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$1.54 billion a week was the amount mobile gamers spent Q3 2022

Data.ai – the rebranded Annie App – has released its Q3 2022 gaming index, revealing the state of the mobile gaming market.

In the quarter, gamers spent $1.54 billion a week and downloaded more than 1.1 billion mobile games. While both numbers have dropped year on year, spending is still up 25% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

With this level of spending, Data.ai is confident that gaming revenue is on track to hit $222 billion by 2022. Data.ai predicts that 60% of that revenue will come from mobile. With Data.ai's previous expertise in mobile, it's perhaps not surprising to hear that the platform is expected to account for a larger share of revenue compared to other research companies.

Data.ai's Q3 2022 Games Index also states that games are bigger on Android than iOS. When it comes to downloads, nearly half of Google Play's 30 billion installs were games. By comparison, only a quarter of iOS's 8.7 billion downloads were games. This means that for every game downloaded on iOS, about seven were downloaded on Android.

Things are a little more complicated when it comes to revenue. About half of the $21 billion spent on iOS went to games. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of Google Play's $11.4 billion in revenue came from games. While games account for a larger share of Android's revenue, iOS accounts for more spending on mobile devices in general.

This discrepancy is likely due to the price difference in devices and where consumers are located. According to Data.ai, Google Play is more popular in developing markets like India and Brazil, while iOS is more prominent in the US and China.

In its annual report, Data.ai points to premium mobile games such as Genshin Impact as the reason for the platform's growth. The Q3 2022 Gaming Index supports this. Premium products – such as Honor of Kings, the aforementioned Genshin Impact, ROBLOX and notably Diablo Immortal – dominate mobile gaming spending. Blizzard's mobile title was controversial among fans for the way it implemented microtransactions, but that didn't stop the title from becoming one of the top 10 grossing titles of the quarter.

The trend of monthly active users for esports and sandbox titles. Free Fire, PUBG Mobile and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang made the cut alongside ROBLOX and Minecraft Pocket Edition.

Only two titles managed a spot on Data.ai's Q3 2022 report three lists – Candy Crush Saga and ROBLOX.

Source: Data.ai