2.1. The Mobile Gaming Market

Market Size & Issues

Market Size

According to an analysis of consumer spending data for the global gaming industry in 2021, the total gaming market was estimated to be worth 180.3 billion USD. Ultimately, mobile games accounted for 93.2 billion USD, representing 52% of the total market share. The market size of smartphone-based games rose by 8% from 2020 to 81.5 billion USD. Newzoo expects consumer spending for mobile games to reach 116.4 billion USD by 2024.

As of 2020, there were about 4.5 billion internet users worldwide, of which 2.5 billion were mobile gamers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the world were confined to their homes during a lockdown. Researchers determined that the number of people playing mobile games on their smartphones rapidly increased. In fact, as of 2019, the gaming industry unprecedently surpassed the entertainment industry, accumulating approximately 149 billion USD of market value. Experts predict that the mobile gaming market will continue to grow due to the improvement in smartphone performance, the development of communication technology, and the consistent release of many new products.

Market Issues

A. Securing Users

The goal of mobile game marketing is to acquire as many users as possible while keeping costs as low as possible. However, the industry has run into a very paradoxical situation considering that the cost of securing customers with moderate purchasing power who make recurring in-app purchases has more than doubled from 35 USD in 2019 to 86 USD in 2020. It is now more expensive than ever to release games and secure users. Mobile games are cheaper to develop than PC and console games, but the budget doubles when marketing costs are factored in. This can prevent developers from realizing their true potential and makes it difficult to secure regular players

B. Improving Specifications

The global usage of smartphones has reached unparalleled heights. However, not all devices can handle gaming applications due to their specification limitations. In fact, according to a 2020 study by the IDC (an IT market analysis agency), up to 70% of mobile devices are not equipped to support games due to their poor specifications. Presently, there are about 3 billion smartphone users around the world. However, about 2.1 billion smartphone users have experienced graphics and performance issues, often not even being able to play the game. CLOID provides a solution to this problem by giving developers access to a large platform with a core network of gaming communities that can host and distribute games. This allows anyone to access and enjoy games regardless of the specifications of their devices.

C. Increasing Accessibility

Gamers are more interconnected than ever before through the internet and online communities. However, developers who distribute games say that even they have devices that are not always capable of supporting gaming. One of the most important factors in determining the success or failure of a game is access to the product. This is determined by the number of users who can play the game on their device. Developers must design games that meet the majority of mobile device specifications available in the market. It takes a considerable amount of time and money to adapt games to different device specifications, not to mention the amount of work that goes into solving optimization problems through the release of games and future updates. It is necessary to increase accessibility so that developers, including small development studios, can easily release games to a larger market.

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