The Mobile Gaming Landscape in Germany Gamescom Special Report
Table of Contents 1. Freemium Gaming Dominates Germany s App Economy 2. Google Play Drives Mobile Gaming in Germany 3. Strategy and Casual Games Lead the Way in Germany 4. The United States Leads Germany s Game Exports USE RESTRICTIONS: The information, materials, data, images, graphics, and other components of this report ("Report") are copyrighted and owned or controlled by App Annie unless otherwise noted. Unauthorized use of the Report may violate copyright, trademark and/or other intellectual property rights of App Annie and may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense. The Report may not be modified, copied, distributed, republished, uploaded, posted, decompiled, or transmitted in any way, without the prior written consent of App Annie.
Key characteristics of the mobile gaming landscape in Germany Games are responsible for 75% of app store revenue in Germany s app economy. Freemium is by far the dominant business model for games in Germany, contributing around 95% of games revenue. In Germany s mobile games market, Google Play continues to pull ahead of the ios App Store with a 60% share of games revenue and a 75% share in games downloads. When compared to the rest of the world, mobile gamers in Germany spend large amounts of money on Strategy and Casual games. In Q2 2015, approximately one third of the revenue earned by German companies mobile games came from the United States, making it the biggest market for Germanmade mobile games. A major growth opportunity for German mobile game companies lies in Asia-Pacific s largest markets, where German-made games are currently underrepresented.
1. Freemium Gaming Dominates Germany s App Economy
Indexed Revenue Germany is the 7th largest market for combined ios App Store & Google Play revenue 100 Combined ios App Store & Google Play Game Revenue, Q2 2015 75 50 25 0 Japan United States China South Korea United Kingdom Taiwan Germany Australia Canada France Germany is the second largest market for mobile gaming revenue in Europe, making it a strong opportunity for growth and a leading candidate for game localization.
Share of App Store Revenue Games drive revenue in Germany s app economy 100% Games Share of App Store Revenue, Germany 75% 50% 25% 0% Q2 2013 Q2 2014 Q2 2015 ios App Store Google Play Approximately 75% of combined ios App Store and Google Play revenue in Germany came from games in Q2 2015. This proportion is below the worldwide average. On Google Play, the contribution of games grew to reach almost 90% in Q2 2015. In contrast, the ios App Store saw an increasing proportion of revenue from apps outside games between Q2 2014 to Q2 2015.
Freemium apps constituted around 95% of game revenue in Germany Worldwide United Kingdom Germany United States South Korea Japan Share of App Store Game Revenue ios App Store & Google Play Combined, Q2 2015 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Freemium Paid Paidmium Freemium business models dominated app store game revenue across all major markets. The share of revenue from freemium in Germany fell slightly below the worldwide average and major APAC markets, but uptake of paid game downloads remained low.
2. Google Play Drives Mobile Gaming in Germany
Indexed Revenue Google Play game revenue in Germany grew 5x over 2 years 200 Quarterly Games Revenue, Germany 150 100 50 0 Q2 2013 Q2 2014 Q2 2015 ios App Store Google Play In Q2 2015, combined ios App Store and Google Play game revenue in Germany was approximately 2.2x larger than it was 2 years earlier. The gains in game revenue were primarily driven by Google Play, which accounted for around 60% of game revenue from the two app stores in Q2 2015.
Indexed Downloads Google Play accounted for around 75% of Q2 2015 game downloads in Germany 250 Quarterly Games Downloads, Germany 200 150 100 50 0 Q2 2013 Q2 2014 Q2 2015 ios App Store Google Play Google Play s share of downloads continued to grow over the last two years. It is therefore likely that Google Play will maintain or grow its lead in game revenue in the medium-term future. However, the ios App Store continued to monetize game downloads at a higher rate than Google Play.
3. Strategy and Casual Games Lead the Way in Germany
Share of App Store Revenue The Strategy and Casual subcategories dominated games revenue in Germany 100% Google Play Games Revenue by Subcategory, Q2 2015 75% Other 50% 25% Casual Strategy 0% Germany Worldwide The Strategy and Casual subcategories together contributed over half of Google Play game revenue in Germany, led by Supercell s Clash of Clans and Hay Day, respectively. Strategy was also the leading subcategory for ios game revenue in Germany in Q2 2015.
