Mobile games revenue growth is at a snail’s pace on Apple as Android closes the gap

• Android’s largest audience for mobile game downloads was in India this H1, with 4.7 billion installs
• Apple’s biggest audience, the US, generated 851.6 million downloads on the platform

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Overall mobile app downloads surpassed 110 billion in the first half of 2024 alone, up by 9% from H2 2023.

And according to the new State of mobile market H1 2024 report from app intelligence company Apptica, spending rose during the period too, up by 4.5% and surpassing $50 billion across mobile apps and games.

Looking at games specifically, Apple and Android markets generated a combined $23.8 billion.

These rising results were a product of a successful half-year in India, Brazil, Argentina and many other countries around the world, particularly in Europe.

Performance was strong enough to offset small declines in China and Japan despite their importance to the overall market, and Android carried the downloads market while Apple’s installs declined. A number of countries showed clear preferences for one platform over the other when it came not only to installs, but spending too.

A difference in downloads

Android’s presence in India was clear during H1 2024 with 4.7 billion mobile game downloads on the platform, up by 6% compared to H2 2023 and making the country the biggest market for mobile game installs anywhere.

By comparison, only 56.5 million downloads in India were made on iOS, down from H2 2023 and landing India in 15th place among Apple’s markets.

Brazil and Russia ranked second and third for Android’s game downloads, at 4.31 billion and 1.92 billion respectively; those install figures increased by 5% and 7.8% over H2 2023. Meanwhile, global game downloads on Android grew by an average 7%, with more than 27 billion installs during the period.

Apple’s share of downloads was significantly smaller than Android’s and unlike its rival, actually declined from H2 2023. Apple’s mobile game installs were down globally by 5% to approximately 3.2 billion – less than 12% of the figure reached on Android.

Furthermore, Apple’s top three markets all saw declines in downloads, with the US falling by 1% to 851.6 million, China down 1.6% to 458.7 million, and Japan down 1.4% to 158.7 million. The figures were but a fraction of those reached on Android, but it was a very different story when it came to revenue.

Revenue race

Android users contributed over $10 billion to the mobile games market in H1 2024, increasing spending by 4.6% over the previous half-year. The US accounted for the largest single share at $2.93 billion spent on Android mobile games, and was followed by Japan’s $1.25 billion and South Korea’s $770 million.

On Android, video games outperformed other applications by more than two times when it came to revenue, meanwhile Apple users spent more on other apps than they did on games.

Even so, mobile game spending on Apple’s App Store exceeded $13.8 billion at a 1.4% increase, indicating the successful monetisation of iOS users even if their download rates are but a fraction of Android’s.

China represented Apple’s highest-spending market with $3.66 billion spent in the first half of the year, though it fell from $3.9 billion in spending during H2 2023. The US ranked second for spending on Apple’s App Store, having risen to $3.55 billion, meanwhile Japan landed third place with $2.34 billion.

These top three territories covered 69% of total spending on the App Store’s mobile games.

“The integration of AI technologies allows for more sophisticated data analysis, learning user preferences and behaviour patterns enabling apps to offer tailored content and services that enhance user satisfaction and engagement,” said Apptica client success manager Jamie Lou Borile.

“As a result, the mobile app market is becoming more competitive, with personalisation emerging as a key differentiator in attracting and retaining users.”