The isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant the search for new forms of entertainment, with streaming services like Netflix shooting, but also video games for smartphones. According to data from Sensor Tower, the mobile market skyrocketed, registering in the first three months of the year its best quarter ever: more than 13 billion installments from the App Store and Google Play. In comparison, the record was more than two billion downloads higher than the numbers registered in the third quarter of 2019, up to the record.
In terms of growth, the App Store grew by 35% in the first quarter of 2020, compared to the same period last year, for 3 billion downloads; while on Google Play, the growth was 38%, with 10.3 billion installations. In other words, an absolute record for both application stores.
The numbers for the second quarter of 2020 are not slowing down. If in March 5.1 billion downloads were made in both stores, an increase of 24% from month to month, there is a more evident growth in April, which registered 5.5 billion combined, an increase of 8% compared to previous ms. It remains to be seen whether the numbers remain unchanged or whether values ​​will be normalized.
Statistics show that India was the country with the highest growth, with 966 million downloads in April alone, a growth of 29% compared to March and 92% when compared to January. This is followed by the United States with 527 million downloads and China, which peaked in February during isolation, with 284.3 million installations. With the return to normality, the Chinese market numbers dropped 33%, with 190.7 million downloads recorded in April.
With regard to spending, at the global level, the games generated about 5.8 billion dollars in a global estimate, in March, an increase of 8% compared to February. In April there was another growth, 10% compared to the previous month, in 6.4 billion dollars. Experts say that the rate of revenue growth in April was higher than that of downloads, something that has not happened since 2014.
As for the games that won the most, PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings stand out, two titles from the Chinese Tencent catalog, with revenues of 225.2 million and 156 million dollars. The general podium closed by Roblox, which continues to remain popular worldwide, with 96 million dollars in revenue, an increase of 37.4% over the previous month.
Interestingly, Fortnite, which was missing from the Top 10, more precisely in the 21 of those that most earned in March, saw a 90% growth in April, resulting in 44.3 million dollars in the mobile versions. Much was due to the Astronomical concert by Rap artist Travis Scott.
The game with the most downloads during the period analyzed is called Save the Girl, a casual game, which obtained 50.2 million downloads. The podium also includes Gardenscapes with 37.7 million downloads and the third PUBG Mobile.
