Mobile gaming hit new heights in the second quarter as consumers downloaded 11.2 billion games on iOS and Android, according to mobile data and insights firm App Annie.
Games accounted for 35% of global downloads in the quarter, but they made up nearly 75% of consumer spend across iOS and Google Play.
Mobile apps overall had a record quarter in Q2 2019, with a total of 30.3 billion app downloads and nearly $22.6 billion in consumer spending across iOS and Google Play.
Google Play widened its downloads lead over iOS by 15 percentage points quarter over quarter for overall apps. This lead was more stark for games: Google Play led iOS in Q2 game downloads by 265%.
The largest markets for games downloads on Google Play in Q2 2019 were India, Brazil and the U.S.
App Annie said the U.S. is a notable difference to the trend for overall Google Play apps, where the top three markets were India, Brazil and Indonesia. On iOS, the top three markets for Google Play downloads for games were consistent with the top three markets for overall app downloads, which were China, U.S., and Japan respectively; however, the U.S. punches above its weight for games and was the No. 1 market for iOS games downloads in the quarter.
On Google Play, games were the third-largest contributor to overall downloads growth in Q2 2019 from the year prior. Arcade, action and casual games were the three largest gaming subcategories by Google Play downloads in Q2 2019. On iOS, games was the largest contributor to year-over-year download growth. Arcade, action, and puzzle games were the three largest subcategories by iOS games downloads in the quarter.
Across both stores, hyper-casual games such as Stack Ball, Run Race 3D, and Clean Road dominated the top charts and saw particularly strong growth in the quarter. This is part of an ongoing trend AppAnnie has reported on with the expansion of gaming into both ends of the spectrum: hyper-casual and hardcore gaming.
Games account for the majority of consumer spend
Across both iOS and Google Play, games represented nearly 75% of global consumer spend in Q2 2019. On Google Play, consumer spend in Games grew 20% year over year, whereas on iOS, consumer spend in games grew over 15% year over year, albeit from a much larger base.
Across both iOS and Google Play, games was the largest contributor to year-over-year growth in consumer spend in Q2 2019. While the U.S. led in downloads of games on iOS in the quarter, China was the No. 1 market for consumer spend in games, followed by the U.S. and Japan. On Google Play, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea respectively were the largest markets for gaming consumer spend in the quarter.
While hyper-casual games were the big drivers of downloads growth across both stores in the quarter, it’s the opposite end of the spectrum for driving growth in consumer spend. Across both stores, role-playing, strategy, and action subcategories of games were the largest subcategories for consumer spend in Q2 2019.
Breakout games of Q2 2019
Hyper-casual games Stack Ball, Run Race 3D, Tiles Hop: EDM Rush, Clean Road, Traffic Run and Crowd City had standout quarters for global downloads, indicating the mass appeal of simple, intuitive gaming.
Clash of Clans re-entered the top 10 games by consumer spend. Perfect World was a new entrant in the top consumer spend chart fueled largely by iOS spend in China after its March 2019 release.
PUBG Mobile maintained its No. 1 rank in average monthly active users (MAU) in Q2 2019 and broke back into the top 10 games by consumer spend. Amassing this large of a user base in just over one year is particularly impressive given many of the top games by MAU are legacy games that have been around for years.