Arunabh Madhur, Regional VP & Head Business EMEA at SHAREit Group explores the new opportunities and potential being unlocked in the European mobile gams market in 2023 and beyond.
It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic boosted the growth of the European gaming market with many turning to mobile gaming as a way to entertain themselves during lockdown. While factors such as rising consumer spend on mobile games, increased the number of mobile gamers, surging ownership of smartphones and high internet penetration rates continue to drive the mobile gaming industry.
Mobile gaming is the one trend that continues to grow, and there is not the slightest sign of it slowing down anytime soon. According to statistics, the gaming industry is tipped to maintain its recent rapid growth with the number of mobile gamers in Europe forecast to rise from 201 million to 218 million in the next two years. Following the latest improvements in mobile technology, the world has moved from the legendary snake game to an endless variety of much more advanced mobile games including casual, action and arcade games.
Mobile gaming witnesses tremendous upsurge
Considering the improved availability and reach of smartphones and easy internet access, it does not come as a surprise that the global mobile gaming industry is forecast to generate $103.5 billion this year. People are now using mobiles in various ways instead of utilising other technologies such as PC, TV and video game consoles.
Mobiles now have a very strong affinity to games as they offer the option for users to play games on the move from wherever they like. It has also become more accessible for consumers to use mobiles for gaming instead of purchasing hard copies of games and video game consoles. This poses a huge opportunity for application developers.
There is every indication that the mobile gaming industry will continue to break barriers in the coming years, across Europe and other regions. Some brands such as Netflix are already tapping into gaming, with the popular streaming service recently launching Netflix gaming. In fact, all “big four” tech companies — Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google — have made similar moves, as well as platforms such as TikTok and Zoom.
With the improved availability and reach of smartphones, peer-to-peer file transfer apps like SHAREit allow users to share games with other devices without using an active internet connection
Arunabh Madhur
The power of sharing and creating a positive gaming community
The community has always been a huge part of gaming. As we have seen over the past couple of years, millions of people are playing games and this, in turn, is contributing to an even greater gaming community. Most importantly, app sharing helps players build meaningful communities with families and friends around the games they play.
Meanwhile, app sharing has grown enormously in the last five years across emerging markets such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), South East Asia (SEA), Africa, Latin America (LatAm), and others. In the culture of sharing that exists in most markets, people use word-of-mouth recommendations in a strong way. Interestingly, people in different regions share apps through file-sharing utility apps to help save mobile data while also transferring files quickly and easily.
Most often, games are around one gigabyte to three gigabytes (GB) in size, which unfortunately consumes a lot of data and time on your phone, especially if people are using 4G or even 3G connection in markets where the internet infrastructure is not as robust and secure.
With the improved availability and reach of smartphones, peer-to-peer file transfer apps like SHAREit allow users to share games with other devices without using an active internet connection. It also allows people to magnify that very basic social habit of sharing. The power of peer-to-peer recommendation is also an effective marketing channel for brands to drive quality users and branding to their platforms.
Global connections
With the surging popularity of the gaming industry, global events and expos such as Pocket Gamer Connects attract players and audiences in the community alike from all across the globe including game makers, developers, publishers and more. Pocket Gamer Connects explores the latest industry trends and technical insights, future growth opportunities and hottest topics (including global regulation and brand marketing).
In fact, peer-to-peer file sharing is one of the key topics that is dominating discussions within the industry. Near-distance peer-to-peer sharing has created a social ecosystem with people discovering new apps through friends and family. More and more leading mobile game publishers are engaging with platforms with a sticky audience that are a part of the users’ lifestyle to acquire millions of quality users globally across different categories and this will be a growing trend for the industry.
Consumers are openly embracing the mobile gaming culture and while it may still be at an early stage, the mobile gaming industry is expected to harness its full potential sooner than ever. The next few years will be the defining years for the industry and the players who are a part of it.
