Angry Birds 2, the sequel to the behemoth hit from makers Rovio, has already reached nearly 20 million downloads since the game first went live on various app stores in August 2015. When you consider that it took the first game nearly nine months to reach the same number of downloads it is certainly clear that there are a lot of people throwing birds at pigs. Although the game is suitable for all ages, some of its success could be put down to the fact that many parents around the world have used it at some stage to placate unruly youngsters. But are these early gamers actually the most important target market for app developers? The industry has been aware for a number of years that a young audience is key to the success of a game but how important are they?
As we covered in some of our recently posts there are certain factors that are driving this growth including the increasing strength of the Asian market and the rise in certain game types including celebrity endorsed games. But if the latest figures released by Superdata are to be believed then it appears that it’s not only Rovio who are benefitting from younger gamers as well as their parents desire to sometimes have a quiet and less stressful life. SuperData research are estimating that games tailored towards the child and young adult market account for nearly $2 Billion or 7.8% of the overall global mobile-gaming ecosystem.The growth across all markets is impressive especially when you consider that nearly 9.3% of the US mobile gaming market is currently made up of games aimed towards children.
Growth Of Esports
The growth of interest in gaming from this generation is also affecting how people are consuming content related to the medium. For instance Twitch, the video game specific streaming and content site, has seen significant growth in the last number of years. The considerable rise in the popularity of esports has seen user numbers for platforms like Twitch swell since it’s launch. The most popular games that users are interacting with, according to this brilliant piece on the Twitch blog, are mainly free to play but do come with in-game purchases. In fact, the prize money on offer for the winners of the recent DOTA 2 tournament was more than that of the US Masters, a competition that has been in existence since 1934. It could be proposed that the rate at which Esports has become mainstream is outstripping that of more traditional sports like baseball.
As we edge closer towards higher levels of tablet and smartphone adoption among younger age groups it is clearer that these groups are potentially becoming whales for app developers. Considering that the monthly spend year on year in on the rise, we are beginning to see a slight shift by publishers looking to gain a foothold in this multi million dollar market. This has given rise to considerable growth in the number of games that are released as being free-to-play many, a large majority in fact, offer in-app purchases.
The same data released by SuperData suggests that, although premium games are more popular with adults, the majority of children would rather choose free-to-play games. A quick look at the most popular games on Steam reiterates that suggestion that free to play games such as DOTA 2 and Team Fortress are among the most popular game types currently on the market. It will be interesting to see how the industry continues to further develop over the coming 6-12 months as app providers seek new ways to connect with this avid, tech savvy demographic of gamers.