On a worldwide basis, the amount of money spent on mobile games is 3.6 times great than the cash spent on titles for home game consoles, according to industry analyst firms App Annie and the IDC.
To put this number further in perspective, mobile game spending is even 2.3 times greater than that of PC and Mac games.
Both analyst firms joint published the report, highlighting the growth mobile games have experienced over the last few years, but particularly in 2017.
The report found that even though mobile games only account for 35 percent of worldwide downloads, games downloaded from the App Store and Google Play Store account for nearly 80 percent of worldwide spending in the video game industry.
iOS users also shelled out twice as much on in-game purchases when compared to the amount Android users spend in the Google Play Store.
The report says that much of the growth stems from the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean market, with all but two of the top grossing mobile games being created by developers in those regions. In total, 60 percent of worldwide mobile game spending stems from these countries.
The study found that Lineage 2: Revolution is the top grossing Android game of 2017, followed by Lineage M, Monster Strike, Fate/Grand Order and Candy Crush Saga. Top iOS games included Honor of Kings, Fantasy Westward Journey, Monster Strike, Fate/Grand Order and Clash Royale.
According to the IDC and App Annie’s study, dedicated handhelds like the PlayStation Vita and 3DS only account for a small portion of the global market in terms of revenue.
The full, surprisingly comprehensive report can be found for free on App Annie.
Source: App Annie
