It’s always fun to take a look at mobile gaming spending and that industry as a whole because it is, in fact, the future. Whether it’s the future we all want or not is less important at this point in time — the people have spoken. Spending numbers always tell the whole tale and, needless to say, “business is booming!” The latest Q3 2021 results come straight from Sensor Tower and they’re as interesting as ever. So, as always, let’s dive straight into the nitty-gritty! 

App installs have gone down by 1.2% (iOS) and 2.1% (Android) compared to Q3 of 2020. The interesting thing, however, is that money spent went up by a considerable margin: 13.2% for iOS and a whopping 18.6% for Android. We’re talking just a single calendar year here. 

And, well, percentages really don’t do it any justice: billions upon billions of dollars are at play here. In total, mobile gaming spending grew by 7.7% year-over-year to $22.4 billion globally (Q3 2021). Tencent’s PUBG Mobile was once again the number one grossing game globally, with a very respectable 11% YoY growth. Honor of Kings and Genshin Impact came in at second and third place, respectively. With that being said, the former saw a slight decline (-5% YoY) which means it has lost a bit of steam. A negligible amount of steam, no doubt, but it definitely warrants a mention. Pokemon GO and Roblox round out the Top 5 — the former saw a spending decline by -8% YoY with the latter growing by 9% from Q3 2020.

Mobile game adoption, however, has faced a noticeable decline across both platforms, which means that these titles are generating the grunt of their revenue through their staunch fan bases. We’re still talking single-digit declines here, but the fact that it’s universal is quite telling. Android’s -2.5% decline, for instance, equates to 11.5 million downloads, so while it might seem negligible on paper, we’re still talking about a sizable number here.

In any case, the outlook is still as bright as ever for mobile gaming, and these spending numbers serve as very tangible, concrete proof. We’ll be back with another breakdown by the end of the year, so stay tuned!