The State of
Mobile Gaming 2023
An Analysis of Mobile Gaming Market Trends and Top Titles in the U.S., Europe, and AsiaGAME GENRE TRENDS 03
THE RISE OF HYBRIDCASUAL 10
EXTERNAL GAME SUBSCRIPTIONS 18
NFT & CRYPTO GAMES 23
MONETIZATION & META FEATURES TRENDS 27
MARKET OVERVIEW: WORLDWIDE 35
MARKET OVERVIEW: UNITED STATES, EUROPE, ASIA 44
CONCLUSION 62
2 | (c) 2023 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved Game Genre
Trends
3 | (c) 2023 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved Genres Saw Mixed 2021 2022
13.7B
Outcomes in 2022 Hypercasual
12.3B-10%
Top 10 Game Genres by Worldwide Downloads,
App Store and Google Play 6.0B
Arcade
5.9B -3%
Mobile game downloads are affected by multiple factors today, including
4.8B
ATT policies that impact cost per install, the recession affecting user Simulation
acquisition budgets and the overall post-covid cultural and 4.8B -0%
macroeconomic recovery. 4.9B
Puzzle
4.5B -8%
But even if these factors influence the whole mobile gaming ecosystem,
some types of games are more affected than others. Why? 3.4B
Lifestyle
3.0B-11%
The top five genres by downloads in 2022 were the same as in 2021.
1.7B
Hypercasual remained on top in spite of a decrease of 10 percent in 2022 Action
overall, a drop of 24 percent in Q4 2022, and a continued trend 1.9B +13%
downwards in 2023.
1.9B
Tabletop
In 2022, Simulation surpassed Puzzle as the No.3 Genre by downloads, 1.9B -1%
fueled by Roblox and a new trend in Simulators, Sandbox and Tycoon/2.1B
Crafting games utilizing a Hybridcasual product model. Shooter
1.8B -14%
While each of the top 5 genres exhibited negative growth in 2022, Action 1.6B
Sports
games registered double-digit growth at 13 percent in downloads, mainly1.7B +8%
due to the strong performance of Shoot’em Ups like Survivor.io and Action
Sandbox games like School Party Craft which inherits game patterns from1.6B
Strategy
Roblox. 1.5B -7%
$0 $3B$6B $9B$12B$15B
4 | (c) 2023 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights ReservedHypercasual ArcadePuzzle Simulation Lifestyle
Hypercasual Saw Major Decline
in Downloads in 2022
Worldwide Download Growth by Game Genre, App Store and Google Play
4.0B
After the explosive growth of the preceding years, downloads of
Hypercasual games began trending downwards in Q1 2022. In Q4 2022,
Hypercasual game downloads were down 24 percent year-over-year to
2.7B.
3.0B Hypercasual
The profitability of the Hypercasual product model is directly linked to-24% Y/Y
user acquisition costs and monetization through the use of video ads.
Both were impacted by multiple factors in 2022.
Hypercasual was the fastest growing genre by downloads during the 2.0B
pandemic. Hypercasual downloads were up 60 percent year-over-year
2020, and up 15 percent in 2021. This trend, however, reversed course in
Arcade
2022, and downloads continue trending down in 2023. -4% Y/Y
Simulation
Many Hypercasual developers and publishers are searching for solutions -10% Y/Y
to this decline. The most appealing has been the transition to the new 1.0B Puzzle
Hybridcasual product model. -4% Y/Y
Lifestyle
-11% Y/Y
0
Q1 2019 Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019 Q1 2020 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2020 Q1 2021 Q2 2021 Q3 2021 Q4 2021 Q1 2022 Q2 2022 Q3 2022 Q4 2022
5 | (c) 2023 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reser