Game Market Overview. The Most Important Reports Published in July 2022

devtodev is helping you keep in touch with what’s happening in the game market. Every month we publish an overview of reports on the most popular games worldwide, top-grossing games, successful releases, favorite video game types, trends, etc. This overview is prepared by Dmitriy Byshonkov - the author of the GameDev Reports by devtodev Telegram channel. You can read the May and June reports.

Table of Content

• StreamElements & Rainmaker.gg: Stream views hours are rising again
• Sensor Tower: Bytedance Gaming branch earned $1B+ last year
• Newzoo: Metaverse, NFT & Blockchain trends in gaming in 2022
• data.ai: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 effect on the mobile franchise games
• Sensor Tower: Fire Emblem Heroes is the first Nintendo game with $1B+ revenue
• Video Game Insights: Steam H1 2022 statistics
• Uma Musume Pretty Derby earned $2.3M in 24 hours after launch in South Korea
• Research & Markets: The number of Gamers in China decreased in 2021
• Sensor Tower: Mobile Games earned $41.2 in H1 2022
• AppMagic: Diablo Immortal earned $49M in the first month after the release on mobile
• Newzoo & Google: Western European Mobile Gaming Market Insights
• Ampere Analysis: The Gaming Market will step into recession in 2022
• NPD: The American Gaming Market will drop by 8.7% in 2022
• GameRefinery: Mobile mid-core Market State (July 2022)
• GameIS & Deloitte: Gaming companies from Israel earned $8.6B in 2021
• GfK: Console sales in the UK are growing
• AppMagic: Top Mobile Games by Revenue & Downloads in June 2022
• Newzoo: South Korean gamers Report
• VG Insights: Steam Games Market size will drop in 2022
• Newzoo: The Gaming Market will reach $196,8B in 2022
• Twitter: Users tweeted more about games in H1 2022
• Globant & YouGov: 52% of gamers in the US believe that metaverse will change the gaming industry
• Sensor Tower: Mobile non-gaming Apps for the first time in the history of the US App Store earned more than games

StreamElements & Rainmaker.gg: Stream views hours are rising again

• May was the first month in 2022 when the number of stream views went up.

• Twitch grew from 1.782B hours watched to 1.808B. Facebook Gaming - from 335M to 350M.

• League of Legends is the most popular game of May (156M watched hours), GTA V is second (120M watched hours), and Valorant is third (95M watched hours).

• Streams with slots went to the top 10 for the first time. People watched how others were playing gambling games for 39M hours.

Source

Sensor Tower: Bytedance Gaming branch earned $1B+ last year

• From 21 June 2021 to 20 June 2022 games of Bytedance studios were downloaded 139M times. Their revenue passed $1B. Third-party Android stores are not included.

• The best month was December 2021, when all studios earned $94.3M.

• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is the most successful title of Bytedance. It was responsible for 56% of all downloads, and 32% of revenue last year.

• 34% of Bytedance gaming revenue came from Japan. 25% of downloads are from Indonesia.

• Bytedance is owning Ohayoo, Nuverse, Moontoon, and C4 Connect studios.

Source

Newzoo: Metaverse, NFT & Blockchain trends in gaming in 2022

• More than 500 companies in the world are working on the metaverses.

There are few relevant numbers in the report.

However, sharing the main trends:

1. Big Tech & brands are following the hype.

2. A metaverse is a great place for musicians.

3. Newzoo is sure that AA-AAA Blockchain games with a close to traditional gaming gameplay is around the corner.

4. People are gathering in P2E Guilds to “work” in metaverses.

5. Crypto-adopters are sure that blockchain will help developers to transfer items from one game to another.

data.ai: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 effect on the mobile franchise games

Effect on Sonic Forces: Speed Battle

• Despite being a 5 years old game, Sonic Forces: Speed Battle was downloaded 4.6M times in April 2022. It’s a record since launch, downloads increased by 160% MoM.

• The game reached eight place by downloads, and fourth place by revenue in the Runner category.

• In April 2022 revenue grew by 135% compared to the previous month. This is the most successful month since launch.

Other titles effect

• Downloads increased in Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic Dash, and Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom. However, the majority of players interest in Sonic Forces: Speed Battle most.

Source

Sensor Tower: Fire Emblem Heroes is the first Nintendo game with $1B+ revenue

• Fire Emblem Heroes is currently generating 54.5% of overall Nintendo’s mobile revenue.

