The monthly active users (MAU) of Chinese mobile gaming industry surged 4.5 times year-over-year as of August 2013, according to a report jointly released by Chinese mobile analytics and service provider Umeng and digital entertainment expo ChinaJoy.
The growth speed is faster than the growth rate for Chinese mobile devices, which totaled 590 million as of the third quarter of 2013.
The report added that adventure games, causal games, chess and card games, sport games and strategic games took the top five spots in terms of growth of daily engagement times. Users are spending more time on soft-core games, with more than 42.1% of gamers choose casual games as their top options. The five most popular game categories in terms of time engagement are puzzle, action, chess and card, casual and sport games.
Top 5 Game Categories in Terms of Growth Rate for Daily Engagement Times
(2012-2013)
Data source: Umeng
iPad users spend an average 6.7 minutes on games per time, higher than 5.1 minutes for iPhone and 5.8 minutes for Android devices. In addition, the daily gaming time for iPad users is 17% higher than that for iPhone players.
According to Umeng’s data for September 2013, the 1-Day and 7-Day retention rates for WeChat games that are shared by friends are 32% and 10.5%, respectively, higher than the retention rates for standalone game apps. Mobile games that have social networking features can attract more active users, citing the report.
image credit: Umeng