Mobile game spending is leaving other platforms in the dust

Shawn Knight

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Why it matters: Consumer spending on mobile gaming has skyrocketed over the last half decade, leaving other platforms like home consoles, handhelds and the computer in the dust. And according to a new joint report out today, the trend isn't expected to deviate in 2021.

A new report out from app analytics firm App Annie and International Data Group (IDC) reveals that worldwide consumer spending on mobile games is expected to reach $120 billion this year. The next closest competitors, the PC and Mac, are only forecast to bring in a collective $41 billion.

Home consoles are expected to be just behind that at $39 billion with the handheld market (now exclusively driven by the Nintendo Switch) bringing up the rear with $4 billion.

Consumers are also spending more on in-game purchases than ever before. In the first quarter of 2021, consumers spent $1.7 billion per week on in-game items.

One of the bigger takeaways here is that demand for mobile gaming has remained strong more than a year into the Covid-19 pandemic. Looking at the data and using Q4 2019 as a basis, we see that average weekly game downloads were up 30 percent in Q1 2021. Spending, meanwhile, increased 40 percent over the same period.

Image credit Tero Vesalainen

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That's kind of like saying "Casinos and gambling leave all other tourist attractions in the dust"

Actually no, it's not "kind of" like that. It's exactly that: Not sure why anyone needs go pikachu-face.gif at the fact that unregulated gambling targeted at kids it's extremely profitable, doesn't gets more predatory than that.
 
Never spent a cent on mobile gaming, and basically don't game at all on my phone. Occasionally on my iPad, but's that less frequent than it used to be.
 
Anyone have the revenue per individual gamer for these categories? I'm curious if mobile wins purely because there's a lot more mobile devices than say PlayStations, or if the average mobile gamer is also spending more money as well (perhaps because those platforms are more oriented towards the "free"-to-play games that are so good at separating money from their players.)
 
I'd like to see a break down of the type of mobile games people are spending on. I can almost guarantee that gatchas are going to be near the top.
 
Never spent a cent on mobile gaming, and basically don't game at all on my phone. Occasionally on my iPad, but's that less frequent than it used to be.
The same here. I just cannot stand small screens when it comes to gaming.
 
Profits don't equal quality. All of the good mobile games I've played had a one time cost and didn't demand money from me to keep playing. Some games like PUBG are actually free to play and don't roadblock gameplay behind a paywall, unfortunately most mobile and other free to play games make money from predatory purchases.
 
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