In today’s world there is one thing that most people have in common… they ALWAYS have their phone with them, wherever they go, whatever they are doing. Reports, like Statista have shown that Mobile gaming has become the driving force behind the rapid growth of the global video gaming market. In 2020, smartphone games accounted for almost 50 percent of video gaming revenue worldwide and as mobile penetration rates and smartphone usage continue to accelerate on a global scale, mobile games revenue is on track to surpass the 100 billion-dollar-mark by 2023.
Unsurprisingly, this mobile revolution is also significantly transforming the gaming landscape in the United States, one of the largest video game markets worldwide. In 2020, mobile games revenue in the U.S. reached a record $10.73 billion U.S. dollars, and thanks to a wave of technological advances, digital innovation, and nationwide lockdowns amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the number of U.S. mobile video game users is now higher than ever.
Statista continued saying that in 2020, the mobile gaming content market in North America was worth an estimated 25.2 billion U.S. dollars, with healthy growth forecasted for the future. Looking at revenues from the free-to-play (F2P) market, which accounts for the lion’s share of total digital games revenue in North America, mobile stands out as the most profitable category by a significant margin.
In 2020, the F2P mobile games market generated revenues of around 13.2 billion U.S. dollars in North America, fueled by the business model’s low entry barrier for players and the increasing number of mobile games now moving towards the free-to-play format. While players can download and access F2P games for free, they can enhance in-game features and unlock additional content via purchase.
Considering that many players are willing to pay to upgrade their mobile gaming experience, F2P games have become a much-loved monetization tool among mobile marketers. Overall, U.S. gamers spent an average of 179 U.S. dollars on smartphone games in 2020.