Mobile Role-Playing Games (RPG) have emerged as the highest-grossing game genre globally, generating $25.5 billion in revenue in 2022. The popularity of RPG games contributed significantly to in-app spending, surpassing revenue generated by other popular genres such as strategy, action, match, and casino games combined.
According to a recent Data.ai survey, RPG games contributed 31% to total in-app purchase spending on mobile games. RPG games cater to all types of players, including action RPGs like Genshin Impact, Monster Hunt Stories, or classics such as the Star Wars titles, which have resulted in a wide variety of mobile games available.
In 2022, Strategy games ranked second in terms of global gross revenue with $12.1 billion, followed by Match mobile games with $8.7 billion. Simulation games like The Sims and Animal Crossing grossed around $8.1 billion in revenue. Action, shooter, and sports mobile games followed, with $5.3 billion, $4.8 billion, and $2.8 billion in revenue, respectively.
Despite RPG games experiencing an 8% decline in revenue in 2022, it remained the top mobile game genre worldwide. Hypercasual games were the most downloaded game genre with 17.5 billion, or 29% of all downloads last year, followed by simulation games with 10.1 billion downloads, action mobile games with 6.2 billion downloads, kids’ games with 4.2 billion downloads, and puzzle games with 3.1 billion downloads.
As per a Statista survey, more than 180 million people began playing mobile games in 2023, leading to an impressive 1.93 billion total user count. Mobile games are expected to generate approximately $315 billion in revenue, a 15% increase from 2022. The expected growth in IAP spending and downloads in 2023 indicates that the mobile game industry will continue to thrive. The full version of data.ai’s State of Mobile 2023 is also available.
