Mobile gaming sees record weekly downloads amid COVID-19 lockdown
Average weekly installs reached 1.2 billion as downloads increase by 35% from January to March 4
The weekly average download figures for mobile games hit a record 1.2 billion in March as more people turn to gaming for entertainment amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
That's according to a report from market intelligence firm App Annie, which found that users downloaded 35% more games in March compared to January.
Games continue to dominate the mobile app stores, accounting for 70% of user spending on both iOS and Android. Globally, consumer spending increased on both formats by 1.7% year-on-year.
Mobile also remains the leading segment of the games industry, and is projected to become 2.8 times larger than PC gaming, and 3.1 times larger than consoles in 2020.
Despite this, games accounted for just 40% of total downloads on Google Play and the App Store.
Tencent published Game for Peace -- the Chinese release of PUBG Mobile -- was the top-grossing game on iOS in Q1, followed by another Tencent juggernaut with Honor of Kings.
Lineage 2M from Korean games giant NCSoft was the highest-grossing mobile game for the period on Google Play, followed by Monster Strike by Japanese developer Mixi.
As ever, casual games dominate the mobile gaming space, growing by 0.4% for the period to reach around 13%.
Simulation was the fastest growing category with a 0.9% increase to just over 10%. Adventure, board, and trivia complete the top five categories each with a share of just below 5% each.