Top Games, ios App Store & Google Play Combined Germany, Q2 2015 Rank By Downloads By Revenue 1 aa Strategy titles shown in blue Game Company Game Company General Adaptive Apps Clash of Clans Supercell 2 94% SCIMOB Hay Day Supercell 3 Clash of Clans Supercell Candy Crush Soda Saga King 4 Candy Crush Soda Saga King Candy Crush Saga King 5 QuizClash FEO Media Empire: Four Kingdoms Goodgame Studios 6 Subway Surfers Kiloo Game of War Fire Age Machine Zone 7 Crossy Road HIPSTER WHALE Farm Heroes Saga King 8 Criminal Case Pretty Simple Castle Clash IGG 9 Candy Crush Saga King Clash of Kings Elex Technology 10 AlphaBetty Saga King Summoners War GAMEVIL A game was considered a strategy title if its Google Play category was Strategy and at least one of its ios categories was Strategy. International gaming heavyweights Supercell and King hold a strong grip on the revenue charts, and their continued presence in the downloads charts bodes well continuing success. Despite only holding two places in downloads, strategy games held five places in revenue.
Top Games Companies, ios App Store & Google Play Combined Germany, Q2 2015 Rank By Downloads Headquarters By Revenue Headquarters 1 General Adaptive Apps Supercell 2 King King 3 Electronic Arts Electronic Arts 4 Gameloft IGG 5 XPEC Elex Technology 6 SCIMOB GAMEVIL 7 Supercell Goodgame Studios 8 Doodle Mobile Kabam 9 TabTale Gameloft 10 Rovio Activision Blizzard Publishers from APAC feature prominently in the top revenue charts, driven primarily by massively multiplayer online (MMO) real-time strategy and role-playing games such as Castle Clash, Clash of Kings and Summoners War.
4. The United States Leads Germany s Game Exports
Top German Games Companies ios App Store & Google Play Combined, Q2 2015 Rank By Downloads By Revenue 1 Bertelsmann Goodgame Studios 2 FDG Entertainment Bertelsmann 3 LOTUM Wooga 4 Wooga InnoGames 5 Nenoff flaregames 6 Goodgame Studios XYRALITY 7 Tivola ProSeibenSat.1 Media 8 InnoGames LOTUM 9 HandyGames FDG Entertainment 10 Kamibox USM Games Bertelsmann s strong performance in Q2 2015 was boosted by the release Jurassic World : The Game from subsidiary Ludia, demonstrating the value of strong IP in mobile games. Publishers of strategy MMOs based in Germany such as Goodgame Studios, InnoGames and flaregames found revenue success in the worldwide mobile gaming market.
The US and Europe drive downloads of German apps Combined ios & Google Play Downloads Distribution German Companies, Q2 2015 Legend 20% 10% 5% All other countries A high proportion of downloads for German companies are sourced from developed Western markets, including the US, Germany and France. Opportunities in rapidly rising Google Play-dominated markets such as Turkey have yet to be fully capitalized on.
APAC is an untapped opportunity for German companies Combined ios & Google Play Revenue Distribution German Companies, Q2 2015 Legend 35% 20% 10% All other countries While the US leads revenue generation for German publishers, relatively little revenue is sourced from the huge mobile gaming markets in Japan, China and South Korea. For those that can establish themselves, APAC markets may represent a huge opportunity for expansion, particularly for publishers with experience in MMO genres that have proved popular in the region.
Share of App Store Revenue The US became increasingly important for German publishers 100% 75% 50% 25% Combined ios App Store & Google Play Game Revenue, German Companies Germany Rest of World United States The share of revenue for German publishing coming from the US increased notably over the past year, while the share sourced from Germany showed the greatest decline of any country. As APAC-based publishers expand their influence to overseas markets like Germany, German publishers will need effective internationalization strategies to compete in an increasingly globalized mobile gaming market. 0% Q2 2014 Q2 2015
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