The gaming industry has grown rapidly grown into a multi-billion dollar business. For more than three decades now, people have played games across all kinds of platforms. From mobile games, to console gaming or PC, we have enjoyed innumerable video games over the course of time. The demand for games and the popularity of a genre depends a lot on the particular location of the world. People in some parts like to play actions more, whereas, in a different part, they are focused on RPG.
Regardless of that, the gaming industry is now one of the most important financial spheres. In a recent study, it was found that compared to the global market, the US gaming version is quite different. The global chart of Android games is not at all the same as it is in the United.
Globally popular games like PUBG or Subway Surfers don’t make it to the most downloaded games in the US market. It is mostly based on hypercasual releases for the bigger part. The situation is also the same when it comes to the engagement chart, which measures the top 10 games by the number of weekly active users.
Yes. There have been exceptions in the last few years. Groundbreaking games like Pokemon Go, Candy Crush Saga, Call of Duty: Mobile, or even Clash of Clans, made it to the top US charts. But these are few incidents that can be easily handpicked. The overall tone of the US gaming industry is albeit very different. Are you looking for an interesting game? Then play the AFK arena and spend some amazing time.
The popularity of all the above-mentioned games, however, can be linked to a simple factor. The development team and overall process were largely based in the US even that of the Pokémon Go game. That is why experts mention that local knowledge is absolutely vital for the success of a game in the US.
It goes without saying that the global chart is usually dominated by popular titles that are overseen by the Chinese, Koreans, or Japanese. People, mostly in Europe and Asia, play games that are more or less developed by them. But, that is rarely the case in the American market.
Games like Crush Saga, Toon Blast, Gardenscapes, and Homescapes did for some time, dominate the US chart. Even then, they do not feature for more than a week. So, that is a significant difference between what the people in the US play on their mobile phones when compared to the rest of the world. Another game that topped the chart is Roblox, as it ranked at #2 in the US market. However, it did not make it to the top charts globally.
In conclusion, we can easily say that the US mobile gaming market is a lot more casual in comparison to the global market. The games that generally chart in the list, are more “mobile” and not adapted from the MOBA or FPS genre that has taken the world by storm.