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Global mobile gaming market to exceed $116 billion by 2024

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Global mobile gaming market to exceed $116 billion by 2024

Market intelligence outfit Newzoo has predicted the global mobile gaming market will surpass $116 billion in 2024.

Newzoo released its 2021 Global Mobile Market Report suggesting that, through 2019 to 2024, global player spending will see a compound annual growth rate rise of 11.2 per cent.

Earlier this year, Newzoo forecast that the global mobile gaming market will reach $90.7 billion in consumer spending by the end of 2021, a rise of 4.4 per cent year-over-year.

A breakdown of the projection across multiple app marketplaces suggests that $41.1 billion, or 45.3 per cent, will be generated via the App Store, whereas $28.2 billion, 31.1 per cent, will be accumulated via Google Play.

The remaining $23.3 billion is expected to be generated via third-party app stores, particularly in China where Google Play is banned.

Newzoo predicts that in the future Google Play and third-party marketplaces will surpass the App Store game revenues, due to increasing Android device popularity.

"Content fortress"

The firm estimates that the number of worldwide smartphone users will reach 3.9 billion in 2021, a 6.1 per cent growth year-on-year. The company attributes this increase to overall economic growth within regions such as Central Southern Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Currently, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for the largest portion of global smartphone users at 56.6 per cent, exceeding 2.1 billion.

By 2024, Newzoo projects that by 2024 the number of smartphone users will see an overall increase of 15.4 per cent to 4.5 billion.

In the report, Newzoo reflected on the impact the Apple versus Epic Games legal battles will have on the wider mobile games market. The firm connotes that, unless Apple appeals the recent injunction, developers will be charged less for external payments.

Newzoo concludes that Apple will be "forced to open" its mobile payment ecosystem worldwide as a result of this.

Regarding recent changes in consumer privacy, the firm states that mobile companies are becoming a "content fortress" in the hopes of retaining previous data tracking abilities. Through aggressive M&A strategies, Newzoo suggests companies are attempting to keep users in their ecosystems to maintain an in-house adtech solution, thus strengthening said "fortresses".

With Apple's recent App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which was introduced with iOS 14.5, users have the option to opt-out of tracking. Newzoo found that of 85 per cent of users who had installed iOS 14.5, only 17 per cent allowed tracking.

Newzoo suggests that mobile developers had already begun to adopt hybrid monetization and IP-based-game strategies in attempts to counterbalance potential revenue losses.

Check out the comprehensive 2021 Global Mobile Market Report via Newzoo’s website.

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