Marketing insight company Adjust has examined the app market and found that gaming has the highest vertical growth rate of all app categories. Scoring 53.5, gaming is more than 10 points ahead of the second fastest-growing category, shopping (43.2). Gaming is also well-positioned for further growth, with the number of mobile gamers in the Asia Pacific region (APAC) expected to reach 1.37 billion by 2027.
While gaming ranked only third in terms of growth in APAC at 36.2 points, behind travel at 39.8 and shopping at 38.8, the category is still well positioned for expansion and success in the market.
Gaming also ranked third in Europe, with 30.4 points, behind shopping apps at 41.1 and travel apps at 47.3. However, the category was identified as the fastest-growing app category in Latin America with a score of 27, generating $2.24 billion in revenue in 2022. By 2026, the market is expected to exceed $3.4 billion.
Gaming is identified as the strongest app vertical in North America, with a growth score of 27.9; this comes as an estimated 42% of American adults play mobile games for at least an hour every week.
Leading on the platform
In total, consumer spend in mobile games hit an estimated $41 billion in the first six months of 2023, with game downloads reaching 30.4 billion worldwide. Action is identified as the fastest-growing genre, with a growth score of 30.7. Hypercasual came in second place with 29.8, highlighting the continued strength of the genre despite some industry leaders shifting towards a hybridcasual model. Sports games came in third place with a score of 27.9.
Action gaming is the fastest-growing genre in APAC, with a growth score of 27.8, narrowly beating out RPG (27.6). India, long one of the mobile gaming industry’s fastest-growing markets, maintained this momentum with a growth score of 28.9 - a full two points above second placer Indonesia (26.9).
Adjust forecasts that the number of mobile gamers in the country will exceed 209 million by the end of 2023, with full-year revenue of $390 million. This makes the country one of the best spaces worldwide to launch a mobile gaming UA campaign.
Earlier this month, Adjust examined the state of Latin America's mobile gaming market.
