The Latin American mobile games market shall generate US$3.5 billion in consumer spending revenue in 2021, a 13% increase from last year’s US$3.1 bi. That’s what a recent Newzoo report, made in partnership with Google, shows. It also projects the market to reach US$5.1 bi by the end of 2024.
The mobile games market in Latin America is the fastest growing revenue segment, with a projected growth of 121% between 2019 and 2024. By the end of this year, it will already account for 48% of the games market revenue in the region, with 58% of its online population (273.4 million people) playing mobile games. Brazil is the largest by both players and revenue, with 88.4 mi players generating over US$ 1 bi this year, and it’s followed by Mexico (which will generate just under US$ 900 mi), Argentina and Colombia.
Mobile Market Making Games More Accessible for Latin Americans
When trying to explain the abnormal growth of the Latin American mobile games market, one word is key: accessibility. Sadly, Latin America is still pretty underdeveloped when compared to Europe and the USA, and with PC and console prices being among the highest in the world due to import taxes, many gamers see mobile games as their only way of playing. This, of course, due to smartphones being needed for everything nowadays, together with the fact that a low end smartphone is way more affordable for those with lower incomes, making it much more common for people to have them. By the end of 2021, there will be 351.9 mi smartphone users in Latin America, with a projection of reaching 400 mi in 2023.
Furthermore, internet penetration is rising more than ever in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile, leading to a democratization of internet access. 5G implementation is also starting, and it’s due to be accessible by most of the region during the next 5 years. By the end of this year, almost 20 mi smartphones will already have 5G enabled, which shall increase fivefold until the end of 2023. All of this contributes to the development of mobile gaming, since these games are usually online only, and also improves downloads and multiplayer games. The largest Latin American markets like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina shall definitely see improvements in competitive mobile esports.
Latin American Mobile Games Market Data Show Potential Opportunities
After understanding why Latin Americans are so drawn to mobile games, one might think that they wouldn’t spend much on the games. However, that’s just not how it is. Mobile is the gaming segment in which Latin Americans spend the most, and almost half of the players spend. The payer to player proportion keeps increasing, just like the market. In terms of countries, Mexicans spend proportionally more than Brazilians, even if the total amount spent in Brazil is higher.
Regarding app stores, the most used in the region is Google Play, accounting for more than 68% of app-store revenues in 2021, while the iOS app store makes up 29.9%, and others only 1.5%. The reasoning for this is already pretty obvious: Android devices, which usually have Google Play as their main store, include more options in terms of hardware, like cheaper low end devices that are more accessible. Furthermore, even when talking about Android devices with similar specifications to iPhones, the former are still cheaper.
Concerning the type of games, 35% of the players played a strategy game in the last 6 months, followed by 32% that played shooters and 30% that played racing games. The top 5 highest grossing genres in June 2021 were Battle Royale, Strategy, Puzzle, Shooter and Adventure. When talking about themes, 47% of the players prefer sci-fi and 43% fantasy. Brazil likes contemporary games more than the average of the rest of Latin America, while Mexicans are the ones who like sci-fi the most. 30% of the players consider the most important mechanic to be exploration and open worlds, while 29% believe it is a strong narrative.
In the matter of streaming, mobile games also have found their place. Although Brazil is a continental country with many differing characteristics among its people, its players have similar live-stream-watching habits, with NimoTV and Booyah being the lead platforms for mobile games streams, mainly focused on Garena Free Fire and Mobile Legends. These platforms are not as popular in the rest of Latin America though, with Spanish speakers preferring Youtube and Twitch. They also watch more streamers from Spain, which represents an opportunity for the development of Latin-America-focused mobile games streaming, since the people of the region tend to like those who understand their culture better. It isn’t a surprise that viewership in Portuguese and Spanish is the fastest growing on Twitch.
Changing the subject to demographics, the average mobile player is not that different from the general gamer, being more likely to be male, between 21 and 35 years old, with high income. However, the split between male and female players is much closer than in other segments, being almost 50:50. In Brazil, this paradigm shift is more intense, because female mobile players are actually the majority.
Latin America also cares more for competitive and midcore (a more complex type than casual, but not as much as hardcore/competitive) mobile games, while more developed countries usually prefer casual games on their phones. This, again, has to do with accessibility, since in these places competitive games are usually played on expensive PCs, to which Latin Americans don’t typically have access.
The Latin American mobile esports scene is also growing and will generate US$ 47.5 mi this year, 16% more than last year, with an audience of 43.8 mi. With titles like Garena Free Fire, Arena of Valor and Mobile Legends being popular across playing, viewing and esports, anyone can see how strong the Latin American mobile games market is becoming, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.
By Lucas Savicki
Source: Newzoo
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