Mobile Gaming Spending Predictions: Market to Rise to $110 Billion by 2018

Mobile gaming spending predictions suggest a record-breaking amount of money will be spent by consumers over the next few years. Digi Capital's mobile gaming spending predictions are for the market to rise to $110 Billion by 2018, with steady annual growth of 8% per year.

Currently, mobile games are taking $3 of every $10 spent by gamers. That figure is expected to increase to $4 in three years time, which will have a dramatic impact on who and how new games go to market.

Spending on smartphones and other mobile devices is already high, generating more revenue than game console software this year—this does not include hardware, or free to play games. Strong growth predictions account for current trends as well as the success of popular games currently in market and budding player downloads in foreign counties.

Compared to North America and Europe, Asia will be responsible for nearly fifty percent of all mobile game revenues by 2018. Asia already leads these figures but is expected to take a larger share as the industry grows and the Asian markets continue to liberalize.

The top grossing mobile games are of no surprise. According to Digi-Capitol founder and managing director, Tim Merel, games like Clash of Clan, Candy Crush Saga, and Game of War will continue their reign from the top. These games have lead considerable marketing campaigns, including Super Bowl ads, regular television campaigns, and comprehensive online advertising. These games have also been available on both iOS and Android since 2012.

The growth potential for these games is great for shareholders, but a challenge for games being squeezed out of the competition. Player acquisition costs are high, $3 a player, which to too expensive for independent companies at the present. These costs are also slimming to already delicate profit margins even if some companies manage to edge it out.

All things considered, there is some good news for emerging mobile games. Mobile marketing automation technologies are improving and the prices seem to be lowering. Solutions used by games like Plants vs. Zombies, Rivals of War and Subway Surfers are becoming more available to independent games and small enterprise.

With China and India looking prospectively good for downloads and users in the coming year, there’s still plenty of room for developers to capitalize on this growing sector of the game market. Moreover, the real takeaway of this research is the proliferation of mobile use among users, which along with the gaming industry parallels in growth.