Dominate Mobile Game Genres

SurveyMonkey Intelligence released its breakdown of top performing genres in July 2016 across mobile games. Not only did the report drill through gaming genres by download popularity, monthly active users (MAU) and time spent playing, but it also compared genre popularity by revenue. Noting that longer engagement means more opportunity for monetizing with ads, “arcade is the most popular type of game in terms of downloads and monthly active users, it falls short of puzzle by 44% in terms of time-spent engagement.” The report also noted discrepancies such as the top downloaded genres did not directly translate to top genres for revenue or average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU).

• Top five genres by Monthly Time Spent in descending order:
  • puzzle (105)
  • casual (93 min)
  • arcade (73 min)
  • simulation (71 min)
  • adventure (71 min)
• Top five genres by MAU in descending order:
  • arcade (807)
  • adventure (698)
  • puzzle (645)
  • action (610)
  • simulation (565)
• Top five genres by ARPDAU in descending order:
  • role playing ($0.66)
  • strategy ($0.50)
  • adventure ($0.21)
  • casino ($0.19)
  • racing ($0.19)
• Top three takeaways:
  • Downloads don’t guarantee active users, which don’t guarantee engagement or revenue.
  • Adventure, action and puzzle games look like safe bets.
  • Role-playing and strategy games monetize really well, but these categories are also the most competitive, especially for user acquisition.

Be sure to check out the full write-up, “New Mobile Game Statistics Every Game Publisher Should Know in 2016.”