Almost two-thirds of Brits used a mobile gaming app in the past 12 months, up seven percentage points since 2020. Find out how your business can harness the latest consumer trends and further accelerate this growth with Mintel’s UK Mobile Gaming Market Report 2023. Get a 360° view of the UK mobile games market, including uk mobile gaming market size, consumer trends, and industry analysis from an expert.
Below, we’ve handpicked some key insights from our report and summarised the core topics.
Topics Analysed in this Report
- Market size and forecast for the value of the mobile games market.
- The impact of the cost of living crisis on the market for mobile games apps, cross-platform cloud streaming services and games subscription services.
- Competitive strategies of brands operating in the mobile games market.
- Key launches impacting the mobile gaming market.
- Frequency of use of mobile gaming apps and genres of games played.
- Attitudes towards mobile gaming, including in-game advertising.
UK Mobile Gaming Market – Current Landscape
The UK market for mobile gaming saw a huge increase between 2018 and 2021, fueled by the pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures. The market entered a cooling off period in 2022, but it is still above pre-pandemic levels, and is forecast to grow further in the next five years. Â
- UK mobile gaming market size: Mintel estimates that the market will grow by +0.7% in 2023, and this growth should increase steadily over the next five years to 2028.
The freemium model, where consumers get a game for free and pay for in-game content and extras, is by far the biggest driver of revenue for mobile games, accounting for 99% of income. With consumer caution around their finances likely to continue, mobile gaming brands are well placed to accentuate the value of mobile gaming and encourage further growth.
UK Mobile Gaming Market Trends
Over a fifth of mobile gamers tapped an in-game ad for any game-related product/service. Brands should be mindful of this and align advertising content to complement game preferences and mood, for example promoting energy drinks in a sports game.
Almost two-thirds of females aged 65+ play mobile games. It is clear that mobile gaming attracts a varied demographic. While there is near ubiquitous use amongst the youngest audiences, even older less tech savvy audiences are drawn into mobile gaming. Games of chance, such as card or lottery games, are most popular with baby boomers, so brands should promote these types of games to encourage uptake amongst the older generation.
In order to further accelerate growth in the UK mobile gaming market, brands need to know what consumers want and why. Purchase our full market research report for a comprehensive overview of the market and consumer insights. Readers of this report may also be interested in Mintel’s UK Smartphones Market Report 2023.
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Expert Analysis from a Tech Industry Specialist
This report, written by Joe Birch, a leading Technology analyst, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends in the UK Mobile Gaming market and add expert context to the numbers.
Mobile gaming attracts a varied and growing audience, offering advertisers rich opportunities to reach engaged consumers in innovative and meaningful ways.
Joe Birch
Technology Analyst
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- Key issues covered in this Report
- Products covered in this report
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Executive Summary
- Opportunities for the mobile gaming market
- Market dynamics and outlook
- The market
- Graph 1: average weekly hours spent in mobile games, 2019-22
- Graph 2: personal ownership of smartphone and tablet computer, 2023
- What consumers want and why
- Graph 3: any use of mobile gaming apps in the last 12 months, NET 2020-23
- Graph 4: use of cloud gaming services on mobile in the last 12 months, 2023
- Graph 5: use of game subscription services in the last 12 months, 2023
- Graph 6: genre of games played on mobile in the last 12 months, 2023
- Graph 7: behaviours relating to in-game advertising in the last 12 months, 2023
- Graph 8: attitudes towards mobile gaming, 2023
- Innovation and marketing
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Market Dynamics
- Market size
- Graph 9: market size for mobile gaming, 2018-22
- Graph 10: consumer spend on App Store and Google Play Store games, July 2023
- Market forecast
- Macro-economic factors
- Graph 11: Index of financial confidence in the next year, 2016-23
- Social, environmental and legal factors
- Graph 12: ownership of smartphone, by age, 2018-2023
- Graph 13: personal ownership of smartphone and tablet computer, by age, 2023
- Market background
- Graph 14: number of new mobile games releases per year, among top 1,000 games by downloads, 2020-22
- Graph 15: average mobile game downloads, 2020-22
- Graph 16: average weekly hours spent in mobile games, 2019-22
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What Consumers Want and Why
- Use of mobile gaming apps
- Graph 17: any use of mobile gaming apps in the last 12 months, NET 2020-23
- Graph 18: any use of mobile gaming apps in the last 12 months, by age and gender, NET 2023
- Graph 19: frequency of use of mobile gaming apps in the last 12 months, 2020-23
- Graph 20: frequency of mobile gaming in the last 12 months, by generation, 2023
- Use of game streaming platforms on mobile
- Graph 21: use of cloud gaming services on mobile in the last 12 months, 2023
- Graph 22: use of game streaming services on mobile in the last 12 months, by household income levels, 2023
- Use of game subscription services
- Graph 23: use of game subscription services in the last 12 months, 2022-23
- Graph 24: use of game subscription services in the last 12 months, by generation, 2023
- Genre of mobile games played
- Graph 25: genre of games played on mobile in the last 12 months, 2023
- Graph 26: genre of game played in the last 12 months, by frequency use mobile gaming apps, 2023
- Graph 27: genres of games played on mobile in the last 12 months, by gender, 2023
- Graph 28: genres of mobile games played in the last 12 months, by age and gender, 2023
- Graph 29: genre of games played in the last 12 months, by plan dedicated times to play mobile games, 2023
- Graph 30: genre of game played in the last 12 months, by personal opwnership of smartphones and tablets, 2023
- Graph 31: repertoire of genres of mobile games played in the last 12 months, 2023
- Graph 32: genres of mobile games played in the last 12 months, by repertoire of genre of mobile games played, 2023
- Advertising in mobile games
- Graph 33: behaviours relating to in game advertising in the last 12 months, 2023
- Graph 34: mobile gaming behaviours in the last 12 months, by age and gender, 2023
- Graph 35: in game advertising interactions by frequency of mobile gaming in the last 12 months, 2023
- Graph 36: ad interactions in the last 12 months, by personal ownership of smartphones and tablets, 2023
- Attitudes towards mobile gaming
- Graph 37: attitudes towards mobile gaming, 2023
- Graph 38: attitudes towards mobile gaming, 2023
- Graph 39: attitudes towards mobile gaming, 2023
- Graph 40: attitudes towards mobile gaming, 2023
- Graph 41: attitudes towards mobile gaming, 2023
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Innovation And Marketing Trends
- Competitive strategies
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Appendix
- Supplementary data
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Methodology
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