Mobile Games Action Genre From US Grew By 104% In H1 2021 – $436M Revenue
Action Genre Generated $436M In H1 2021 – 104% Increase From H1 2020
Mobile games are the most lucrative segment of gaming and the lockdowns of 2020 resulted in a massive uptick in engagement. This momentum from 2020 seems to have carried over into 2021 as data from Sensor Tower shows widespread revenue growth for many mobile game genres in the US. Among all the major genres, the Action genre experienced the highest YoY revenue growth in H1 2021 compared to H1 2020 – 103.8%
The Action genre generated an estimated $435.7M in H1 2021 compared to an estimated $213.8M in H1 2020. Revenue from the Fighting subgenre generated the most revenue for the Action genre, amounting to $183.3M which is a 27.7% YoY increase. In terms of games, Genshin Impact was the largest revenue-generating action game after recording nearly $174M in player spending in the US for H1 2021.
The hyper-casual genre was the second-fastest-growing genre in terms of revenue after experiencing a 60.4% YoY growth from H1 2020 amounting to $59M. The third-fastest growing genre in H1 2021 was the Tabletop genre after experiencing YoY growth of 41.7% in H1 2021, amounting to almost $389M.
In terms of actual revenue size, the Puzzle genre generated the largest revenue out of player spending with $2.6B – an 18.6% YoY increase from H1 2020. The second-largest genre was the Casino genre which generated $2.5B followed by the Strategy genre which generated $2.2B.
Number Of Downloads Decrease Among All Genres
Mobile game downloads in the US set records in 2020 as lockdowns forced many people to look for alternative forms of entertainment within the confines of their homes. Download figures for every genre are expectedly down in H1 2021 compared to H1 2020 which was the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic globally.
The Strategy genre experienced the least contraction at just a 4.4% YoY decrease from H1 2020 after recording 71.7M installations in the first half of 2021. “Top War” was the most downloaded game from the genre with 4.2M downloads followed by “State of Survival” and “Clash of Clans.”
The Hyper casual genre had the most downloads in H1 2021 at 830.2M after experiencing the second-smallest contraction among genres from H1 2020 at just 6.5%. Notably, the Shooter and Casino genres experienced the largest contractions from 2020 at 37.8% and 36.9% respectively.
“Many in the gaming industry expected a contraction in 2021, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 boosted its figures to record-setting levels. Despite the decrease in downloads, the massive increase in revenue for some genres suggests that the gains made in 2020 are not completely lost and that the future remains very bright for the mobile gaming industry.” - Rex
