Close to $200 million was spent by the developers of mobile gaming apps last year in order to acquire users in the ANZ region.
This is according to AppsFlyer’s State of Gaming App Marketing 2022 edition, which highlights how security and data privacy is the major challenge for gaming app marketers and developers.
Four out of every five gaming apps in Australia and New Zealand now include Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt, with only 37 per cent allowing such tracking, posing a problem for the industry.
The A$192 million spent on Australian acquisition is, not surprisingly, a drop in the ocean for developers.
A$20.2 billion was spent globally on user acquisition in 2021. In-app purchase revenue saw a 70 per cent rise in Australia compared to 2020.
“Gaming is the most popular form of entertainment in this day and age,” said said Antony Wilcox, director of growth, AppsFlyer ANZ.
“2021 has been a challenging year for the industry due to the privacy changes, and there will be more obstacles in 2022 and beyond, from Android’s upcoming privacy changes, mergers and acquisitions in the market, to international competitions.
“Industry players need to continue improving ATT consent rate. Using ATT opt-in rates as a KPI can help clarify objectives for the team to improve consent.
“Doubling down on creatives for app optimisation can also help. This is particularly important with iOS 15 changes and provides a more uniform flow – from context, segmented creative, to a landing page with the same look and feel.
“In the future, industry players need to also look at the upcoming trends such as the involvement of blockchain technology and web3 to preserve user privacy.”
Mobile gaming is now worth more than all other gaming markets combined, according to Newzoo’s 2021 Global Mobile Gamers Whitepaper.
The global mobile game market brought in a total of A$128.43 billion in 2021, contributing 52 per cent of total global game revenue, and recording a year-on-year growth of 7.3 per cent.