US sports sim game downloads hit 23 million in Q3 2021

This article is part of an ongoing series of data-driven articles from PocketGamer.biz and App Anniehighlighting trends in the global mobile games sector using App Annie’s Game IQ analytics.

Within the global games market, sports games have been perennially popular.

While the genre is dominated by the large franchises - Fifa, Madden, NBA, et cetera, the ongoing growth of sports-themed games in other franchises, from quiz titles, to hypercasual games, shows the appetite for sport across all platforms and genres.

The ongoing evolution of the global games market and scale of the player base is opening up opportunities for entirely new experiences, from blockchain and NFT-based trading cards in Fifa, to a widening of the portfolio for the global soccer behemoth, to incorporate different genres and address different audiences.

However, it is the sports simulation genre that remains the most popular, allowing players and fans around the world to step into the shoes of their sporting heroes and favourite teams.

Lexi Sydow, Head of Insights, App Annie, said: “In Q3 2021, Americans downloaded 23 million Sports Simulation games, making up 78% of total downloads of Sports games.

"Of these, Madden NFL 22 Mobile Football was the top-ranking game as the NFL season returned on Sept 9, 2021 - an indication of seasonality at play.

"However, many other Sports Simulation games rank highly by downloads, highlighting the evergreen potential of professional sports-based mobile games.”

Game IQ is a vertically tailored analytics product, developed by App Annie, that provides insight into dimensions such as class, genre, subgenre and tags. Games can now be analysed by broad category class (tuning), genre, subgenre, and tags (modifiers) such as IP, art style, settings, monetisation mechanic, and more.

For more information register for a demo here.