Mobile reports and market data
Documents
Personal Projects from Art Boost | Best of 2021 Part 4
The modern game art industry demands a sophisticated blend of technical proficiency and iterative problem-solving.
- Professional success in modern game art requires balancing labor-intensive manual techniques, such as hair card placement, with rapid prototyping tools like VR sculpting and voxel-based modeling.
- Concept artists must shift from static illustration toward modular design and architectural thinking to ensure artistic concepts function effectively within game level systems.
- Personal projects are critical for career longevity, serving as both a portfolio marketing tool and a necessary outlet to mitigate burnout from high-pressure studio production cycles.
Scaling Mobile User Acquisition with Ad Creatives Testing
This brochure by AppAgent, a mobile marketing agency whose Head of UA is author Lucia Mrvová, offers guidance on creative testing for mobile user acquisition (UA).
- The authors argue that continuous creative testing is the pillar of successful UA and that new ads should always be produced.
- The authors suggest starting with a cadence of 5 concepts per week, with 2-3 major iterations each.
- The document states that about 300 installs per ad tested on Mobile App Install campaigns delivers over 90% statistical significance.
Motivations and Demographics Snapshot Report: The Motivations Driving Top Mobile Games, February 2022
GameRefinery, a service of Vungle, presents a February 2022 snapshot of the motivations driving top mobile games.
- Every US top 100 grossing casual game released in the last two years uses renovation elements, a trend the document says has accelerated over that period.
- In the US top-grossing 200 list, 23% of games score at least four on the Excitement and Thrill driver, and one quarter of these games are slots.
- Around 20% of the US top-grossing 200 games score high on the Thinking and Solving driver, with most being match-3 titles.
Motivations and Demographics Snapshot Report
GameRefinery (part of Vungle) presents a February 2022 snapshot of the motivations driving top mobile games and the demographics they attract.
- Of the US top-grossing 200 mobile games, 23% score at least four on the Excitement and Thrill driver, and one quarter of those are slots games.
- Players who enjoy optimizing resources are most often aged 25-44, and men tend toward complex genres like 4X strategy while women prefer casual tycoon/crafting games.
- Every US top 100 grossing casual game released in the last two years uses renovation elements, a trend the report says has accelerated.
Gyroscope Implementation in Arcade Shooter Game: Full Metal Parabellum
Full Metal Parabellum is a three-dimensional rail shooter game developed for Android smartphones using the Unity 3D engine.
- Gyroscope-based aiming in mobile rail shooters is a viable alternative to virtual joysticks, with 83.3% of beta testers reporting the control scheme as accurate and comfortable.
- The implementation of gyroscope controls successfully replicates traditional arcade gun-controller mechanics within the Unity 3D engine for Android devices.
- Player engagement is high, as 80% of beta respondents found the game entertaining and expressed an interest in repeat play.
Comparing Actual and Virtual Movement in a Play Anywhere Mobile AR Location-Based Story
This paper, by Gideon Raeburn, Laurissa Tokarchuk and Martin Welton of Queen Mary University of London, reports a user study of Map Story 3, a mobile augmented reality location-based murder mystery app built in Unity with ARFoundation.
- The walking version scored significantly higher than the stationary version on 5 of the 9 measures checked at a 5% significance level, including engagement and engrossment immersion ratings.
- Participants rated story chapters 2 to 4 significantly lower in the stationary version than in the walking version.
- The usability score showed no difference between the two versions, which the authors treat as a consistency check.
Data-Driven Analysis Platform for Indie Mobile Game Publishing
The paper, by Yanhui Su of the University of Skövde, Sweden, presents the F2PAP, a data-driven analysis platform for independent mobile game studios publishing free-to-play titles.
- The authors extend the ARM funnel model by adding game content, so mobile game publishing is framed as two inputs, channel and new content, and one output, revenue.
- The authors state that the ARM funnel model was originally created for social games and ignores game content, which limits its use for mobile game publishing.
- The F2PAP revenue forecast uses the Holt-Winters prediction model on historical revenue data, which the authors present as a way for indie developers to set an internal revenue benchmark.
Habit and Perception Towards Games and Game-Based Learning in India: A Survey Study of Awareness and Experience with Digital Games
This study investigates the habits and perceptions of the Indian population regarding digital games and game-based learning.
- Survey of 701 Indian respondents, mostly students and teachers at seven schools and 73% aged 15–24, found 79% considered games a learning tool at least maybe, and about 88% supported schools using games to teach scientific concepts.
- Mathematics and science were the most requested subjects for game-based instruction, together accounting for 67.2% of mentions, with history, languages, and geography also cited.
- Mobile phones were the dominant gaming platform at 83.3%, and action-adventure (46.7%) and puzzle games (46.6%) were the most preferred genres, while puzzle games were the most widely recognized at 63.9%.
Video Game Players: Video Games in Romania 2022
The document provides an overview of video game player demographics, behavior, and preferences in Romania for 2022.
- Romania has 7.8 million gamers aged 15 to 64, with a nearly equal gender split of 51% men and 49% women.
- Mobile gaming is the dominant platform, utilized by 70% of the gaming population, while men show a stronger preference for PC and console hardware.
- Financial engagement is high, with 62% of players spending money on games or upgrades at least once per month.
User Motivations to Hit Your Target Audience
Liftoff and Vungle's 2022 Mobile Ad Creative Index examines ad performance across four app verticals: gaming, e-commerce, finance, and entertainment.
- Only 4% of casual game video ads reached the average motivation score for their genre's top motivation, completing milestones.
- In midcore gaming, more than 99% of ads failed to hit the average 'excitement and thrill' motivation score.
- Playable ads had the most affordable gaming CPI at $1.98, but banner ads delivered the highest ROAS, over 11% on Day 7 and nearly 22% on Day 30.
Global Esports & Live Streaming Market Report 2022
Newzoo's free 2022 Global Esports and Live Streaming Market Report covers esports and game-related live streaming, with estimates and forecasts up to 2025 for audiences and esports market revenues.
- Sponsorship is the largest esports revenue stream, expected to reach $837.3 million in 2022, or nearly 60% of the total market.
- Esports revenue is forecast to grow from $1.11 billion in 2021 to nearly $1.38 billion in 2022, a year-on-year increase of +16.4%.
- The global esports audience is forecast to reach 532 million in 2022 and surpass 640 million by 2025.
Consumer Insights: Games and Esports 2022
This document, "Consumer Insights: Games and Esports 2022," provides a comprehensive overview of global gaming consumer behavior and attitudes, drawing from a survey of over 75,000 consumers across 36 diverse markets.
- The research is based on a global dataset of over 75,000 consumers across 36 international markets, covering North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.
- Consumer spending is primarily driven by three factors: price sensitivity, the desire for exclusive content, and the need for social connectivity.
- Gaming engagement is categorized into distinct personas, with 'Time Fillers' and 'Mainstream Gamers' identified as the most prevalent segments.
Writers
Games and companies
Games