Mobile gaming revenue and downloads declined globally in the first half of 2023, though the sector still accounts for 51% of total app revenue and 29.6% of total downloads.
The United States leads global mobile gaming revenue with $5.71 billion, while India holds the largest share of global downloads at 15.29%.
Platform performance remains split: Google Play dominates volume with 88.6% of total downloads, while the App Store captures 56.3% of total revenue.
The RPG genre, while still the top revenue generator, saw a significant decline from $5.9 billion in H1 2022 to $4.4 billion in H1 2023.
Gaming apps account for 56% of all mobile advertising creatives, with video content representing 72% of those assets.
The number of gaming advertisers on Android grew by 22% year-over-year, even as the broader Android advertising market saw a slight decrease.
Subway Surfers and Roblox remain the leaders in download volume, while Coin Master and Honor of Kings continue to lead in revenue generation.
The mobile gaming market in the first half of 2023 is characterized by a general decline in downloads and revenue across most genres, despite continued dominance in the broader application economy. Mobile games currently account for 29.6% of total app downloads and 51% of total revenue. The analysis, based on data from 37 countries across the App Store and Google Play, reveals a significant platform divergence: Google Play secures 88.6% of downloads, while the App Store generates 56.3% of total revenue.
Geographically, India remains the largest market for downloads with a 15.29% share, followed by Brazil and the United States. In terms of revenue, the United States leads with $5.71 billion, followed by Japan and China. While the RPG genre remains the largest revenue generator, it has experienced a gradual decline over the past two years, falling from $5.9 billion in the first half of 2022 to $4.4 billion in the same period of 2023. Casual games maintain the largest download share in most Western markets, whereas Action and Strategy genres show higher resonance in regions such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The advertising landscape shows a shift toward video content, which now accounts for 72% of all gaming creatives. Although the total number of advertisers on Android saw a slight decrease, the gaming sector specifically experienced a 22% year-over-year growth in the number of advertisers. In total, gaming apps generated 8.9 million creatives during this period, representing 56% of all mobile advertising creatives. Top-performing titles like Subway Surfers and Roblox continue to lead in downloads, while Coin Master and Honor of Kings remain top revenue earners across their respective platforms.
