Singapore – Despite a softening in direct consumer gaming spend overall, mobile gaming is still the most significant market opportunity for video games in 2023, according to the ‘Gaming Spotlight’ 2023 report by mobile data analytics provider data.ai, and market research agency IDC.
Data from data.ai and IDC suggests that while mobile gaming is expected to have a slight decrease of 2% in spend, the platform is still set to surpass $108 billion worldwide in 2023 — maintaining its lead over PC/Mac.
The report also revealed that APAC saw the most significant growth in market share for global consumer spend across Mobile, PC and Mac gaming. It is also worth mentioning that South Korea significantly accounted for the gains in market share for mobile spending in APAC, whilst Brazil, Turkey and Mexico led growth outside of it.
The top played and spent on mobile games which defined H1 2023 are notably, Monopoly GO, Honkai: Star Rail, Royal Match, and FIFA Soccer, which all saw success in H1 2023, signaling that publishers who capitalize on strong IP, market momentum and in-game events can succeed in a down market. Furthermore, cloud-streamed gaming (CSG) on smartphones and tablets projected a worldwide usage rate of 26% this year, up from 16% in 2019.
The given data also specifically mentioned that in Singapore, mobile gaming consumer spend grew up to nearly USD $100 Million in Q1 2023, compared to $82.3 Million the year prior, accounting for around 5.7% of total gains in revenue for the APAC Region, putting Singapore at 19th place for the largest mobile gaming market by revenue in SEA, above other higher population markets such as Malaysia (20), Indonesia (22) and Vietnam (25).
Commenting on the data, Lexi Sydow, head of insights at data.ai., said, “Mobile continues to level the playing field for gaming. Now more than ever, publishers can target consumers in niche areas, and many markets are primed for growth.”
“The ‘new gamer’ is one of the most diverse and inclusive cohorts yet. Especially in a market that’s slowed by headwinds, having the right data is critical to staying ahead in this fast-changing landscape in order to streamline acquisition and optimize monetisation opportunities,” he added.
