The time people spend in front of their mobile devices has increased significantly. According to App Annie data, people in the 10 countries surveyed spend an average of 4 hours and 48 minutes in front of their mobile devices a day. The 2021 average is 30% more than in 2019.
According to the table, Brazil was the country that spent the most time on mobile devices in 2021. Indonesia and South Korea followed. Turkey is in seventh place on the list.
Globally, 170 billion dollars of user spending was made in the mobile market
The USA has the highest proportional increase in user spending on mobile games and applications. User spending increased 30% ($10.4 billion) compared to last year, reaching $43 billion. In general, the country with the highest user spending was China.
Top 5 countries with highest user spend:
- China: $56 billion
- USA: $43 billion
- Japan: $20 billion
- South Korea: $6.6 billion
- United Kingdom (UK): $4.1 billion
While the total expenditure of the countries reaches 170 billion dollars, the majority of this comes from China, the USA, and Japan.
174 games passed the $100 million revenue threshold in 2021
Last year, many mobile games passed the $100 million revenue threshold. In the same year, the number of games and applications that exceeded the 1 billion dollar threshold was 13.
While the number of mobile applications exceeding the 100 million dollar threshold is 59, mobile games are 174.
Consumer spending for mobile games increased by another $16 billion.
In 2021, popular games like Roblox and Genshin Impact saw further growth in consumer spending as mobile games can now deliver powerful console-like graphics and gaming experiences. In the second half of 2021, Harry Potter Magic Awakened and League of Legends: Wild Rift caused a stir, especially in China.
Player spending on mobile games increased by another $16 billion year-over-year throughout 2021. Total player spending on mobile games is $116 billion.
Here are the 10 most popular games in the world, determined by various variables such as player spending, downloads, and the number of active players during 2021:
- Bridge Race
- Hair Challenge
- Count Masters
- Phone Case DIY
- High Heels
- Going Balls
- Stacky Dash
- DOP 2: Delete One Part
- My Talking Tom Angela 2
- Sculpt people
During 2021, hyper-casual games reached their peak.
Hyper-casual games were at the top of the most played game genres. Action hyper-casual genre topped the list with more than 4 billion downloads alone.
Different sub-genres of hyper-casual games attracted great attention. Three titles were related to hyper-casual and types in the list of the ten most downloaded subspecies.
The most profitable game genre was 4X strategy.
In 2021, which was profitable for almost the entire game industry, the most revenue-generating type was the 4X strategy type. Approximately $9 billion was spent on 4X strategy games.
Lords Mobile in the 4X March-Battle genre was the game with the highest revenue. It was followed by My Hero Academia: Strongest Hero in the MMORP genre and Hero Wars in the Team Battle RPG genre.
Top 10 Games in Different Categories
In the App Annie report, the best games list was made under 3 categories. According to these criteria, the most downloaded game worldwide was Free Fire in the Battle Royale genre, the game with the highest user spending was ROBLOX in the Sandbox type, and the game with the most active users was PUBG: Mobile in the Battle Royale genre.
Top 10 Game Companies in Different Categories
The same report included the best game companies and games in two different categories. The company with the most downloaded games was American AppLovin, and the company with the highest player spending was Chinese Tencent.
Other Important Data
In addition to these, the report contains some other data on game genres. For example, generation Z prefers party, simulation, shooter, and RPG games. Older players prefer Match-3 and puzzle games.
On the other hand, the Match-3 game genre attracts more attention from female players. Strategy types such as Build & Battle attract more attention from male players.
