The Demand For Mobile Games Grew 45% In 2020

The growing number of people seeking to be entertained and distracted while at home during the ongoing pandemic has brought mobile gaming to an entirely new level. Compared to last year, the demand for mobile games rose by 45% worldwide in 2020, according to the latest report from AppsFlyer. 

Moreover, this growth rate is 40% higher between 2020-2019 than between 2018-2019. While the growth was largely driven by organic installs which is 57% higher than 2019, there’s only a slight increase in non organic installs.  

In 2020, the hypercasual genre saw a 250% increase in non-organic downloads as new players are more likely to start with softer & easier games. 

“It’s not a surprise that we saw a massive increase in new players trying games for the first time; in particular, Hyper Casual installs surged 90%, including a staggering 250% in the number of marketing-driven non-organic installs,” said Shani Rosenfelder, AppsFllyer’s Head of Content & Mobile Insights. “What’s significant is that gaming apps realized the opportunity to accelerate their user acquisition efforts and took full advantage of this trend while in the moment. The brands that made the reactive, nimble moves to meet heightened demand dominated the stay at home peaks in gaming app engagement.”

AppsFlyer’s The State of Gaming App Marketing report also reveals that in-app purchases increased by 25% during the Coronavirus pandemic. This growth was largely driven by casual games. 

Between February and August, IAP revenue rose by 67% while in-app advertising dropped 16% during the same time period. 

Meanwhile, in-app purchases generated on iOS rose by 22% during lockdowns while it rose by 20% on Android. 

The report also shows that there’s a 95% growth in the average revenue generated from remarketing campaings.