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Insight into 2024 Marketing Trends for Japanese Mobile Games
Japanese mobile game marketing in 2023 is examined through SocialPeta advertising intelligence data, covering Jan–Dec 2023 and drawing on a database of roughly 1.4 billion ad creatives across more than 70 channels and about 70 countries and regions.
- Japanese firms dominate the domestic market, holding nine of the top ten revenue spots on the App Store, while Chinese developers account for 30% of the top 100 grossing titles.
- RPG titles are the most lucrative genre in Japan, representing 32% of the top 100 revenue-generating games on Google Play.
- Marketing in Japan is characterized by low creative turnover, with only 62.23% of advertisers using new creatives and a total new creative volume of 29.77%, both significantly below global averages.
The State of Games Media Buying United States Spotlight
Mintegral's US spotlight on games media buying examines the American mobile game advertising market using data from H2 2023 through H1 2024, with year-over-year comparisons against H1 2023.
- The U.S. mobile gaming ad market is maturing, evidenced by a marginal 0.25% growth in active advertisers and a 29% decline in new market entrants during the first half of 2024.
- Publishers are prioritizing established assets over experimentation, as total ad purchases grew by only 0.46% while the volume of new ad creatives dropped by 12%.
- Genre dominance is shifting, with Puzzle games now leading in ad impressions, while Sports and Shooting genres saw the fastest growth, rising six and four places respectively.
State of Mobile Games in Japan
Sensor Tower's "State of Mobile Games in Japan" analyzes the Japanese mobile game market for the period from January to July 2024, using App Store and Google Play download and in-app purchase (IAP) estimates.
- Japan’s mobile gaming market generated approximately ¥2.5 trillion in total in-app purchase (IAP) revenue during the first seven months of 2024.
- Established intellectual properties remain the primary revenue drivers, with titles like Fate/Grand Order, eFootball, Pokémon GO, and the One Piece franchise collectively accounting for over ¥1 trillion in earnings.
- Advertising-derived income grew by 35% year-on-year, now representing 8% of total mobile gaming revenue, fueled by user acquisition campaigns on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Türkiye Game Market Report: 2024
This is the 2024 Türkiye Game Market Report by Gaming In Türkiye | MENA | EU, a gaming and esports agency, covering Türkiye's gaming, esports, advertising and related sectors for 2024.
- The report states that Türkiye's gaming industry generated $810 million in revenue in 2024, with mobile contributing $490 million.
- Investment in the Turkish gaming sector totalled roughly $120 million in 2024 across 20+ rounds.
- The participation rate of foreign investors in Türkiye’s investment rounds rose to 15% in 2024 from 10% the previous year.
Mobile Ad Creative Index 2024
Liftoff's Mobile Ad Creative Index 2024 benchmarks mobile ad performance by format and identifies creative trends shaping user acquisition.
- High-engagement formats like video and playables outperform banners by 20 times in gaming installs, while finance sector interstitials are 18 times more effective at conversion.
- Long-form video ad spend grew by 245% year-over-year, and 'triple-page' ads combining video, playables, and end cards saw a 355% increase in investment.
- Optimized user-generated content (UGC) ads achieve a 20% lower cost-per-install (CPI) compared to standard video creative.
Mobile App Trends: 2024 Edition
Mobile App Trends: 2024 Edition is a report built on Adjust data and benchmarks, with analysis and expertise from AppLovin.
- Fintech app installs and sessions grew 42% and 24% YoY in 2023, and in-app revenue for fintech apps grew 118% YoY.
- Gaming app installs decreased 2% globally and sessions 7% in 2023, while installs in Q4 2023 grew 7% YoY.
- E-commerce app installs grew 43% YoY and sessions 14% in 2023, with stickiness reaching 16.1%.
Mobile Gaming Spender Report: Decoding Today’s Mobile IAP Spenders to Understand Motivations, Engagement
Mistplay's first annual Mobile Gaming Spender Report examines why mobile gamers make in-app purchases, how their behavior may shift in 2024, and what publishers can do to protect lifetime value in a more competitive, budget-conscious market.
- Economic headwinds are driving a contraction in spending, with 32% of all mobile spenders and 41% of high-value spenders planning to reduce their in-game expenditures in 2024.
- Value-driven incentives are critical for retention, as 51% of spenders would increase their spending if they earned tangible rewards or points for their purchases.
- Loyalty programs and hyper-personalization are essential engagement tools, with 79% of spenders engaging with loyalty programs and 40% influenced by personalized offers.
The State of Gaming 2024
Sensor Tower's "The State of Gaming 2024" examines the mobile gaming landscape throughout 2023, covering the App Store and Google Play across multiple genres, geographic markets, publishers, live operations, marketing practices and transmedia activity.
- Worldwide mobile downloads declined 10% year-over-year in 2023, which the document attributes largely to rising user acquisition costs.
- Hypercasual downloads fell 14% year-over-year, while Hybridcasual downloads dipped only 2%.
- Casual product model revenue grew 8%, while Mid-core revenue declined 9% worldwide.
Midcore Gaming Apps Report 2023
Liftoff's 2023 Midcore Gaming Apps Report, produced with GameRefinery, covers mobile midcore games, with CPI and ROI based on data from May 1, 2022 to May 1, 2023, drawn from 30B impressions, 1.1B clicks and 5.5M installs.
- Midcore overall CPI averages around $2, which the report describes as 2x the overall casual CPI of $1.
- Android is more cost-effective for midcore user acquisition, with installs costing five times less than on iOS.
- Midcore D7 ROAS averages 4.3%, lower than the roughly 7% reported for casual games across platforms.
Our Games Industry Predictions for 2024
The global gaming industry is undergoing a structural transformation in 2024, characterized by a shift toward cross-platform accessibility and the integration of generative AI into development workflows.
- Venture capital investment in independent gaming studios has declined by 50%, forcing developers to prioritize established platform ecosystems or live-service 'forever games' for financial sustainability.
- Microsoft’s strategy of prioritizing cross-platform distribution via Game Pass is challenging the traditional hardware-centric model favored by competitors like Sony.
- Generative AI is being adopted as a productivity multiplier for pre-production and operations, though human oversight remains critical to maintain quality and potentially serve as a premium market differentiator.
Zynga’s Yaron Leyvand On The Secret To Making A “Forever Franchise”
The creation of a forever franchise in the mobile gaming sector relies on a disciplined, data-driven approach that prioritizes long-term player engagement over short-term monetization.
- Zynga defines a 'forever franchise' as a game designed to entertain players at scale for many years, a strategy that has contributed to the company achieving over 4 billion downloads and 200 million monthly active players.
- New game launches in established categories typically require a 12- to 24-month period to reach feature and content parity with market competitors.
- Zynga maintains player engagement through a three-tiered content strategy: core gameplay enhancements, major system updates introduced several times per year, and short-term 'snackable' live events.
AD APOCALYPSE 2024 (???) with Felix Braberg
Mobile game monetization currently exists in a state of high volatility, characterized by a transition from traditional waterfall structures to automated programmatic bidding.
- In-app advertising remains a critical revenue pillar, contributing approximately 20 percent of total income even for core RPG titles.
- The mobile ad ecosystem is currently reliant on controversial fingerprinting methods to maintain eCPMs following the post-IDFA transition.
- Publishers must shift their focus from eCPM to ARPDAU as the primary health metric to accurately reflect total revenue in a volatile programmatic bidding environment.
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