Mobile gaming is a fast-growing and high-revenue global industry. The total size of the gaming industry is estimated to be around $174 billion US dollars at present, with around 52 percent of that revenue being accounted for by the mobile gaming market.

While gaming on consoles and computers is still a highly popular form of entertainment for people of all ages around the world, gaming on mobile offers certain advantages that other device types cannot compete with. 

For example, playing on mobile means you can play anywhere on a handheld device and players can choose to play games online via gaming apps and web browsers or select games with offline modes if out of reach of mobile data or WIFI.

The rise in mobile gaming can also be explained by increased accessibility to smartphones. There are more than three billion smartphone users around the world and this figure is expected to continue to rise as affordability improves.

Mobile gaming market earnings keep rising

Here is an interesting statistic: the global digital games market earning increased by 15 percent to hit $11.6 billion in January 2021. What’s even more interesting, mobile grew by around 6 percent. This rise in earnings marked a milestone for the industry and consumers.

Mobile gaming has exploded during the last couple of years. According to the latest data, there are 2.69 billion mobile game players globally. In addition, mobile games dominate the App Store revenue share (66%). We can expect these numbers to grow even further in 2022.

Mobile gaming exploded significantly in the past few years. Based on the latest data, there exist around 2.69 billion mobile game players across the world. In addition, mobile games dominate the App store revenue share, and we can only expect to see these numbers growing in the upcoming year.

With 2021 almost getting over, it is time to look at the mobile game market trends that are surfacing or perhaps staying in 2022. So, what are the top mobile game market trends you should be aware of going into 2022?


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Mobile is the fastest-growing segment in gaming

If you’re developing mobile games, rest assured that you’ll be busy in a growing market for some time. And regardless of how many developers are scrambling for a piece of the pie, there will be plenty of dessert for all. 

According to Statista research, nearly four billion smartphones will be in people’s pockets and purses in 2021, and nearly 1.8 billion people have downloaded games for their smartphones. By 2025, it’s estimated that this number will have exploded to more than 2.2 billion. 

Critical factors that studios should account for in their strategic planning include: 

• Mobile gaming (smartphones and tablets) will generate revenues of over $85B in 2021 and over $100B worldwide in 2023, with an overall compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 18%, according to a Newzoo study commissioned by Unity. 
• The majority of gaming revenues will be from mobile by 2023. 
• The same Newzoo report finds that Asia/Pacific is by far the largest and fastest-growing regional market.

The opportunity: Reach a larger audience by developing for all devices

The practical takeaway from these statistics is that regardless of which demographic, genre, or geographical region you’re targeting, cross-platform development is obvious low-hanging fruit. 

What can make cross-platform development challenging is not so much the different codebases, but rather the need to optimize your game for an ever-increasing variety of devices, all with different hardware capabilities. 

While there’ve been fewer than 10 primary iPhone models, there are thousands of different Android-based smartphones with varying performance capabilities. 

71% of the top 1,000 mobile games in 2020 were created using the Unity platform. Unity is the mobile gaming industry leader, for a reason: It includes a robust ecosystem of tools to help make beautiful games that run well across any mobile platform, as well as services to help developers grow, engage, and monetize their player base to run a sustainable business. 

Mobile gaming will keep evolving rapidly

In 2015, the gaming population amounted to 2 billion people.
While in 2021, the number spiked to over 2.80 billion.

According to predictions, 2022 will witness yet another explosive growth to almost 3 billion gamers. With that, the market size is going to amount to over $190 billion.

Undoubtedly, coronavirus has contributed to the latest surges. People have to spend a lot of time at home and look for other ways to pass it. That’s why digital adventures have become a go-to hub and a new hobby for many people.

 The biggest segments within the gaming industry are mobile, console, and PC toys. They built 46%, 31%, and 23% of the industry in 2020 respectively. These figures are predicted to grow for mobile to 49% in 2022. Others won’t change or will even experience a slight decrease.

The mobile gaming boom can be rooted back to 2008 when Apple Inc. developed its legendary App Store for iOS and made digital adventures more available. Previously, they could only be downloaded from web stores and were overpriced.

But the Store offered titles for under $5 or free. Additionally, it was easy to download them with one click. As other systems emerged (e.g. Android), they implemented the same model which made entertainment on smartphones extremely accessible and boosted the growth of the industry.

Developers will use more user-generated content (UGC)

The idea of involving fans in game creation has taken the industry by storm. It opens room for creativity and makes people passionate about the project. Additionally, one is always excited to play something created by a non-professional.

A balanced ecosystem is what many developers are striving to achieve. There are a few challenges in controlling the generated content and supporting high-quality standards. First of all, there shouldn’t be any forbidden elements, such as extremism, symbolism, or pornography. Secondly, the majority of user-generated content is of lower quality. You’ll need teams to constantly monitor the flow of the UGC.

The opportunity to build something appeals to users’ creativity. However, there are advantages for the developers as well. They see what type of content their fans want to see. Analyzing the tendencies, they process data, act proactively and design better products made by professionals.

Studios are going to allow more UGC as it fuels the adventure’s marketing, recognition, and popularity.

ESports will get more attention

The video gaming industry’s growth has also influenced the niche of international competitions. ESports is an entertainment type, similar to watching the physical one. It’s a profitable business, with worldwide tournaments and big prizes. 

Check this out: Kyle Giersdorf won Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 (SOLO). The 16-year-old esportsman received $3 million! A cool reward for a hobby, right?

Fortnite is a shooter, but this kind of challenge covers all genres. One of the greatest competitions to expect in 2022 is the Asian Games. Held in China, it’s the 19th multisport event that includes 37 titles. ESports is one of them.

The industry’s revenue achieved over $950.3 million in 2020 and it will only continue to rise, generating millions of dollars in profit.

Social elements will prevail in digital worlds

Take 50 top-ranked entertainment applications in the App Store and you will see that they all have social features like multiplayer rounds, chats, guilds, etc. integrated.

For users, it’s a perfect way to satisfy socializing needs, especially during pandemic limitations.
For developers, it’s a way to attract and retain clients. If you have found like-minded people while playing, you’re likely to stay longer. You’ll spend more time online, make purchases and buy a subscription.
Take a look at the social elements that are popular in modern titles. This tendency is sure to continue, with titles offering extra opportunities for cooperation and interaction. One of the best social simulators is Animal Crossing, its latest installment – New Horizons – was released in 2020 and has become extremely popular. Their sales reached 5 million digital copies in a month.