The big game companies are still in tough competition, while the smaller game companies are steadily moving forward. So what happened in the mobile gaming industry in the first half of 2022? To answer that question, SocialPeta has published the «Mobile Game Marketing Analysis Report for the first half of 2022» with information to help people in the mobile game industry globalize their products.
This report integrates analytics data from dozens of companies, including Snapchat, Chartboost, Liftoff, Vungle, Affle, Udonis, and Mobidictum. In it, you will find an accurate analysis of mobile game industry data in the first half of this year and predictions of future trends based on global mobile marketing data, observation of popular regions, proper advertising channels, advertising budget cost and analytics of popular mobile games for marketing.
The total volume of creatives for «hardcore» mobile games declined by almost 30%
In January of this year, the total number of global mobile app advertisers fell to 83,400, with mobile game advertisers accounting for about 22.65%.
The total number of creatives decreased by almost 30%
In the first half of 2022, the total number of creatives for mobile games was 15.8 million, down nearly 30% from last year. Oceania and Europe saw a decrease in the number of advertisers. In contrast, all other areas saw an increase in the number of advertisers, with a significant increase in the T2 and T3 markets.
The percentage of advertisers of «hardcore» mobile games has sharply decreased
In the first half of 2022, casual game advertisers accounted for 26.03% of total advertisers, an increase of 4.7% over the previous year. As the pandemic was brought under control, the percentage of most hardcore mobile games declined. RPG advertisers ranked third in the same period and fifth this year, behind simulation and action games.
In the U.S., the share of mobile game advertisers in the hyper-casual and puzzle segments was more than 40%
The second part of the article is devoted to an overview of mobile game marketing in popular countries and regions of the world, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Southeast Asia and other regions.
For example, in the U.S., advertisers of hyper-casual and puzzle games accounted for the most significant percentage — more than 40%. As for the total number of creatives by game type, hardcore games, including SLG (simulation) and match 3, had the most creatives.
In terms of downloads, hyper-casual and mobile games based on P.C. game I.P.s were relatively outstanding, especially Diablo Immortal and Apex Legends Mobile. Regarding revenue, match 3 and SLG (simulation) games were more vital.
Download the full report for more detailed data from other regions and markets analysis.
Cost analysis: global advertising was fiercely competitive, and the U.S. had the highest advertising costs
Mobile game ad spending continued to grow, with the average CPM (cost per thousand ad impressions) at $19.31, up 18% month over month; the average CPC (cost per click) at $2.57, down 3% month over month; and the average CTR (advertising campaign effectiveness) at 1.48%, up 7% month over month.
Among all countries/regions, the U.S. accounted for the highest advertising spend on mobile games, with an average CPM (cost per thousand impressions) of $27.54 and CPC (cost per click) of $4.22, while CTR (advertising campaign effectiveness) was 1.16%. In addition to the U.S., the CPM (price per thousand ad impressions) exceeded $25 in five countries/regions, including Australia, Japan, Hong Kong (China) and South Korea.
Trends in creatives: Casual gameplays were vital for creatives. «Less complex» gameplays attracted more gamers
Strategic mobile games: creatives have been designed with easy gameplay, giving the impression that it is easy to play to attract a larger audience to download games.
Creatives released in the first half of 2022 tended to be created with light gameplay, trying to attract more gamers at the expense of a «less complicated start» and «engaging».
RPG: Creatives were mostly short videos trying to make games a more popular topic of conversation on platforms.
You can find more information on popular game genres and examples of successful games in the full report:
Trends in the mobile games industry
High-budget and high-quality mobile games were on the rise, ushering in a new era of cell phone games.
Activision announced in the first half of 2022 that its Call of Duty: Warzone game will be developed as an all-new AAA mobile version. Apple chose the mobile game “Genshin Impact” to demonstrate product performance during a product launch event this spring, and the game was labelled «AAA Game» on the slides. Perhaps more major game companies will announce their plans to make AAA mobile games, bringing the P.C. gaming experience to mobile devices.
ACGN (Animation Comic Game Novel) mobile games have become more developed and elaborate and could become a worldwide sensation.
The game «Genshin Impact» continues to rank first among all the world’s mobile games. The Japanese version of «Arknights» topped the free game chart on the App Store on the first day after its release, and its in-game events were well received. According to the Chinese version of TapTap, more than 145 games with «ACGN» (Animation Comic Game Novel) elements are planned for release.
39% of gamers hope to see a metaverse.
According to Google’s Mobile Capabilities Report 2022, 39% of gamers surveyed hope to see metaverse as a new game technology. According to SocialPeta, Generation Z is the primary audience for metaverse and will more readily accept emerging metaverse games.
In conclusion, the data in this report covers 72 countries and regions of the world, over 90 mobile marketing platforms worldwide and a total of over 1.2 billion mobile marketing creatives.
If you want to learn more about the mobile gaming industry in the first half of 2022 and understand the trend of the entire mobile gaming market, click here for the full report.
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