Key Stats:
You just came here to see the big fancy numbers:
- In 2025, Mobile games revenue reached $103.0bn (newzoo.com)
- Global Video games revenue is forecasted to grow to $300bn in 2029 – exceeding movie and music industry revenues combined (pwc.com)
- 55% of the global gaming revenue is mobile games
- 3 billion mobile game players globally (newzoo.com)
Mobile gamers aren’t real gamers…
Mobile games, back in the day, were a basic snake on your phone. As tech progressed, so did games. In 2012, Candy Crush appeared and it was uncool to play games because now your mum was playing it on her phone. You weren’t a real gamer if you played mobile games.
We had the moment when Diablo was boo’ed for introducing Immortal, a mobile exclusive game in 2022 at Blizzcon. Was it because it was a mobile game? It was probably more because the fans wanted Diablo 4 on PC, not some in-between mobile game.
More games for all!
The thing is, mobile gaming is a huge industry. Most people have a mobile, but not everyone has a PC or a console. Sure people might have laptops, but they may not be suitable for gaming. Modern mobiles these days, while getting more and more expensive, are often quite good for gaming.
Gaming on mobile has actually made gaming more accessible to more people. Games I can play on my PC such as Potion Permit , Black Desert Online, Among Us (and many many more) are now also available on my phone. I can now lie in bed, sit on a train, wait in line at the post office and play a game on my phone if I really want to.
Mobile games are not small anymore.
Mobile games these days are full fledged, expansive, immersive experiences in the palm of your hand. Games such as Pokémon GO literally put our favourite Pokémon in our hands and forced gamers to get up and go outside.
Genshin Impact is an open-world adventure RPG that you can play on a mobile device. Gone are the days where mobile games were potentially seen as inferior and now they are stepping up to match PC and Console games, and at times, surpassing them.
A lot of mobile games also have seasons and continual updates to keep you hooked. It isn’t you play this game once and move on, no, the developers keep adding more and more content as the years go on and players become invested.
Mobile games are making money
In 2025, Mobile games revenue reached $103.0bn (newzoo.com) which is 55% of the Global games market revenues. According to PWC, the global video games revenue forecast is expected to “grow from $224 billion in 2024 to $300 billion in 2029 – exceeding movie and music industry revenues combined” (pwc.com)
(screenshot from: https://appmagic.rocks/)
Many games on phones are free to start playing and it’s via in-app transactions where the money is being made. According to this article though – maf.ad/ – only 50% of players are actually spending money in the games, so there are a lot of free players. The thing is, the high and medium spenders are spending enough to keep the games running.
Highly Competitive Market
While it is a big industry, it is also a competitive one. Yes there are a lot of players, but there also are a lot of games. If you make a game, you need to be able to market it, share it and build communities around it. People need to know about your game and want to play your game. If you just let your game sit on the app store and don’t market it, it’s not going to make money. So while there are gamers, you need to engage those gamers via other means such as social media, live events, communities via Reddit, forums and Discord. Then once you have them playing the game, you need to give them reasons to stay via content that is fun, engaging and fulfilling.
So, what mobile game are you playing?