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App Annie/IDC: Mobile gaming downloads rose 30% in Q1 2021 and spending was up 40%

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

Mobile gaming downloads and spending grew in the first quarter. That’s because gaming habits formed in the pandemic continued to be strong, according to a report by mobile data and analytics firm App Annie and market researcher IDC.

The Gaming Spotlight report said consumers spent $1.7 billion per week in mobile in Q1, up 40% from pre-pandemic levels, while mobile game downloads grew 30% in Q1. Players downloaded more than a billion games per week in Q1 on iOS and Google Play.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.