Mobile game revenue ‘nears $30 billion’ in first half of 2019

Mobile game revenue reached $29.6 billion worldwide in the first half of 2019, up 11.3% year-over-year.

Analytics firm Sensor Tower estimates gaming accounted for almost three quarters of total consumer spending on mobile apps and games, which came in at $39.7 billion between January and June 2019, up 15.4% year-over-year.

It says consumers spent $17.6 billion on App Store games, up 7.8% year-over-year, and $12 billion on Google Play games, up 16.8% percent year-over-year.

Tencent’s Honour of Kings was the top grossing game in the first half of 2019, generating $728 million, ahead of Sony Aniplex’s Fate/Grand Order ($628 million) and Mixi’s Monster Strike ($566 million).

King’s Candy Crush Saga and Tencent’s PUBG Mobile rounded off the top five, with the latter boosted by the release of Chinese variant Game for Peace in May.

Last month, as part of an ongoing parliamentary inquiry into immersive and addictive technologies, King revealed that one player spent $2,600 on Candy Crush in a single day in 2018.