Mobile Gaming Industry Continues to Boom
The mobile gaming industry has grown exponentially over the last few years, and achieved even greater popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In fact, the latest report from Research and Markets shows that the mobile gaming market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of about 23.6 percent to reach a market size of $420.386 billion by 2026.
Considering that the total market value for mobile gaming was just $95 billion in 2019, that’s an incredible amount of growth in just a few years.
Given the current trends in mobile gaming, there’s reason to believe the growth could be even higher.
For example:
- Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have been developing innovative mobile games to expand their offerings and level up their promotional strategies by creating compelling new content for their users.
- Many governments across the globe are creating funds that will support their native gaming industries, especially for mobile games.
- In Germany, the government committed 50 million euros to the establishment of a games fund in 2019. Through the Sweden Game Arena, students can develop their own games while using government-funded facilities and equipment.
The industry has grown so quickly because of the vast use of smartphones around the world, a market penetration that continues to expand very rapidly.
While smartphones have played a crucial role in the growth of mobile gaming, other factors have pushed the industry forward as well. Access to fast internet is becoming more ubiquitous around the world, especially in developing economies like India, where the market for media and entertainment is currently valued at $24 billion, with gaming among the fastest-growing segments. In fact, India has one of the top five mobile gaming markets in the world, according to InvestIndia.gov.
Another important point is that the most popular model for mobile games is Free-to-Play, which means allowing users to download the games for free. Players can try the game to see if they like it, and then pay for additional features that are built into the game’s functionality.
To understand just how big mobile gaming will become, it’s worth reading this Forbes article titled “Why ‘Pokémon GO’ Is The World’s Most Important Game.”
One of the main reasons why Pokemon GO was so successful, the writer argues, is because of its innovative AR (augmented reality) technology, which superimposes computer-generated information over your physical surroundings to put virtual creatures at real-world locations.
As a result, it became one of the most successful mobile games of all time, breaking records like fastest-to-earn-$100 million and most-downloaded in its first month of release. To date, it has earned $5 billion in lifetime revenue over the last five years since its release.
That’s a lot of money, and the continued rapid growth of the mobile gaming industry has galvanized investors to try and find early-stage gaming companies that just might have the next “Pokemon GO” already in development.
A big part of that game’s success was the way it brought users into contact with the real world, which other mobile game developers are trying to emulate.
For example, ePlay Digital Inc. announced in October 2021 that its newly released Klocked Fitness App was opening registration for mass participation events in November. London, New York, Paris, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Berlin, and other courses designed around each city’s landmarks will be available for sign up.
Sheldon Inwentash, the CEO of ThreeD Capital Inc. and one of ePlay’s advisors, said investing in the mobile gaming industry is just a smart move. ThreeD Capital invested $300,000 into ePlay in March 2021.
“We’re seeing so much growth in this industry and it’s clear that the biggest drivers of that growth — smartphone penetration and new tech like AR — are only going to continue,” Inwentash said. “I think this is a very exciting industry right now.”
