The global mobile gaming industry has regained its strength in 2023 after a challenging year in 2022 with new technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) experiences and artificial intelligence (AI) powered games.
The fact that the US gaming market will reach 106.8 billion dollars in 2023 and have tripled since 2012 underlines the growth in this field and its growth potential in 2024. The number of active players worldwide is expected to reach 3 billion by the end of 2023.
When we look at the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey MENAT Region from Adjust’s 2023 Mobile Application growth report;
Mobile games have the highest potential for app marketers, with a high growth score of 53.5 globally. This coincides with mobile game consumer spending reaching $41 billion in the first half of 2023. Additionally, game downloads have reached 30.4 billion. If we look at specific game categories, action games rank first with 30.7 points, followed by hypercasual games with 29.8 points. Sports games rank third with 27.9 points, while role-playing games (RPGs) rank fourth with 27.5 points.
We highly recommend you consider the MENAT region for the growth of your gaming app. Users in this region download an average of 26,200 applications per minute and spend an average of 5.5 hours a day on their mobile devices. As a result, 65% of the region’s gaming turnover comes from mobile games. Turkey has the highest country score in the MENAT region in terms of games, with 26.3, due to its slightly lower eCPI figures. Although there was a slight decrease in the total turnover of mobile games last year, the demand for mobile games in Turkey remains strong. In Turkey, 81% of adults play at least one mobile game, and 41% spend more than ten hours a week on these games.
Saudi Arabia is another important player in the mobile gaming market and achieved a turnover of $1.8 billion in 2022. This figure accounts for approximately 45% of the total MENA gaming turnover. With a growth score of 25.7, Saudi Arabia is home to more than 21 million mobile gamers, and almost 60% of these players spend money on mobile games. The UAE has a growth score of 25.9. Mobile games account for the largest gaming turnover in this market, with 71% of players choosing to play games on mobile devices. The volume of this market is expected to reach 176 million dollars by 2023, and the main segment to pay attention to here stands out as casual players.
In the first quarter of 2023, the day 1 user retention rate for mobile games was consistently 25% across Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE. While this figure dropped to 9% in Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Day 7, it dropped to 8% in Turkey. As a result, the numbers have been fairly consistent across the region.
SIRADAKİ: Mobidictum 2023 Recap