• Other grossing titles for Nintendo are Mario Kart Tour ($282M), and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp ($281.6M).

• Fire Emblem Heroes is #4 in Nintendo’s mobile portfolio by downloads (17.8M - 2.7% of overall publisher downloads). Super Mario Run is first (310.7M downloads - 47% of overall publisher downloads).

• In Q1 2022 Fire Emblem Heroes earned $29M, it’s 50.7% of Nintendo’s mobile revenue. Despite this fact, there were only 121k new downloads of the game in the quarter.

• Japan is the key market for Fire Emblem Heroes, it’s responsible for 54% of the revenue ($540.6M), and 47% of downloads (8.4M). The US (32.4%), and Canada (3.2%) are the next countries by revenue.

• Google Play is responsible for 58.3% of revenue ($583.7M); App Store - for 41.7% ($417.3M).

Source

Video Game Insights: Steam H1 2022 statistics

• 6,015 games were published on Steam in the first half of 2022. It’s 11% more than in H1 2021.

• 5,895 out of 6,015 released are from indie developers. 75% of them have a price tag of less than $10. Only 56 games have a price of $40+.

• 80% of the games released in H1 2022 earned less than $5,000.

• There are 1,195 games released in H1 2022 that earned more than $5,000. 48% of them have a price tag from $10 to $19.99.

• Developers continue to release the same genres they’ve been releasing in 2022.

• 70 games released in 2022 made more than $1M in Steam. The Elden Ring is first with 8M copies and about $380M of revenue.

• It’s interesting that in the H1 2022 top-10 grossing in Steam, there are 4 indie projects (Dread Hunger, V Rising, Raft, and Core Keeper).

Source

Uma Musume Pretty Derby earned $2.3M in 24 hours after launch in South Korea

• The game reached first place in the local App Store (twice - in “Popular” and “Top Grossing”), and Google Play.

• Uma Musume Pretty Derby managed to launch more successfully compared to Lineage W.

• The game was released in Japan in February 2021 where it earned $965M during the first year.

Uma Musume Pretty Derby is a game about racetrack competition of girls with horse particulars. The monetization of the game is based on collecting.

Source

Research & Markets: The number of Gamers in China decreased in 2021

• Analytics numbered 706M gamers in China by the end of 2021, which is 3.7% less than in 2020. 730M gamers are supposed to be in the country by 2026.

• The audience increase is happening slower than expected due to the strict market regulation.

• Overall market size reached $45.49B in 2021. By 2026 it will be $55.23B.

• ARPU in 2021 was $64.44, by 2026 it’s forecasted to reach $75.6.

• Chinese companies earned $17.3B outside of China. By 2026 this number will reach $26.46B.

• There were 434M E-Sports fans in China in 2021.

• More than 16k trademarks connected to metaverse were registered in China in 2021.

Source

Sensor Tower: Mobile Games earned $41.2 in H1 2022

• The H1 2022 mobile games revenue is lower by 6.6% to the same period in 2021. The iOS decrease in revenue was 0.8% YoY (from $25.8B to $25.6B). The Android revenue fell by 14.8% (from $18.3B to $15.6B).

• Honor of Kings (1.4B), PUBG Mobile ($1.1B), Genshin Impact ($986.2M), Candy Crush Saga ($593.5M), and Roblox ($576.5M) are leaders of the H1 2022 by revenue.

• Despite the revenue decline, the overall number of downloads increased by 0.4% from the previous year to 28.1B. Google Play downloads increased by 1.3% while App Store downloads decreased by 4.5%.

• The top downloaded games of H1 2022 were Subway Surfers (148,7M), Garena Free Fire (147,2M), and Ludo King (87,7M).

• The overall revenue of mobile apps in H1 2022 was $65B. It’s 1% more than in H1 2021.

Source

AppMagic: Diablo Immortal earned $49M in the first month after the release on mobile

• The peak day by revenue happened on June 11 - the game earned $2.39M. After this, we see a steady decline trend.

• During the first month, the game was downloaded 10.3M times. And as we see, there might be some troubles in acquiring new users.

• ARPU by the end of the first month was $4.99.

• Diablo Immortal now is the largest mobile release of 2022. The game is not launched in China yet.

Source

Newzoo & Google: Western European Mobile Gaming Market Insights

• The overall mobile revenue of Western European countries in 2021 was $7.2B - without ad revenue. By 2024 it will reach $8.6B.

