Impact of Covid-19 On Mobile Game Industry

There is no doubt that the global pandemic of coronavirus has adverse impacts on the global economy and businesses across the world. Millions of confirmed cases are out there and for many industries, the outcomes are negative. Be it electronics, entertainment, e-commerce, or private companies. It is spreading faster everywhere throughout the world and the cases are still increasing, affecting a large number of people globally. But when it comes to the mobile game app development industry, the results are quite opposite.  

The latest mobile games and the mobile gaming market are impressively being affected as more than 12 billion downloads have been recorded over the Google Play and App Store. The sudden outbreak of the Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown boosted mobile gaming among people. People are staying at home with nothing to do, making them play games on their smartphones during this period. The post-pandemic period has seen a tremendous surge in mobile games as well as the amount of time spent on several mobile game apps that have been downloaded. This is leading mobile game industries to introduce many new games in the market to keep people entertained in their homes. It has ultimately resulted in a boost in mobile game app development for Android & iOS.

In this blog, we are discussing how Covid-19 has impacted the mobile game industry. Let’s have a look:

Covid-19 And Its Impacts On The Mobile Game Industry 

Mobile Game Downloads Are On Its Peak!

The mobile game industry saw a significant boost in the number of downloads worldwide in 2020.     During this time, it crossed more than 13 billion downloads across the App Store and Google Play. Particularly in the beginning of March which went to 5.1 billion across two stores. While in April, it increased to 5.5 billion. People have been quarantined at their homes with a lack of sources to pass time. It is causing increased anxiety and distress in them. Here, a professional mobile game app development company is helping them make their mind off the current situation by connecting them to their friends & family members online to play games. Talking about the user spendings in mobile games, it is estimated at $5.8 billion globally in March, while in April, it is accelerated up to $6.4 billion. The interesting thing is that the revenue data in April was quite higher than the downloads data. In the US alone, a significant increase was noticed in the initial four months of 2020, reaching up to $1.9 billion in April, which was 18% high from March and 28% from January. 

App Store Optimization

Since the global pandemic of Covid-19 hit the world economy, there has been a significant rise in various industries, especially the mobile gaming industry. As people are bound to stay at home, they are looking for new sources of entertainment. This is leading to more game downloads and is getting positive feedback with the app stores’ algorithms. When a user clicks on an app in search, it sends signals to Apple and Google whether the app is relevant to the search or not so that the algorithm can increase the ranking for that app according to the keyword. The more interesting thing is that many developers are making their games free during this time to improve their ranking. Compared to paid apps, keyword securing is quite easier in free apps as users can simply click on them and install them. It drives more clicks and ultimately results in a higher ranking than paid game apps.

Related Read: Pros And Cons Of Best Game Development Tools

Increased Customer Engagement

Almost every industry is struggling through upside & downside in running their business operations during this global pandemic time. But when it comes to the mobile gaming industry, various games are being one of the most effective means of spending time for people staying at home. This lockdown has brought a significant increase in mobile game downloads and ultimately resulted in increased customer engagement with mobile games especially in some mobile markets such as the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. The easier accessibility and portability of the games on mobile phones have contributed to the leading dominance of this industry.

Mobile Games Searches Are Increasing

During the Covid-19 outbreak, a significant increase in mobile game traffic has been experienced along with the overall website traffic, getting double month over month demonstrating an insane demand for gaming in the current scenario. The pages related to mobile game app development witnessed a surge of 857% with puzzle games at 590% and social games at 368%. Only idle games have not experienced any surge in traffic during this period as people are seeking more interactive and exciting games. 

Boost In Revenue

The global pandemic outbreak has brought popularity to several games, such as Ludo, Snake & Ladder, and many more which is ultimately increasing revenues for the mobile gaming sector. There is a significant increase in direct customer spending. Game revenues from Google Play will likely reach up to $27.8 billion out of 2020 and it is claiming 36.0% of the global revenue. When it comes to the app store, Apple is expected to generate $38.8 billion in mobile games in 2020 that signifies half of the revenue of mobile games across the world. The remaining $10.6 billion will be generated from the Android app store. 

Final Verdict

Thanks to the Covid-19 outbreak, the popularity of mobile apps will continue to increase further in the post-pandemic world and is likely to cross the $100 billion mark in the next coming years. The favorable markets for these mobile games are the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Northern Africa, and Latin America. Undoubtedly, the development of new mobile games is slightly going to increase and many organizations are getting benefits from them.