The "2024 TikTok Mobile Gaming White Paper" is jointly written by TikTok and the National Research Group. The white paper points out that the mobile gaming sector is undergoing significant transformation, presenting the following key content:
1. Current State of the Mobile Gaming Market
- Revenue and Number of Players
- Although total mobile gaming revenue may decline from its pandemic peak due to inflation and the cost-of-living crisis leading consumers to reduce in-app purchases, it remains the most profitable segment of the gaming industry, accounting for more than half of global gaming expenditure.
- The number of mobile players in 2024 is expected to exceed 2 billion, with significant growth in Asia and Latin America.
- Emergence of New Types of Players
- Modern players play games for at least 7 hours per week. They are young and have a significant influence on gaming culture. Their characteristics include seeking immersive, social, and innovative experiences, focusing on self-expression, having a strong desire for social interaction, high brand loyalty, and being early adopters of new games and platforms.
2. Challenges Brought by Market Changes
- Fierce Competition for User Acquisition
- The market is crowded, making it difficult to attract and retain high-value players.
- Changes in the mobile ecosystem, such as Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy, make it harder for marketers to accurately target and retarget players, forcing publishers to completely overhaul their user acquisition strategies.
3. Three Core Pillars of Mobile Gaming Success
- Cultural Relevance
- Games need to keep up with trends, leverage online trends to attract younger audiences, and connect with popular culture on social media. For example, Merge Mansion successfully attracted modern players through unique advertising and celebrity collaborations.
- Building Connections with Players
- The new generation of players desires deeper connections with publishers. Publishers need to focus on building meaningful relationships, such as RAID: Shadow Legends establishing trust with players through various marketing methods.
- Existing IPs help build connections, but original brands can also succeed, such as Candy Crush.
- Community Building
- Communities are built by fostering a sense of group identity and shared ownership among players, such as Episode attracting players through its content creation platform.
- Games with community features have advantages in player acquisition and retention. Modern players are also more likely to discover new games on community platforms, with TikTok being one of the most important platforms.