• There were almost 209M mobile gamers in Western European countries by the end of 2021.

• 62% of high-spenders (those who spend more than $25/month on mobile games) are men. There are more males in each category of spenders.

• The ESports market of Western Europe reached $209.6M in 2021 with 47M watchers. 45% of mobile gamers are watching ESports events, the main platform is YouTube.

Source

Ampere Analysis: The Gaming Market will step into recession in 2022

• The revenue of the gaming market will decrease to $188B in 2022. Inflation & war conflicts are one of the reasons.

• The revenue drop will happen in the background of record 2020 ($182B), and 2021 ($191B) years.

• Analytics suggest that in 2023 the market will start to grow again and will reach $195B.

Source

NPD: The American Gaming Market will drop by 8.7% in 2022

• It will reach $55.5B by the end of the year.

• The only market segment that is expected to grow is subscriptions.

• Elden Ring has already been named the most successful boxed game of the year.

• The American market drop is connected to increasing prices on basic products (food & fuel); new consoles & accessories shipping issues, and major project delays.

Source

GameRefinery: Mobile mid-core Market State (July 2022)

• During the last 365 days, there were 9 new mid-core titles in the top-200 top grossing in the US. For comparison, there were only 3 casual titles that made the same.

• 37% of overall iOS US revenue comes from mid-core games. It’s the only category that grew last year.

• Largest mid-core releases of the last half a year: Diablo Immortal, Dislyte, and Apex Legends Mobile.

• GameRefinery analyst mentions that top mid-core titles are close to PC/Console games by gaming experience.

• In 65%+ mobile mid-core titles 5 or more gacha mechanics.

• 80% of top mid-core titles in the US have special currency for events.

Source

GameIS & Deloitte: Gaming companies from Israel earned $8.6B in 2021

• There are 190 gaming companies in Israel which are employing about 14 thousand people.

• Israeli-based companies are responsible for about 5% of the whole gaming market revenue.

• Israel-based gaming companies’ revenue increased by 760% in the last 5 years. There are only product companies based in Israel, with no outsourcing or service providers.

• In the last couple of years, there were at least two games from Israeli companies on the top charts by revenue & downloads. Thanks to Playtika, CrazyLabs, Supersonic, and Moon Active.

• Despite the mobile market development, there are no AAA developers for PC/Console in Israel.

Source

GfK: Console sales in the UK are growing

• 124,000 consoles were sold in June 2022 - it’s 17% more than in May.

• Xbox Series S|X sales grew from May by 31%; Nintendo Switch - by 24%. PS5 sales increased by 2% only, this is connected to shipping issues.

• Despite the increase in sales, the British console market dropped by 39.1% in H1 2022.

• In June in the UK 2.5M games were sold - it’s 1.2% less than in June 2021, but 49% more than in May 2022.

• The major part of sales (around 71%) are coming from digital versions.

• Three leaders of the chart in June are F1 2022, FIFA 22, and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

Source

AppMagic: Top Mobile Games by Revenue & Downloads in June 2022

Revenue:

• First place - as always - is taken by Honor of Kings ($165,17M revenue in May).

• Pokemon GO managed to the top on Android with $55.5M revenue. With iOS, the game earned $106,5M in June 2022.

Downloads:

• Stumble Guys - a mobile game inspired by Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout - was the downloads leader in June 2022 with 32.8M of downloads.

• Subway Surfers (32.6M downloads) & Garena Free Fire (27.9M downloads) are on the second and third places respectively.

Source

Newzoo: South Korean gamers Report

• South Korea is the #4 market in the world with $8.3B in revenue in 2021. 33M gamers are living in South Korea (#21).

• 82% of the South Korean online population is playing games.

• 45% of gamers are not only playing games but also watching them.

• 54% of gamers are male, 45% are female, and 1% are non-binary/others.

• 60% of gamers in South Korea are between 21 and 50 years. 23% are from 51 to 65. Other 17% are of age from 10 to 20 years.

• 59% of gamers are playing on mobile devices; 41% - on PC; 20 - on consoles. The average weekly played time on PC & Consoles is higher (5 hours versus 4 hours on mobile).

• 38% of South Korean users are payers.

Source

VG Insights: Steam Games Market size will drop in 2022

The methodology covers only Premium game sales and does not include IAP.

• In 2021 the Steam games sales were $6.5B. It’s 74% growth in 3 years.

