The analytical company App Annie together with IDC last night presented the traditional quarterly report on the market of games for mobile and portable platforms. We offer its full Russian version.
Smartphone market dynamics (active devices, 4th quarter 2012 and 4th quarter 2013)
- The share of Android in the platform market in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the fourth quarter of 2012 has grown significantly;
- The share of devices on BlackBerry and Windows Phone fell;
- The number of active smartphones has reached 1.6 billion;
- The base of active tablets has grown to 200 million.
Shipments of digital and retail versions of games for portable consoles* (Q4 2012 and Q4 2013)
- The base of active portable consoles at the end of last year decreased by 3%;
- Digital and retail sales of games for portable consoles also decreased by about 1%. This was mainly due to a drop in interest in projects for the Nintendo DS (the increase in sales of games for the Nintendo 3DS failed to compensate for this drop in full).
Share of games in App Store and Google Play downloads and revenue (Q4 2012 and Q4 2013)
- Games still account for about 40% of all downloads on the App Store and Google Play;
- But the share of gaming revenue has grown significantly over the year.
Dynamics of sales of games for mobile devices and portable consoles (4th quarter 2012 – 4th quarter 2013)
- Revenue from iOS games has more than doubled in a year;
- Revenue from games for Google Play has increased more than four times;
- Games for portable consoles remain a “seasonal” business. In the 4th quarter of 2013, the revenues from them overtook the revenues of games from Google Play. However, their annual growth compared to the same period in 2012 was less than 10%.
Dynamics of sales of games for mobile devices and portable consoles (by region, 4th quarter 2012 and 4th quarter 2013)
- The share of gaming revenue from mobile and portable devices coming from the Asia-Pacific market has increased significantly over the past year;
- It is curious that the revenues of iOS games from regions traditionally attributed to the “rest of the world” have significantly increased.
Top 5 grossing games on the App Store, Google Play and portable consoles (Q4 2013)
Top 5 grossing games on the App Store, Google Play and portable consoles (based on the results of the whole 2013)
The main results of the study
- The Google Play gaming ecosystem benefited from a significant growth in the base of active Android devices;
- There are more active tablets in the world than portable consoles;
- Despite the fact that the number of copies of digital and retail versions of games sold fell by 1% in the 4th quarter of 2013 compared to the 4th quarter of 2012, there was a 9% increase. It was due to the high prices of games for the Nintendo 3DS;
- 75% of App Store and Google Play revenue in the 4th quarter of 2013 accounted for games;
- The sale of games for portable consoles is more seasonal than the sale of games for iOS and Google Play. About 40% of the annual revenue of games for portable consoles fell on the 4th quarter of 2013;
- Revenue from iOS games has more than doubled in a year;
- Revenue from games for Google Play has increased more than four times;
- Users of the Asia-Pacific markets began to spend more on games, and this correlates with the GDP indicators of the region;
- Puzzle & Dragons entered the top 3 box office games on iOS, Android and the portable console market in the fourth quarter. This story demonstrates that game titles can be truly cross-platform and in terms of grossing.
Source: appannie.com