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10 Things Games

50% of mobile gaming revenue comes from 10% of the players

How much money do mobile game makers take in on their games?

Like Web Watch has told you before, Candy Crush was pulling in around $850,000 a day from just a handful of their users.

But we’ve uncovered a bit more information about how the mobile gaming financial numbers are playing out across the board when all revenues are looked at.

Mobile & Social Game Design: Monetization Methods and Mechanics, Second Edition
Mobile & Social Game Design: Monetization Methods and Mechanics, Second Edition

According to info from SWRVE:

  • If you want to make money in your new game, you’re going to earn the bulk of it during the first week the game is out there.  53% of the money earned during the first 90 days of a game’s release comes in during those first seven days.
  • Also in the first 90 days, you should expect to earn only about $0.45 per player in in-app purchases.
  • About 40% of those who pay in a game will only make one purchase.  Not a lot of repeat business there.
  • If you can’t hook players in their first day they have the game, you’re pretty much stuck. 66% of players abandon the game after the first 24 hours they downloaded it.

In other words — you need to create a payment magnet game, a time and wallet crusher – in order to get an extremely small percentage of those players who continue playing a game after those first few days to keep giving you money.

Sounds like a bit of a challenge, doesn’t it?  Not everybody can be the next Candy Crush or Flappy Birds.

But you can certainly try.  There’s money out there for you if you try hard enough.