Mobile MMOs are Some of the Highest Grossing Games in 2022

Given the current state of the MMO genre, it really wouldn’t surprise me to see the cumulative market total to be in a perpetual state of decline, but according to a new report from Data.ai earlier today, MMORPG titles are some of the highest earning video games in the entire gaming industry.
Unfortunately for us, it’s not pertaining to games on the platform that we all enjoy them on.

“Mobile gaming revenue is on pace to generate $21.4bn during Q2 2022,” the GamesIndustry title reads. “New report went on to say that mobile game spending will make up 65% of all app revenue during the three-month period.”

For reference, the total gross revenue for mobile games is at $91.4 billion dollars. Console games come in at $58.6 billion, PC games at $38.7 billion, Tablet games at $12.1 billion – at least 20% of this is from my little nephew who’s permanently glued to his. And finally, Browser PC games at $2.3 billion.
You’d think, given League of Angels’ marketing, they’d be raking in quite a bit more than that.
Mobile games make $33 billion dollars more than console games, and almost 2.5 times what PC games make. Anything below the PC category is inconsequential.

Navigating on over to the Data.ai website, we’ll see that the 2nd Quarter of 2022 is on target to reach 34 billion downloads across all apps – including video games, totaling $33 billion dollars in total revenue across both Android and iOS devices.
“iOS users upped the consumer spend quarter-over-quarter by 4% to $22 billion in Q2 2022, while Android users’ consumer spend stayed consistent quarter-over-quarter, matching the $11 billion in Q1 2022.”
These statistics are significantly above anything analysts had anticipated back in 2019 – with a net 30% increase in revenue amassed when comparing against pre-COVID.
Even after the pandemic has run rampant for years, and a large percentage of people have returned to every day life, many players have retained the same lifestyles they had adopted when COVID was so prevalent.

Regionally, the markets with the largest percentage of spending were the US, Japan and South Korea. However, in terms of raw growth, Japan, India and Mexico made the largest impact.
Games, Entertainment and Social generated the most total revenue across all categories, although interestingly the largest gains quarter-over-quarter were in Comics, Books and Reference, and… Dating.

Across both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, video games account for at least 65% of all consumer spending in the 2nd Quarter of 2022.
The video game niches that dominated the market were as follows: MMORPGs – interestingly enough, were the highest grossing and simultaneously most played type of game on the Mobile platform. Games like Odin: Valhalla Rising, all 13 of the Lineage MMOs.
This was followed by MOBAs, Strategy games, Battle Royales and then finally Action RPGs.
And while MMOs lead the entire gaming category in terms of total revenue by sub-genre, I do want to note that the 2 highest grossing and most played games included in this amalgamation of genres were Honor of Kings and Genshin Impact. Honor of Kings being a MOBA, and Genshin Impact being the reason most of you can’t get a girlfriend.

Mobile game spending has made up 65% of all app revenue during this period, which is a monumental accomplishment. $21.4 billion dollars in total revenue earned specifically from mobile games alone, based off of the regions Data.ai has direct access to.

PC MMOs have been a state of decline for years, and the genre is showing no current signs of change. Well, no signs of change concerning PC exclusive MMOs.
With Diablo Immortal, and Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds being such largely played cross-platform MMOs, and Tower of Fantasy, Gran Saga, Odin: Valhalla Rising, Project Ragnarok and so many more cross-platform titles coming in the immediate future, this will likely change.
It’s sad to see that soon us PC MMO players are going to be in the minority, but cross-platform titles have admittedly come a long way. Maybe in the next few years, we’ll see something of a quality worth anticipating.
Until then, the mobile market is going to continue to skyrocket. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.