If you’re hoping to develop the next smash-hit mobile game, there are certain markets you cannot afford to ignore. Chief among these is the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, which constitutes 60% of the world’s population and is by far the largest market for mobile games in the world.
Even if you are releasing a mobile game with the US market in mind, taking the right steps to localize your content for gamers in specific APAC countries could have a huge impact on the long-term success of your mobile product. If you’re considering going down this road, here are some crucial facts you need to know.
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Money matters
First, let’s break down the scale of opportunities that exist for mobile developers that pivot their game offering to Asia. As mentioned, APAC is the largest mobile gaming market in the world by far. In fact, the mobile gaming market in Asia is on track to be worth around $86 billion a year by 2027, far outstripping markets such as Europe and the US.
Meanwhile, the market for mobile game publishers and aggregators in APAC is on-track to be worth $35 billion within five years. APAC is home to more than a billion mobile gamers, and the market is predicted to grow more than 10% year on year for the rest of the decade. These are the kinds of numbers that console game developers could only dream of.
Diverse demography
APAC is a massive and highly diverse region. While the mobile gaming market differs from country to country, there are some important demographics that anyone preparing to enter this market should be aware of. For example, it is Southeast Asia, comprising Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and others, which dominates the APAC mobile gaming market in terms of revenues and active players.
Meanwhile, more than half of all mobile gamers in APAC are over the age of fifty, according to a recent study from Yahoo.
This has been attributed to the rise in “hyper-casual” games that do not require huge amounts of tech skills to master. Meanwhile, although men make up a slight majority of mobile gamers, women gamers are growing much faster and are expected to surpass male mobile gamers within the next couple of years. If you are still figuring out how to tailor and develop your product, these statistics matter.
Learn from the best
Before you make your big move into the APAC mobile gaming market, it is also worth considering those who came before you. A look at the most successful, profitable, and popular mobile games in the region can tell us a lot about what it takes to succeed. Here, we see a mixture of titles from regional developers and titles that are also popular in Europe and the US. The most popular App Store downloads in APAC include Clash of Clans, Roblox, and PUBG.
Meanwhile, the most popular Google Store downloads (noteworthy since the vast majority of APAC gamers use Android) consist entirely of games from Chinese, South Korean, and Japanese developers. Rounding out the top five here is Lineage 2M, Monster Strike, Honor of Kings, Grand Order, and Rise of Kingdom. Note that all of these are MMORPGs with a strong battle-royale focus.
The real money gaming juggernaut
If you’re on the lookout for emerging trends that could dominate the market in the near future, then you need to be paying attention to real-money gaming. This includes mobile slots, poker, blackjack, keno, and roulette, where players can wager real money via their online payment apps and always withdraw real winnings via a mobile casino. Although mobile casino game platforms were unheard of in the region a few short years ago, things are changing.
For example, in Thailand, a major and growing market for real money gaming, you can now find a huge number of online gamblingwebsites available in mobile that serve customers in the region, allowing them to make in-game transactions in Baht via popular domestic payment platforms. The rapid and unexpected growth of the real-money gaming trend could transform the APAC mobile gaming market and is something that every developer should be paying attention to.
By tailoring your mobile game to the APAC market, you can enjoy access to the epicentre of mobile gaming. Keep these trends in mind as you prepare to launch.
