Aream & Co's Kartik Prabhakara: Mobile gaming has shifted East

Mobile gaming has shifted toward Eastern hubs, says Aream & Co MD Kartik Prabhakara.

Speaking at UKIE's The Funding Formula conference, Prabhakara said most net new revenue is coming from countries such as China, Vietnam and Türkiye.

A chart presenting data for gross IAP revenue by publisher HQ showed China topping the list, followed by the US, Japan, Singapore and Türkiye.

The fastest-growing hubs were Türkiye, Singapore - which Chinese companies often use as their global HQ - and Hong Kong. Countries with the biggest declines on the chart were the US, down 13% Y/Y, and Japan, down 12%.

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For annual combined average montly active users by publisher HQ, Vietnam topped the list with 1.8bn MAUs, followed by China and the US at similar levels

The fastest-growing hub was Pakistan, up 15% Y/Y, followed by Singapore at 13% and Hong Kong at 10%. Out of the countries shown, the fastest declining market on the chart was Cyprus, followed by Vietnam and France.

Prabhakara said from a VC perspective, Vietnam and China have been more difficult markets to penetrate from a VC perspective. Türkiye, of course, has been an active market, with lots of investment rounds and some major billion-dollar exits, like Scopely’s deal for Loom Games.

Prabhakara noted, however, that potentially AI could create opportunities for developers around the world.

It's worth also highlighting this chart of mobile revenue, which shows how much revenue publishers in the US still genrate on mobile. The UK and Ireland also appear in the top 10 - based on publisher HQ.

PocketGamer.biz is a media partner for The Funding Formula.