In the third quarter of 2023, Apptica and Gamelight have jointly presented a comprehensive overview of the mobile gaming market, shedding light on user engagement, downloads, and revenue across 37 countries during the period from July to September.

Downloads:

- iOS Platform:

- iOS users downloaded a total of 1.54 billion games, constituting 20.4% of all downloads on the platform—a 14.4% drop from the previous year.

- Top iOS game categories by downloads include casual games (269.4 million), action (212.72 million), and simulation (202 million).

- Android Platform:

- Android users contributed to 12.36 billion game downloads in the third quarter, representing 30.5% of all downloads on the platform—a 6.8% decline from Q3 2022.

Worldwide Revenue:

- iOS Platform:

- iOS games generated $5.91 billion in revenue during Q3, excluding advertising.

- Leading revenue-generating genres on iOS include RPGs ($1.33 billion), strategy ($745 million), and action ($698.97 million).

- Android Platform:

- Android players spent $4.64 billion on games in the third quarter.

- The most lucrative genres on Android were RPGs ($930.64 million), strategies ($628.67 million), and casuals ($520.49 million).

- Despite having a lower user volume, iOS maintained its revenue lead over Android, commanding a specific share of 56.01% compared to Android's 43.99%.

User Engagement Data:

- On average, iOS players spent more time playing (38.69 minutes per day) compared to Android users (32.17 minutes per day) in the countries covered by the report (the US, France, Germany, the UK, Japan, and South Korea).

- Candy Crush Saga emerged as the game with the highest playtime across all six countries.

- In the US, card games and board games topped playtime on Android, while action games, adventure games, and tabletop projects led on iOS.

- Notably, RPGs did not secure a spot in the top three daily playtime categories in Japan. On iOS, card, casual, and word games dominated, while Android saw board game adaptations taking precedence over card games.

This insightful data from Apptica and Gamelight underscores the dynamic trends in the mobile gaming market, from downloads and revenue distribution to user engagement patterns. As the industry continues to evolve, these findings provide valuable benchmarks for developers and stakeholders navigating the ever-changing landscape of mobile gaming.

Source: adapted from an article by Andrei Shchur, Writer for HC.Games.