Freemium mobile games dominate the mobile app market, generating over 90% of revenue. They are becoming more social over time, as the most successful games employ social mechanics. The majority of non-paying mobile game users are women over 30, who favor match-three, solitaire, slots, and tycoon games. Retention rates for freemium games have nearly tripled from 16% to 41% since 2009, showing developers have abandoned short-term thinking and focus on long-term player relationships.

1. Freemium Mobile Games
Presentation 1: The Freemium Games Status Quo

2. The Money
• 98% of revenue reported from GooglePlay in 2015 was generated
from Freemium games.
• According to the most current industry-market predictions, in
2017 the mobile application market will be $77 billion dollars
large. Freemium games will generate no less than an estimated
$70 billion dollars of that total.
• This shows an indicative trend of over 90% of all revenue on
mobile devices comes from Freemium games

3. Social Success
• Comparing consecutive reports, we see that inside the increased
consumption of mobile apps, games are actually gaining
momentum at the expense of social networking
• This is because games themselves are becoming more and more
social.
• In fact, every game that has made it to the top grossing chart on
GooglePlay and the iOS Store has in one way or another employed
innovative social mechanics.
• Statistically, social users have been show to exhibit increased
retention and higher spending intent.

4. Demographics
• 65% of all non-paying mobile users are women over the age of 30.
• When it comes to small payments, excluding whales, the people who
have spent multiple times in the same game (for a total of more than
$100) are 47% female and 53% male.
• The increase in female mobile gamers is one of the main driving forces
behind the rise of social gaming and other genres that are more
appealing to the female demographic, such as:
• Match Three
• Solitaire
• Casino Slots
• Tycoon
• Etc.

5. Retention Rates
• A retention rate refers to the amount of players who keep playing a
game and spending money, typically measured in 90-day intervals.
• An interesting global trend that also signals what’s to come next in
developing markets is the fact that despite the increasing number of
Freemium games available, the average retention rates have improved
dramatically.
• Since 2009, 90-day retention rates have nearly tripled from 16% to 41%
• This shows that short-term thinking has been abandoned by most game
developers and that success on mobile is to be achieved by considering a
players’ demographics and their specific needs in order to be able to
cater accordingly and continuously develop & nurture long-term
relationships.

6. Graphs

7. References
Draganov, D. (2014). Freemium Mobile Games: Design
and Monetization (1st ed.). Dimitar Draganov.