In 2022, the mobile gaming industry will face headwinds in the form of inflation, crisis and IDFA changes. SensorTower’s «Mobile Gaming Market Outlook 2022» report provides an overview of industry trends, an analysis of the sector and where it’s headed.

In a new report, SensorTower predicts that mobile gaming industry revenues will fall 2% this year. Google Play game revenues will fall 8.3%.

In the second quarter of 2020, mobile gaming revenues were up 33% yearly. Casual games accounted for 26% of total revenue and 78% of all mobile game downloads. Mid-core projects accounted for 14%.

Side note: SensorTower’s Hyper-Casual and Arcade Idle Genres Comparison Report.

Q1 2022 saw the first-ever decline in mobile game market revenue but reported Q2 2022 revenue is still $20 billion.

Asia dominates the MMORPG market

Analyzing the MMORPG genre, SensorTower data shows that these games are struggling to gain a foothold in markets outside of Asia. South Korea, China and Japan accounted for 80% of MMORPG revenues in the first half of 2022.

However, the MMORPG genre has not shifted its attention to other markets to attract new users. The U.S. accounted for 10% of MMORPG installations in the first half of 2022, up from 5% last year, mainly due to Blizzard’s launch of Diablo Immortal.

Marketplace analysis by SensorTower

Player spending on Google Play will fall 8.3% from a year ago to $33 billion.

Despite the decline in revenue, the mobile gaming sector is projected to grow. By 2026, SensorTower estimates that the App Store will reach $70 billion in revenue, and Google Play will reach $47 billion.

In the first half of 2022, mid-core games led players to spend 60%. Half of that spending came from the RPG genre, which took the top spot in revenue. It was followed by strategy, which accounted for 36% of the market.

You can read the full SensorTower report here.

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