Android gaming report
Marketplace jumps 50% during January and February but spending on games still muted.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 8, 2010
Gaming on the rise
As per the upcoming report for January and February released by Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment, LLC (FADE), the Android marketplace jumped 50% in terms of gaming revenue in the months of January and February compared to the breakneck pace set in November and December.
Gaming revenue among all paid titles was estimated at a total of $900,000 in January and February alone. Compared to 2009, this is a great start to 2010, as gaming revenue in November and December totaled in at just over $600,000. The market has grown leaps and bounds so far in 2010, adding 1,200 new gaming titles in just 2 months.
Despite being out for almost a year, Robo Defense has maintained its stranglehold on the #1 position, it has maintained the top ranking since we began tracking Android gaming 7 months ago. Robo Defense saw an estimated 24,000 downloads at $2.99. Yongzh's video game emulators control rankings #2 through #4 with SNESoid, NESoid, and GameBoid with a total of 30,000 downloads between all 3 versions. Finally, Fishing simulator 'Fishin' 2 Go' reels in the #5 spot at 16,000 downloads at the new $2.25 price point. Formerly, has seen price increases from $1.50 in early December, to its current price of $2.25.
Android Users Still Not Buying Apps
Given the recent insights into handset proliferation, FADE LLC believes that the average Android user is spending just 6.1 cents on gaming in the month of February, and $0.50 among all applications. Comparatively, iPhone users are spending an estimated $1.00 per user on video gaming applications per month and approximately $5.00 among all applications. Although the average revenue per user is up from 4-5 cents during most of 2009, it is still facing weak revenue compared to other handsets.
As per the report, FADE LLC does not believe that the fault lies on the quality, or depth of applications, but on 4 major factors:
• Payment UI
• Android 1.5 in use on ~30% of available handsets
• Limited number of paid countries
• Inability to download applications to SD cards
On the opposite end of the spectrum, free applications are doing remarkably well, as 98.9% of all applications downloaded are free apps. We estimate that over 250,000,000 applications have been downloaded (289,000,000 to be exact). Such numbers are robust for an operating system that has approximately 8 million users, pointing to an average attach ratio of 35 applications per user.
Top 10 games (data from January 4th 2010 through February 28th, 2010) sorted by revenue
1. Robo Defense by Lupis Labs - 24,000 downloads ($2.99)
2. SNesoid by yongzh - 11,000 downloads ($3.98)
3. Nesoid by yongzh - 10,000 downloads ($3.49)
4. Gameboid by yongzh - 9,000 downloads ($3.99)
5. Fishin' 2 Go (FULL) by CyxB - 16,000 downloads ($2.25)
6. Homerun Battle 3D by Com2uS - 6,000 downloads ($4.99)
7. UNO by Gameloft - 9,000 downloads ($2.99)
8. Armored Strike by Requiem Software - 6,000 downloads ($3.99)
9. Space Physics by Camel Games - 8,000 downloads ($2.99)
10. Armageddon Squadron by Polarbit AB - 4,000 downloads ($4.06 due to exchange rate)
About Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment, LLC
FADE is a strategic market research and consulting firm focused on electronic entertainment and the emerging download and mobile game markets. With very little information currently available in these markets, FADE allows smaller developers to investigate these new potential sources of revenue and make informed business decisions moving forward. Currently, FADE produces monthly and annual reports for Steam, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare & Virtual Console, and mobile markets including iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry. For more information, please visit http://www.fadellc.com.