to enter mobile gaming.
This has already happened with Activation Blizzard’s Diablo Immortal, but mobile gamers have not appreciated the project.
Gamers are ready for other projects from big studios, and it remains to wait for announcements. Even 2D games remain popular because they offer a unique gaming experience that is not possible in 3D games.
As a result, the 2023 mobile game market share will increase by 9.3%, respectively, and will mostly be profitable for companies in China, USA and Turkey.
In addition, gamers are sure to expect great releases in various genres. Therefore, it is possible that at least this year, the award for the Best Mobile Game will be received by another game and not by Genshin Impact.
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