Data intelligence firm Sensor Tower has released its 2021 mobile report, with game spending getting USD 89.6 billion across Google Play and the iOS App Store, a 12.6% rise compared to 2020. Mobile gaming represented 67.4% of all in-app spending, which is in decline compared to previous years. In 2019, games represented 74.1% of all in-app spending, and 71.7% in 2020. This decrease is due to growth in other sectors, in particular, the Entertainment category, which received a large boost from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Besides, gaming signified 61.5% of the App Store’s revenue in 2021, and 78% of Google Play’s revenue. Sensor Tower predicts that users are going to be spending USD 52.3 billion globally on games on the App Store by the end of the year, and USD 37.3 billion on Google’s Play Store. Spending on the App Store is up 9.9% year-on-year, and 16.6% on the Play Store.
Looking at the charts for the year, PUBG Mobile was the top grossing game worldwide across the two platforms, followed by Honor of Kings and Genshin Impact. Around 84% of all mobile games installs are on Google Play, the report further said, a 1.3% growth year-on-year. Garena Free Fire was the most downloaded game of the year across both Google Play and App Store, followed by Subway Surfers and PUBG Mobile.
Moreover, eight different mobile games generated at least USD 1 billion in consumer spending during 2021, compared to five titles in 2020 and only three in 2018 and 2019. In fact, PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings each brought in USD 2.8 billion, whereas Genshin Impact saw USD 1.8 billion in consumer spending. The list includes the following games:
1) PUBG Mobile (developer: Tencent); 2) Honor of Kings (Tencent); 3) Genshin Impact (MiHoYo); 4) Roblox (Roblox); 5) Coin Master (Moon Active); 6) Pokémon Go (Niantic); 7) Candy Crush Saga (King), and 8) Garena Free Fire (Garena)