Mobile games contribute greatly to the high growth rate of mobile media use. Smartphone gaming revenue was estimated at over 63 billion U.S. dollars worldwide in 2020, with revenue from tablet games reaching 13.7 billion U.S. dollars. Moreover, forecasts suggest that revenue from the mobile gaming industry will continue to grow, surpassing the 100 billion U.S. dollar mark by 2023. These kinds of revenues mean that mobile gaming is big business for mobile operating systems. Both Apple and Google have cashed in, with their app stores generating billions of U.S. dollars in mobile gaming revenue worldwide every quarter.
The astronomical rise in popularity of mobile gaming is in no small part thanks to some of the biggest mobile games of recent years which have gone on to be worldwide sensations. Having first hit our mobile screens back in 2012, Candy Crush Saga has gone on to be one of the most successful mobile games of all time, with the original game and its various sequels generating millions of U.S. dollars in player spending in the United States in 2020. The candy-based strategy game still remains one of the top grossing iPhone mobile gaming apps in the United States some seven years after its initial release.
Another gaming viral hit of recent years is Pokémon GO which, since 2016, has allowed users to hunt and collect their very own Pokémon in an augmented reality mobile game. The app regularly hits over 10 million unique monthly visitors in the United States and generates millions of dollars in daily revenue in the Apple App Store alone. As a result of the game's roaring success, Nintendo has expanded its Pokémon offering in the mobile gaming world. First released in August 2019, Pokémon Masters EX is a free-to-play mobile game which allows players to battle against famous trainers from the original series. In the first year of its release, this game generated 75 million U.S. dollars in player spending, making it one of the most successful Pokémon mobile games of recent years.
