Status: 16.10.2021 5:08 p.m.
Not the console or the computer – the smartphone is the most popular gaming platform in Germany. One in four games on the mobile device. The games are real sales drivers.
Chop up sweets, eat fish or fiddle around with words: everything is quick, uncomplicated and completely independent of where you are on your smartphone. Student Valeria from Frankfurt also regularly plays on the mobile phone with her friend Simon. You can relax so well that you “just don’t have to think so much”. They often gamble in the evenings before bed, says Valeria. “We have a competition going on to see who can get ahead faster.”
The way they are doing it more and more – especially in the Corona year 2020. As the Game Association announced, a total of 22.6 million people in Germany used their smartphones to play games last year. The data was collected by the market research company GfK. For comparison: Over the same period 17.2 million people played on the console and 15.2 million people on the computer. At 9.9 million, there are only a comparatively few gamers on the tablet. So the smartphone is number one.
Entry into the game world
Last but not least, the pandemic is probably responsible for the increasing popularity, said Lutz Anderie. He is professor for business informatics at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and has been dealing with the games market for years. “People were at home, schools were closed, they simply had more time to play. And the smartphone is the entry console, because everyone has a smartphone today and everyone can start playing for free right away.”
Valeria and Simon also believe that the constant availability of the smartphone is part of the success. But other factors also play a role for Simon. “The consoles with the games are getting more and more expensive and the change is faster and faster. You always have an old console, not the newest one.” The variety of the app store also makes it possible to simply open an app and download ten games.
Game developer market is growing
Expert Anderie confirms that the smartphone games market is growing. The market entry barriers for new game developers are very low – even large investments are not necessary. “That means you can found such a start-up tomorrow. The question is, will you be able to achieve market penetration or a market share for your game?”
Philipp Stollenmayer succeeded in doing just that. He studied communication design in Mannheim and, as part of his studies, developed his first game app at relatively short notice and with little financial means. And that although he couldn’t even program at first. Today he and his company Karmibox offer around 20 games for download. He can now make a living from the development of smartphone games. “I actually earn the money with this game design, that’s my main job. I also do a little commissioned work for others on the side. But it’s not because of the money, but simply so that I can socialize a little.”
Revenue from in-app purchases
There are around 500,000 smartphone games, says industry expert Anderie, and “half of them can be played for free”. Unlike the classic game console, buying a game is not what companies that develop smartphone games do for a living. Instead, there are many other ways to generate revenue, said Anderie. “The most important thing is the monetization of in-game items. That means they make the game available for free. The user then buys items during the game: a faster ax, a car, a nicer weapon.” This is how you make money playing games today.
The turnover with game apps is constantly reaching new record highs: Germany’s mobile gamers spent almost 2.3 billion euros in 2020. Only very few invest in this before downloading the game. The turnover of the game apps for sale was just eleven million euros. In contrast, last year the Germans spent an incredible 2.26 billion euros on “in-app purchases” – an increase of 24 percent compared to the previous year.
Some of the games from developer Stollenmayer are chargeable, but he does not offer “in-app purchases”. In order to still make sales with the free apps, he shows advertising. “If you get stuck, you can watch a 30-second commercial either to get a hint or to skip this level. And if you can assess that correctly, then you can maximize it quite well,” he says Game developer. He now makes more money with the free apps than with the ones he offers for sale.