About a year ago, industry experts shocked the world when they stated that PC games have become more popular than console titles. The news was even more surprising, since it was revealed shortly after Microsoft and Sony released their next-generation consoles. According to DFC Intelligence, the reason for this rising trend was that PC games were often more affordable than those created for gaming consoles like Xbox One and PlayStation 4. In addition, a great number of PC titles were even available for free online play. A similar development is occurring nowadays. However, the stars in the lead roles this time are consoles and mobile gadgets.
A new report by IDC and App Annie reveal curious insights into the portable gaming world. According to the study, the number of sold portable gaming device, which are also known as portable consoles has reached 175 million. Still, that is three times less than the number of sold tablets and ten times less than the sold smartphones. This outnumbering has helped mobile game spending to surpass that of handheld consoles during the final quarter of 2014.
Despite that, sales of portable gaming consoles are still strong. In fact, games for handheld consoles registered a 5% jump last year. Nevertheless, the majority of this increase was witnessed during the holiday shopping season.
In addition, in comparison to mobile game revenue rise seen in 2014, these 5% seem almost miniscule. Analysts have estimated that Apple’s App Store witnessed a 40% jump in game revenue last year. Even more impressive is the 75% jump in game revenue registered by the Google Play store.
Four apps dominated last year’s mobile gaming market – Clash of Clans, Puzzle & Dragons, Candy Crush Saga and Monster Strike. Clash of Clans was the top selling apps on the App Store, well as the top grossing mobile game in the world. Puzzle & Dragons was bestseller on Google Play.
