Gamma data: In 2024, the size of the global mobile game market increased 4.8% year-on-year to 635.57 billion yuan, and China's share expanded to 37.5%

The Zhitong Finance App learned that recently, Gamma Data (CNG) released the “2024 Global Mobile Game Market Enterprise Competitiveness Report”. In 2024, the global mobile game market continued to pick up, and the market size increased 4.8% year over year to 635.57 billion yuan. Meanwhile, China's mobile game market's share of the global mobile game market continues to expand, reaching 37.5%.

The growth rate of the Chinese mobile game market has been higher than that of the overseas mobile game market for two consecutive years. Overseas is still an important area in the layout of the Chinese game industry, but at present, the growth rate of the overseas mobile game market has leveled off. This has also prompted many companies to increase their investment in the domestic mobile game market and pay more attention to the needs of Chinese game users.

Overseas mobile game market products are already difficult to enter, and the difficulty for Chinese game companies to go overseas continues to increase

Judging from the overseas mobile game product pattern, strategy, elimination, and gaming are the top three categories in the 2024 TOP200 mobile gameplay categories in the overseas market. At the data level, some categories seem to have some opportunities for expansion, but in reality, they are already difficult to enter, and Chinese game companies have very little intention and layout to expand in related fields.

Data Source: Gamma Data (CNG)

Judging from the perspective of Chinese game companies expanding overseas markets, although they account for a high share of the gaming market, the risk is high. Eliminating categories such as casual and casual games is also a strong field that some overseas game companies are good at, and their products have a first-mover advantage. Therefore, Chinese game companies mostly enter from dimensions such as gameplay integration and theme innovation.

Overseas markets have a high overall degree of solidification, and both mature products and new products are under competitive pressure

According to the analysis of mature products, the ranking of more than 40% of products falls or falls sharply every year, which means that it is difficult for related products to maintain stable revenue, tests long-term operating methods, and the cost of obtaining new revenue continues to rise.

Judging from the new product data, it also shows that the overall degree of solidification in overseas markets is high. Taking 2024 as an example, only 5.5% of overseas TOP200 products were new in that year, while domestic new products accounted for 20.5% within the same range. The domestic game industry is more dynamic with new products, and it has also become the key for some game companies to strengthen domestic investment.

Judging from the top 100 new mobile gameplay types in overseas markets, card products account for a high proportion of sales, mainly driven by the “Pokémon TCG Pocket” single product. New MMORPG and ARPG products also account for more than 10% of sales, mainly because the MMORPG category changes rapidly and is greatly influenced by regional markets, and representative products such as “Zero Zero” and “I Upgrade Alone: ARISE” have emerged on the ARPG circuit, which represents an increase in users' demand for more “hard core” games.

Data Source: Gamma Data (CNG)

The development status of important overseas mobile game markets

US: The mobile game market exceeds 150 billion yuan and continues to grow, but the overall vitality of new products is low

In 2024, the US mobile game market will exceed 150 billion yuan, and the growth rate has remained at a certain level. The US mobile game market as a whole is also showing a trend of relative solidification. The overall product life cycle is generally long, and market revenue growth is mainly driven by leading old products, such as “Roblox” and “MONOPOLY GO!” “Last War: Survival” etc. However, the vitality of new products launched during the year is low, and the overall impact on the US mobile game market is limited.

Japan: Exchange rate fluctuations have a big impact, and the vitality of new products is still at a high level

In 2024, the size of the Japanese mobile game market reached 71.78 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 7.5% in RMB terms, and narrowed to 1.4% in Japanese yen statistics. Judging from the market structure, among Japan's top 200 mobile games, the share of new games reached 11.5%, and the average operating period was 5.5 years, showing a relatively active supply capacity for new products, which is superior to most global markets. However, judging from specific products, Xinyu as a whole shows the characteristics of “concentrated waist and weak head”, and lacks popular products that can actually drive market growth.

Korea: The product iteration cycle is relatively fast, and new products have high market opportunities

In 2024, the size of the mobile game market in South Korea reached RMB 29.24 billion, a slight decrease of 1.6% year-on-year in RMB, but when measured in Korean won, it achieved 1.5% growth. The overall market size fluctuated less, showing a relatively stable development trend. According to TOP200 production list data, the average life cycle of games in the Korean market is less than 4 years, which is significantly shorter than the overall level of overseas markets. At the same time, the share of new products in 2024 is as high as 21%, highlighting the unique rapid iterative characteristics of the Korean market. The high-frequency pace of product updates shows fierce market competition, and also allows new products to have high market opportunities and breakthroughs, providing developers with room for continuous development.

Germany: Mobile game market growth is driven by leading products, and acceptance of overseas products is high

In 2024, the German mobile game market reached RMB 16.84 billion, achieving a year-on-year growth of 11.1%, mainly due to the strong performance of leading products. Among them, Supercell successfully activated the market enthusiasm of “Brawl Stars” through operational strategy adjustments, making it the core driving force for overall market growth. It is worth noting that the German market shows remarkable internationalization and openness. Local products accounted for less than 10% of the 2024 TOP100, reflecting the high acceptance of overseas products and providing important development opportunities for international game manufacturers.

UK: Mobile gaming market continues to grow, classic IPs and emerging popular two-wheel drives

In 2024, the UK mobile game market continued its development trend. The market size reached RMB 11.96 billion, an increase of 13.8% over the previous year, mainly due to the stable performance of Evergreen products such as “Coin Master,” “Roblox,” and “Candy Crush Saga”, as well as the emerging hit “MONOPOLY GO!” Strong impetus. Market data shows that the average life cycle of the UK's top 200 mobile games has reached the mainstream level in the international market, which also reflects the continued popularity of classic game IPs and the growing maturity of payment habits among players in the region. This “classic product+cutting-edge hit” two-wheel drive model is also a typical characteristic of the UK as a mature mobile gaming market.