Games: mobile app moneymakers

Most of the popular games out there are free. Actually, probably all of the most frequently downloaded games are.

Yet, it has become clearer that the big moneymakers in the app market today are games.

In-app purchases for virtual items have reached $13 billion worldwide -- and this amount does not include revenue produced from advertising within the app.

As a note, mobile advertising has been reported to amount to only $6 billion...that's less than half of the in-app purchases of games.

And these numbers are growing.

The percentage of users willing to spend more than $.75 per day has increased from 3% to 15% between 2011 and 2012.

And considering the stay-time of users for games compared to other apps...you've got pretty good ground. 43% of time is spent on games, compared to 26% on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking apps.

 

 

Many app markets have integrated game centers and social networking features to keep users in the platform and impell them to come back.

 

Although Google Play is the largest Android app market in the world, followed by Amazon, a drawback is that users don't have any reason to stick around after they find what they want. They search, download and go.

 

The third largest app market in the world is found in South Korea called, "T Store." It's owned by the largest carrier in the country and was the first Android open market place in the nation.

 

What T Store has done is integrate a game center, where users can not only download games, but compete with not only their friends but overall users.

 

This makes the games you download more enjoyable AND it drives up your advertising revenue at the same time.

 

 

In any case, games have made their way to become the mobile king. And whether you think they are a waste of time or not, they are here to stay.