Well Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s official. Revenue from Google Play Games have surpassed spending on games from the now former top two heavyweights of the handheld gaming world – Nintendo and Sony – at least according to a combined report from IDC Worldwide and App Annie.
Whilst most mobile gaming dollars are still being taken through iOS devices, as the report below shows, it does on a symbolic level show that Google Play is pushing Nintendo and Sony down into third place which suggests that Google’s recent focus on gaming is right on track.
Earlier in the year during the first quarter, the scenario was slightly reversed, with Google Play in third spot. Whilst the numbers and scores might not be that far apart yet, beating out handheld gaming giants like Sony’s Playstation Vita and Nintendo’s 3DS is already a milestone victory for Android gaming.
And who knows, we could possibly see the figures rise even higher in the near future with Android handhelds like the Nexus 7 (2013) soon to be released in Australia and refreshes of the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 also expected later this year.
Greg Hartell, lead project manager for Google Play, attributes this rising revenue of Android games to three factors.
- Worldwide expansion of the Google Play Store which now covers 130 countries, including developing countries that are fast adopting the mobile app revolution.
- The offloading of common tasks and features such as cloud saving, multiplayer, or leaderboards to Google Play’s game services, leaving developers free to focus on the more important task of making a game truly great.
- Carrier billing has provided an alternative and direct way to get revenue from users, something that developers find quite enticing.
This certainly shows how much has changed in the last ten years of mobile gaming, with new entrants Apple and Google overtaking the incumbent powerhouses, certainly in the last five years the mobile app revolution has changed the way we both access our mobile gaming content and the way we play it.
Do you think the days of dedicated handheld gaming are numbered? Should Nintendo give up and start releasing iOS and Android versions of Mario rather than releasing new hardware?
I do love my nexus gaming, but I don’t think people will abandon Nintendo handhelds at least. Zelda alone is with the price of admission. They have a huge stable of popular franchises and nearly every game they make is just fun.
I do love my nexus gaming, but I don’t think people will abandon Nintendo handhelds at least. Zelda alone is with the price of admission. They have a huge stable of popular franchises and nearly every game they make is just fun.
I do love my nexus gaming, but I don’t think people will abandon Nintendo handhelds at least. Zelda alone is with the price of admission. They have a huge stable of popular franchises and nearly every game they make is just fun.