Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android Store Pulls Ahead of Handheld Game Devices
According to data provided by mobile intelligence company AppAnnie, the amount of money gamers spent on content purchased through the Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android store outpaced spending across dedicated handheld game devices combined in 2013.
The chart furnished by AppAnnie in their annual review of the mobile markets shows that at the start of 2013 handhelds were actually ahead of both Android and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s app store as an absolute value on the consumer spending scale. ‘Handhelds’ would primarily mean Nintendo’s 3DS pocket console and Sony’s Playstation Vita – two big names that seem to be stepping down from their mobile throne.
By now it’s no secret that games like King’s Candy Crush Saga, Supercell’s Clash of Titans and GungHo’s Puzzle and Dragons, all free-to-play apps with in-game purchases, are dominating the game popularity charts across both AAPL‘s app store and Google’s Android storefront. However, some of the report’s figures put things in a curious and somewhat startling perspective.
Those same games are also the biggest revenue driving force on the app markets. Game apps with in-app-purchases contributed 93% of all game revenues. Paid or premium games were left with a 7% slice.
One of the key highlights of the report is that the main factor behind those spending numbers were the U.S., South Korea and Japan, generating the largest share of app revenues. However, the countries united under the BRIC abbreviation – Brazil, Russia, India and China, were the biggest percentile growth markets so the balance may change over 2014.
