As the largest revenue stream of the global app market, mobile games continue surging, both in revenue and the number of users. In 2023, more than 1.9 billion people, who play mobile games, will spend roughly $286bn on paid apps and in-app purchases, 15% more than a year ago. This massive user base will also push the total number of downloads in the mobile games segment to new highs.
According to data presented by CasinosEnLigne.com, mobile games are set to hit nearly 135 billion downloads in 2023. This figure is expected to grow by another 30% and hit over 176 billion by 2027.
Mobile Games to See 16B More Downloads than All Other App Categories Combined
After a challenging 2022, which brought the first-ever user drop, the mobile gaming industry has significantly recovered, with people spending more money and downloading more gaming apps than ever.
Last year, mobile games saw 118.7 billion downloads, while the entire market grossed a whopping $248.4bn, according to Statista Digital Market Insights. Statista expects the mobile games segment to see a double-digit growth of revenue and downloads this year, with the figures rising to $286.5bn and nearly 135 billion. Other most-popular app categories will see at least five times less downloads than that.
Statistics show photo and video apps, the second most-downloaded app category, will reach just over 29 billion downloads this year. Far below, entertainment and social media apps follow with roughly 13 billion and 12 billion downloads, respectively.
The downloads gap between mobile games and all other app categories will become even wider in the following years. By 2027, mobile games are set to reach an impressive 176 billion downloads, or 16 billion more than all other app categories combined.
Gaming Apps to Make 52% of All Downloads by 2027
Although mobile games are expected to see 30% more downloads by 2027, their share in the total app downloads will remain practically unchanged. According to Statista data, the global app market will see more than 262 billion downloads by the end of 2023, and mobile games will make 51% of that figure, with 134.9 billion downloads.
By 2027, the total number of downloads will hit over 336 billion, and mobile games will slightly increase their share to 52%.
