Today, AppsFlyer, a global marketing measurement and experience management platform, officially released its first sub-brand "AppsFlyer for games" in Greater China. This sub-brand aims to provide one-stop support for game marketing measurement, thereby helping game studios and focusing on game cooperation Partners, etc. to better attract high-value players, improve their retention rate, optimize user lifetime value (LTV) and effectively use marketing budget.
During ChinaJoy in 2023, AppsFlyer released the "2023 China Game App Driving Force Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The report studied about 17,000 Chinese overseas apps and more than 240 apps from January 2022 to June 2023. A total of 100 million installations, revealing the basic context of Chinese games going overseas during this period.
Released the sub-brand "AppsFlyerforgames: Super Engine of the Game Field" to help the game industry to measure the effect and keep improving
As the world's largest entertainment industry, the game industry is still in a fast-growing channel. At present, multi-device and cross-device game experiences are becoming popular around the world. 62% of gamers choose to experience games on multiple platforms. The income sources of the global game industry are diversified and decentralized, and the income comes from multiple platforms. It is estimated that by 2025, the total revenue of the global game market will reach 268 billion US dollars. AppsFlyer enjoys a 56% market share among global game developers and is the largest marketing effectiveness measurement platform in the gaming industry.
It is precisely based on the good development prospects of the global game industry and AppsFlyer's irreplaceable leadership in the measurement of the marketing effect of the game industry, 12 years after its establishment, AppsFlyer released its first sub-brand "AppsFlyer for games: the super engine of the game field", aiming at In game studios that specialize in mobile-first, PC/host-first, and game-focused partners, such as game platforms, advertising platforms, solution providers, etc., to help game developers continue to attract high-value players and increase retention rates , optimize the user lifetime value (LTV), and let the marketing budget play an effective value.
In the future, AppsFlyer for games will provide a comprehensive and systematic game growth plan to help game developers attract new players, measure marketing effects across platforms and channels, and provide the most cutting-edge data insight trends in the industry, empowering game developers to do more Make better decisions and achieve business goals. In addition, an interconnected game ecological center will be built for game developers to learn from each other and create a win-win situation.
The "2023 China Game App Driving Force Report" is released, outlining the current situation and future of games going overseas
While releasing the sub-brand "AppsFlyer for games", AppsFlyer also released the "2023 China Game App Driving Force Report" during ChinaJoy2023, which includes the trend of total installations of Chinese games going overseas, regional distribution and trend, performance of superior categories, The disclosure of industry cheating and other dimensions outline the current situation and future of Chinese games going overseas.
• Games are leading the way, accounting for 64.9% of the total
The report shows that, as the most representative industry in China's overseas expansion, game overseas will still maintain an absolute leading industry position from 2020 to 2023. In the past four years, the share of games in various APPs overseas has remained stable, reaching 64.9%. From the perspective of the overall installation volume, due to the impact of the global economic downturn, the overseas installation volume of various types of game apps in China showed a trend of rising first and then declining. Both Android and iOS installations will show a downward trend after reaching their peak in the third quarter of 2022. From the first quarter to the second quarter of 2023, they will decrease by 17.78% and 25.2% month-on-month respectively, but the game market outlook is still promising.
• Southeast Asia has been the number one overseas destination for a long time, and Latin America is growing rapidly
In the trend of rising first and then falling, the Southeast Asian market has stepped out of a steadily rising curve. In the past four years, relying on similar cultural backgrounds and superior geographical locations, Southeast Asia has firmly taken the top spot as the overseas destination for Chinese mobile games, increasing from 17.05% in 2020 to 24.42% in 2023, an increase of 43.2% , this steady upward trend is expected to continue.
In recent years, Latin America has gradually become a representative area of emerging destinations for overseas travel. From 2020 to 2023, the share of going overseas will increase by 21.9% year-on-year, firmly occupying the runner-up position. After 4 years, the third position has shifted from the traditional North American market to the Indian peninsula. In addition, although the relative proportion of the African market is currently the smallest, it has maintained a steady and small growth in the past four years, and it can be said that it is in a stage of development.
• Some game categories have begun to "surge"
At the end of 2022, with the adjustment of relevant policies, many major game categories will show a wave of rapid growth from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023. On the iOS side, moderate games and social casino games rose by 81% and 17.45% respectively; on the Android side, casual games also showed a similar trend, up 27% year-on-year. After the "hurricane", it gradually stabilized, and there will be varying degrees of decline in Q1-Q2 in 2023.
• The CPI of the mobile game industry as a whole has shown a downward trend, and the competition in leisure gaming is still fierce
After experiencing a period of rapid growth, the CPI of the mobile game industry has finally begun to fall. In the past year and a half, the CPI of hardcore games on the Android side fell by 37.9% year-on-year; similarly, ultra-casual games also fell by 45.5% during the same period. The decline in CPI did not bring about an increase in customer acquisition costs. On the contrary, in the past 18 months, the cost of acquiring customers for ultra-casual games has shown a rapid decline, with a year-on-year decrease of 67.7% and 58.2% on the Android and iOS sides, which shows that advertisers have become more cautious about ultra-casual marketing. But the CPI of gaming and casual games increased by 33.8% and 16.9% respectively in the first half of this year. As a popular category of mobile games for Chinese advertisers to go overseas this year, gambling games are already caught in the "red sea" of competition.
• Significant increases in cheating rates across most game categories
Game cheating is a "stubborn disease" in the industry. In almost all game categories, cheating has shown an upward trend in the past year and a half, and it has shown a rapid upward trend at a certain stage.
Taking moderate games as an example, from the third quarter of 2022 to the second quarter of 2023, the game cheating rate on the iOS side soared by 1374% year-on-year; taking casual games as an example, from the second quarter of 2022 to the second quarter of 2023, The cheating rate of the game has doubled by 13 times on Android and iOS, which is amazing. The report suggests that advertisers should actively use products such as Protect360 to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on the iOS side, to ensure their best interests are maintained, and to eliminate cheating in cooperation.
Looking forward to the future prospects of domestic game apps going overseas, Wang Wei, general manager of AppsFlyer Greater China, said: "Games going overseas may become the mainstay of APP going overseas for a long time, and with the steady growth of China's economy and markets with demographic dividends such as Southeast Asia and Latin America, Continued growth, going overseas is becoming more and more a must. AppsFlyer takes accurate effect measurement as its foundation, and on the basis of long-term professional assistance to game developers going overseas, the sub-brand 'AppsFlyer for games' released for the game industry will make games The industry's effect measurement and strategic response are on the road of excellence."
For more insights on going overseas, and to browse the full text of the "2023 Report on Driving Forces of Chinese Game Apps Going Overseas", please visit:
