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May 08, 2014

Mobile Gaming Apps: The Big Earners

In the last few years mobile gaming has swept virtually every gaming industry in the world. The likes of Angry Birds have catapulted mobile gaming not only into terrified, green pigs, but also to the top of the gaming tree.

And for the games, well they’re more than making the most of it financially.

Since 2007, and the release of the iPhone, mobile apps have taken off enormously, to the point where they are competing with console games, and have pretty much obliterated the handheld console market.

The first to really make its mark was of course Angry Birds. The game has grown into a multi-billion empire, with spin-offs including Star Wars and Rio, whilst the characters are also set to hit the big screen themselves by 2016.

Since the first game was downloaded back in 2009, Rovio have seen its apps downloaded more than two billion times, grossing half a billion dollars, and that’s not to mention merchandise. And that number is still growing.

In 2013, Angry Birds was the sixth most downloaded game with a lasting legacy that has helped plan the route for other iOS and Android games to follow.

Candy Crush Saga is certainly one of these, while other free games such as the Freebets Rugby Quiz and Temple Run 2 are also benefitting from what seems a golden age for the ‘freemium’.

Freemium is not new to gaming but became huge last year and into this year with the last 12 months seeing 93% of games using in-app purchase making it one of the mobile industries biggest cash cows.

But that is hardly surprising. Angry Birds set the foundations for what games we enjoy to play, whether that be during five minutes on the bus or a heavy stint sat at home for an evening.

It was only earlier this year when Flappy Bird was earning $50,000 per day before the game’s creator took it down—It’s likely that Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans will be making a similar figure.

It’s an incredible statistic to say mobile phones were once used to make telephone calls, yet they continue to sweep the top five most downloaded apps in the Google Play and App Store, and with devices becoming more and more sophisticated, with faster processors and higher quality displays, figures will surely only continue to rise.


Edited by Maurice Nagle


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