Whilst Apple’s smartphone and tablet market-share has declined in recent years, the iOS platform has remained more profitable per user than the Android or Windows alternatives, or even when compared to games on Facebook’s platform.
According to App Annie whitepaper, Android currently dominates the app and game download market, with 60% more downloads than iOS, but the Apple App Store still generates 60% more revenues than Google Play. And much of the revenues from the Apps Store come from free-to-play offerings from the likes of Big Fish Games, Caesars Interactive, Zynga, and IGT, all of which off games that are regularly among the top 20 highest-grossing iPhone games each quarter.
In 2013, Eilers Research managing director Adam Krejcik, was right when he predicted that mobile free-to-pay games, especially those offered on the iPad, would continue to grow faster and offer better monetisation than their equivalents on Facebook.
He said:
“Our checks indicate that [average revenue per user (ARPU)]levels on mobile are actually higher versus the same game on Facebook,” he said, noting that iPad games monetize 1.5 times to 3 times better than iPhone games.”
Dedicated apps offer the gaming companies greater control over the look and feel of their games as well as better access to their customer data, which a spokesperson for iPadcasino.com.au argued has “revolutionised” the sector.
In fact, over the course of the last 12 months, mobile “formally trumped Facebook/Web platforms” for gaming, which has now become a “mobile first industry”, according to a presentation by Elad Kushnir, VP of business development at Playtika.
