The trend of the mboile game market in 2022, it will be too late if the studios do not change themselves

In 2021, when the impact of the epidemic weakens, the growth rate of the mobile game industry brought about by the “stay-at-home economy” will gradually slow down, the market rhythm will gradually stabilize. A lot has changed in the past year and here are some trends you should know in 2022 to navigate the volatile mobile game industry.

1. P2E business model will become hot in the industry

It is said that the starting point of the metaverse is the game, but in reality, the virtual and real worlds have come together, and have entered the eyes of the mainstream media in the form of games, which is P2E.

P2E, which stands for Play to Earn, is widely known in the crypto world and has grown extremely rapidly in the past year. Slightly different from NFT games, P2E can essentially provide gamers with real economic incentives. This innovative model has changed the lives of many people around the world while driving the growth of the game industry.

It is known that during the pandemic, Filipinos can use a blockchain game called [Axie Infinity] to earn about $3,000 per month (far above their normal income). In unstable economic regions like the Philippines, P2E games provide people with a reliable source of income.

For the labor market, the P2E game can not only free people from the fatigue of daily life, but also give them a reliable income to support their families. As a novel and easy employment model, P2E game has very bright prospects in less developed economic regions, and may become a prominent trend in the industry in the future.

2. Apple changes privacy, UA difficulty upgrade

The negative impact of Apple’s privacy changes on advertisers is huge. The lack of metrics from other apps and websites has greatly reduced the accuracy of ad projection and the difficulty of acquiring customers has skyrocketed. Without these metrics, advertisers would need to spend more budget to achieve the same ad performance.

This means that by 2022, advertisers will need to find other channels to make up for the lack of customer acquisition. One of the most intuitive ways is to partner with a KOL. In 2022, we could see more advertisers active on platforms like YouTube or Twitch, interacting with users to increase engagement.

The alternative is to use some advertising data analysis tool like SocialPeta to conduct in-depth analysis of advertising data of its own or competing products, to find breakthrough solutions.

3. Multinational giants enter the game field

Companies like Netflix, Snapchat, TikTok, Amazon, Google, and Apple didn’t start with games, but over the past year or so they’ve all shown their ambitions on the gaming track.

Amazon:

After the continued failure of products like [Breakawy] and [Furnace] on the market, the first MMO game in almost ten years from the Amazon games division [New world] became a hit after debut.

According to SteamDB data, the highest number of concurrent players online in [New World] on Steam exceeded 700,000 on the first day of release. This data not only sets an all-time record for Amazon games but competes with other popular Steam games like [Dota 2] [Counter-Strike: Global Offensive].

Netflix：

On November 3, 2021, Mike Verdu, Netflix’s vice president of game development, published a blog post on the official Netflix website, announcing the official launch of the gaming platform. Netflix Games by Netflix. From its previous small-scale test of the mobile games business to the synchronous launch of game services for global subscribers, Netflix is ​​slowly approaching its predecessors like Steam and Epic. .

TikTok

A report last year found that there are more than 1,000 game advertisers using TikTok worldwide. After becoming a leader in the short video industry, TikTok also plays a strong driving role among players in the global gaming market, and has become one of the most important and indispensable channels for gamers. game maker. 2K’s “NBA2K21” released the #GiftOfGame theme challenge on TikTok, with over 1.45 million related videos, over 2.5 billion total views, and over 20% player engagement…

Since online entertainment apps and community platforms like TikTok and Snapchat cover both existing and potential markets, they provide game makers with a great platform for games to develop. than. As the Internet environment is constantly changing, there may be more developments in the future for game developers.

4. Metaverse: It will take a while

Since Facebook changed its name to Meta, the “flame” of the metaverse has flared up even more. However, judging from the first financial report after the name change, the situation does not seem to be very positive. Shares of Meta fell 26% amid sluggish user growth and lower-than-expected revenue. And the division, which specializes in metaverse and research into VR/AR technology and products, also lost nearly $10.2 billion in operations.

The situation for Roblox, “the metaverse’s first virtual universe”, is also not very optimistic. The company’s Q4 2021 financial report shows the company’s losses growing, and the share price fell 26.51% on the day the financial report was released…

Objectively, investors’ patience is limited, Metaverse’s maturation takes more time, of course, blindly following the trend will be risky. Currently Metaverse is still in the exploratory stage and relies heavily on blockchain technology, in such an environment founders need to calm down and research the technology, this is the best option to make Metaverse a reality.

5. Gametech helps the industry upgrade

Upgrading the gaming industry is inseparable from Gametech upgrading, by using the services and tools of this program, mobile game developers can easily manage and upgrade their products. more game products.

● With the technical improvement of development tools like Unity and Unreal, developers will be able to put more development inspiration into practice and we could see more groundbreaking game products in the future. future.

● The future hyper-digital scene may become the online context of human social life in the future. While the Metaverse still needs time to mull over, with current technology it is possible to experience digital cultural consumption including film and television, music, animation, live broadcasts, concerts, and more. etc. in the game in 2022. For other life services such as shopping, cultural tourism, education, etc. will also be deeply integrated with the game in the near future.

● As UA becomes tougher, ad analytics product will be upgraded again in 2022. Advertising data marketing tools like SocialPeta will bring convenient data insights functions more convenient for advertisers to help game developers get clearer competitive data, optimize their own ads, and reduce the difficulty of attracting customers.

6. Mergers and acquisitions can exceed expectations

The competition in the rapidly changing market, whether it is the impact of the general environment or the competition in the industry, is all stimulating companies to further improve their technology. The emergence of more and more startups also provides new nutrition to the market, some of which will have the opportunity to obtain investment capital and venture capital, expected until 2022. , the trend of mergers and acquisitions will be more exciting.

Last words

In 2022, epidemic prevention has become a permanent state, people’s entertainment and content needs of game products will continue to increase, as well as social dependence and emotional links. the emotions they create. In the future, mobile games may take on even more social attributes. Games-related technologies are constantly being replaced, and the future mobile game market size will be larger and larger. Only by understanding industry trends and keeping up with large teams can developers capture more opportunities.