Experts at Mail.ru Group and Newzoo have assessed the mobile games market in Russia and compared gamers from a variety of countries. The volume of the mobile games market in Russia has grown more than nine times from 2010 through 2013, when it amounted to $165 million. In 2010, the share of mobile games in the online segment was only 5% ($18 million).
“Any increase in the mobile games market is traditionally attributed to a growing number of smart phones and tablet PCs. However, a developing interest by mobile platforms to increase the quantity of games, enablement of new APIs, providing advanced technology, etc., are also contributing factors,” noted Vasily Maguryan, head of the Mail.ru Group’s IT-Territory studio.
Today, 33.8 million people – 79% of all gamers – play mobile games in Russia, according to market research and analysis company Newzoo. In the United States, the proportion of mobile players is slightly higher at 83%, while in China and South Korea, 96% and 93% of gamers, respectively, use mobile devices.
Russian mobile gamers make in-game payments and most rarely pay for games (28%), while more than half of gamers do so in China, 45% do so in the U.S., and 34% in South Korea. Koreans play the most, with 34% of them playing more than five times a week.
Men and women are represented almost equally among gamers in the countries examined. However, in Russia, 58% of gamers are male, unlike the U.S., where the difference is minimal.
