2020: Mobile Gaming Skyrockets Amid Lockdowns
When the world went into lockdown, people turned to their phones for entertainment, and the mobile gaming barometer shot up.
Numbers That You Can’t Ignore
- Mobile Gaming Market – $75.4 billion in 2020, a whopping 19.5 % jump from 2019.
- Entire Gaming Industry – $179.9 billion, up 20 % YoY.
- By platform, Mobile led with a 24 % rise. Consoles 19.6 %, PCs 11 %.
Top‑Earning Games of 2020
The leaderboard looked like this:
- PUBG Mobile – $2.6 billion, 64.3 % growth.
- Honor of Kings – $2.5 billion, 42.8 % growth.
- Pokemon Go – $1.2 billion.
- Coin Master – $1.1 billion.
- Roblox – $1.1 billion.
- Monster Strike – $958 million, just shy of a dollar.
It’s the first year that five titles crossed the billion‑dollar line. Congratulations, gamers!
Looking Forward: 2021 Predictions
App Annie predicts that mobile will haul in about $120 billion next year, thanks to sharper game tech. IDC sees the whole industry growing double‑digits. Next‑gen consoles bring some momentum: after their November 2020 launch, US hardware sales jumped 58 % YoY, and software rose 32 %. But because phones cost less than consoles, most of the boom will still be coming from mobile.
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