• In the first half of 2022 Steam sales are outrunning 2021 benchmarks - $3.1B versus $3B. But since April the pace of 2022 sales started to lose to 2021. There are various reasons for this: significant releases postponed, decrease in disposable income in developed countries, increasing availability of consoles, and isolation of the Russian PC market.

• However, there are positive signals. There is a large probability that in 2023 Steam will reach a new record in sales. Graphic cards are becoming more accessible to the crypto market crash, games prices went a little bit higher. Plus, some major ex-console exclusives will be released on PC (thanks to PlayStation).

Source

Newzoo: The Gaming Market will reach $196,8B in 2022

• Despite the recession forecasts, Newzoo analytics are sure that in 2022 the gaming market will grow by 2.1% to the previous year. However, they’ve corrected April’s forecast, which was talking about more than $200B of revenue.

• There will be 3.2B gamers by the end of 2022 in the world.

• Mobile games are responsible for $103.5B (53% of the market) of revenue, and growth from the previous year is 5.1%.

• The PC segment is about 21% of the market ($40,4B), in 2022 it will grow by 1.6% from 2021.

• The console market will drop by 2.2% from the previous year to $52.9B. It’s connected to the AAA game delays and lack of consoles.

• The North American market will grow only by 0.5% from the previous year to $51.3B. The European market will go down by 0.03% to $34.1B.

• The MENA market will show growth of 10.8% to $7.1B. LATAM will grow to $8.7B (+6.9% YoY).

• Newzoo forecasts that the gaming market will reach $225.7B by the end of 2025 with a CAGR of 4.7% from 2020 to 2025.

• The number of gamers will increase to 3.534B in 2025. CAGR will be about 4.2%.

• The fastest growing markets by the number of users in 2022 will be MENA (+8.2% YoY - 488M); LATAM (+4.8% YoY - 315M), and Asia-Pacific (+4.2% YoY - 1.746B).

Source

Twitter: Users tweeted more about games in H1 2022

• An increase from the previous year was 36%. Users wrote about 1.5B tweets about games in H1 2022.

• Genshin Impact became the most popular game on Twitter in H1 2022. World & Ensemble Stars! are next. The Final Fantasy series is in fourth place.

• Japan, the US, and South Korea are leaders when it comes to gaming tweets.

Source

Globant & YouGov: 52% of gamers in the US believe that metaverse will change the gaming industry

The survey canvassed 1,000 adult gamers from the US, who are spending more than 3 hours per week playing games on PC, Consoles, or Mobile. Mobile-only players were excluded.

• People associate Meta (73%), Epic Games / Fortnite (27%), Roblox (21%), The Sandbox (15%), and Niantic (10%) with metaverse experience.

• Only 35% are accepting ads in the metaverse. 40% mentioned that they won’t be happy with ads in virtual worlds. 46% of respondents will feel uncomfortable if ads will track their eyes or head movement.

• Only 11% were interested in earning in the metaverse. 49% would prefer just playing. Other 40% will be glad to mix both earn and play.

• 81% of respondents never interacted with NFT or cryptocurrencies before. About a half (45%) do not want to see metaverse and crypto to be connected.

Source

Sensor Tower: Mobile non-gaming Apps for the first time in the history of the US App Store earned more than games

• Mobile Games revenue is showing a negative trend. Despite this, in May 2022 they’ve earned 50% more than in January 2019 - before the pandemic.

• In June 2022 non-gaming apps were responsible for 50.3% of App Store revenue. Five years ago games accounted for 2/3 of overall revenue.

However, the report itself is all about downloads.

• Subway Surfers is the most popular game of Q2 2022. It was downloaded more than 80M times during the quarter, the last time the game saw this number was in 2014. The game was downloaded 1.8B times - it’s the most popular mobile game in the world.

• Garena Free Fire managed to reach 70M+ downloads for the third consecutive quarter. Stumble Guys is third.

• The top 10 most successful publishers have 7 gaming companies: Supersonic Studios, Embracer Group, Azur Interactive, Say Games, AppLovin, Miniclip, and Take-Two Interactive.

• Game downloads in Q2 2022 in the App Store decreased by 2.6% to 2.03B YoY.

• Google Play game downloads, in reverse, grew by 0.6% to 11.91B compared to Q2 2021.

• India is the largest download market, reaching almost 7B in Q2 2022. The US, Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia are next.

Source

Now you have the entire picture of the current game market. If you have any questions, feel free to ask the author using the contact details provided at the beginning of this review.