The new age of how one plays games has primary changed to the handheld devices like mobiles and tablets. Gaming has taken a whole meaning with the introduction of gaming on the go. Games like Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga have engaged users to their addictive content and made a gamer out of every mobile phone user.
In keeping with this trend, mobile game revenues will surpass console games worldwide this year, according to a new forecast from gaming market research firm Newzoo.
Last year total revenues from game sales on smartphones and tablets jumped 43 per cent to over $25 billion worldwide. In 2015, Newzoo expects mobile game revenues to increase another 21 per cent to $30.3 billion; by 2017, revenues will reach $40.9 billion. Meanwhile console game sales will stay flat at $26.4 billion in 2015; total game revenues from all sources will reach $92 billion in 2015.
But although mobile gaming is increasing everywhere there’s a clear split between Asia and the West, with console games still expected to remain dominate in North America at $11.1 billion to $7.2 billion.
Games are the most popular category of app on both on Google Play and the Apple App Store, with more than 70 per cent of smartphone users in the US admitting to playing games on their devices.
Speaking to website Fortune, Newzoo boss Peter Warman made it clear that it was not the case that mobile games were replacing console gaming, but complementing it.
“Smartphones and tablets have given gamers two new screens to play games on in addition to their TV and PC screen. Because US consumers use all four screens, mobile gaming does not replace console or PC gaming,” he said.
Worldwide, the number one game last year by downloads was Candy Crush Saga, followed by Subway Surfers, My Talking Tom, Farm Heroes Saga, and Clash Of Clans. Although Clash Of Clans was number one in terms of revenue generated, followed by Puzzle & Dragons and Candy Crush Saga.
Predictably the top three publishers by revenue were Supercell (Clash Of Clans), King (Candy Crush Saga), and GungHo (Puzzle & Dragons), but EA was at number seven – and number three in terms of purely the number of downloads.
EA much like other developers is now focusing on creating content for mobile where it can generate more revenue and its next games suggest the same.
Also in a different report by eMarketer, revenue from US mobile-game downloads and in-game purchases is projected to grow 16.5 per cent to $3.04 billion in 2015. By contrast, mobile-download revenue for e-books, music and video will rise by 4.4 per cent, 5.4 per cent and 13.8 per cent respectively.
The report gives two reasons why mobile-game revenue is out ahead: ad-supported and subscription services like Spotify cutting into media purchases, and the rise of “freemium” games like Supercell’s Clash of Clans that are free to play but sell in-app upgrades. These in-game purchases, such as virtual coins that can be used to advance more quickly, are expected to account for nearly 60 per cent of the growth in mobile-game revenue, or $1.82 billion, this year.
Here is what the Indian gaming fraternity had to say about mobile gaming in earlier interactions with AnimationXpress.com
Reliance Entertainment Digital, CEO – Manish Agarwal
90 to 95 per cent of gamers in the country have never seen console in their life because of the price barrier but due to the affordability of the smartphones, people here are getting exposed to the games and turning into gamers. The first entry point into gaming for people here is mobile gaming. If I was to be an entrepreneur, and I was to start a studio, I would start with mobile gaming. I would not invest in opening a console gaming company in this country. Mobile gaming is where the scale is, where the money is and where one has ability to change consumer behavior. I am not saying that console gaming won’t grow. It will grow but only on the smaller base that currently it is standing on. But the relative pace of growth between the mobile and console will have mobile as the clear winner by large margin.
Hungama, MD CEO – Neeraj Roy
Gaming is about $80 to $82 billion business globally of which console takes half the market share. The quality of gameplay on the consoles is enriching and also a relief for players from their mundane lives, giving them an out of body experience and really creating an aura which is larger than life. I am banking strongly on the smartphone market to outdo what the console couldn’t achieve in India.
Nazara Technologies, founder and CEO – Nitesh Mittersain
The Indian gaming ecosystem consists of primarily mobile phone gamers and casual gamers, thus there is no point getting into console at this stage when everyone is going mobile. I would say almost 99 per cent of the Indian gamers are on mobile platforms and the remaining one per cent also plays mobile games apart from their chosen platforms from time to time.