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If you thought mobile gaming’s huge pandemic-driven gains were here to stay forever, we’ve got some bad news for you. The good times may be coming to an end. According to Newzoo, “For the first time since [we] started tracking global games market revenues, we forecast the market to decline year on year. We now estimate that the games market will generate $184.4 billion in 2022, down -4.3% year on year.” 2021 saw a 7.3% growth in mobile gaming revenue, and that was chump change in comparison to the 25.6% rise in 2020.
But a decline from meteoric heights doesn’t have to spell doom and gloom. Savvy game marketers just need to be prepared with everything from retention strategies to better user acquisition methods that bring in more high-quality users. And a plan to maximize revenue is certainly in order. Here are a few ideas to help weather this decline.
3 Ways to Grow Mobile Gaming Revenue
Make IDFV Your Friend
The deprecation of IDFA is one part of the problem when it comes to declining revenue. Many games are still struggling to master advertising on iOS in the ATT era. However, IDFV can help mobile games companies with a vast library of games continue to grow. IDFVs provide a way to run cross-promotional iOS campaigns without relying on fingerprinting. In fact, this even works for LAT traffic. If an IDFV is in the tracker URL, marketers can get more accurate attribution data for iOS campaigns.
Acquire mobile gamers with climate-driven activism
A recent report from Unity and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication took a look at gamers’ thoughts on climate change. According to its findings, not only do gamers care about climate change but they are interested in doing something to effect change. “Considering that 87% of gamers don’t take action on climate change after hearing news on the topic from a game or stream, it is a huge opportunity for mobile game studios to facilitate this taking of action, says Marion Balinoff, a performance-driven influencer marketing consultant. “In 2022, over 50 mobile studios from around the world took part in the Green Game Jam. While playing their favorite mobile games, players could take part in special events that would have a positive environmental impact. In June’s Journey, from Wooga, each time players bought a tree to decorate their island, one tree would be planted in real life. Through that single action, 200,000 trees will be planted around the globe.”
Mix up your monetization strategies (and play nice with the metaverse)
Games have a number of monetization options available. From ads to in-app purchases to advertising, there are many ways to mix and match your monetization options. There is no need to rely on just one. As competition from the metaverse heats up for mobile game companies you may even want to think about embracing this new channel for marketing and monetization. Imagine you’re a game publisher with a large portfolio of games looking to drive installs. You decide to create an arcade in the metaverse where users can play your games – and maybe even participate in a tournament. You can give winners redemption codes for in-game goods that can only be redeemed after install. It’s a lot like a playable ad combined with a rewarded ad – two of gamers’ favorite ad types.
Learn more about marketing in the metaverse.
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