An Outlook of the State of the MENA Mobile Gaming Market in H1 2024

As someone who has been following the mobile gaming industry with a keen eye for quite some time now, I must say that the MENA Mobile Gaming Market report for H1 2024 is nothing short of intriguing! It’s fascinating to see how different regions within the global market are performing, and this report sheds light on the trends in the MENA region.

The ever-changing landscape of the mobile gaming industry is both captivating and demanding to stay informed about. Various reports offer valuable insights into the current state of the market, including game performance and industry transformations. Recently, I delved into the performance of the Global Mobile Gaming Market in H1 2024; this time, however, our attention turns towards the MENA region. Here, we’ll explore trends within the app market, examine highs and lows, and delve deeper into other aspects.

MENA Mobile Gaming Market in H1 2024

The report titled “MENA Mobile Gaming Market Insights for the First Half of 2024,” compiled from data presented in Apptica’s “Focus on MENA” study in partnership with Medialinks, highlights significant patterns in downloads, earnings, and advertising within the region. Countries such as Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran were examined closely, although it should be noted that data for Iran, especially iOS statistics, was rather scarce.

In the MENA region, the figures demonstrate that the gaming sector experienced a substantial year-over-year (YoY) expansion. This growth was evident through a 11% rise in revenue and a 6% surge in downloads. On a global scale, as indicated in the worldwide report, we observed a 5.8% boost in downloads and a 2.8% uptick in revenue from H2, 2023. Remarkably, the MENA region’s growth in both metrics was nearly twice as high as the global average.

Category-wise report for downloads and revenue

In summary, it turns out that among mobile gamers in the Middle East and North Africa region, casual games held the top spot on the App Store, whereas simulation games reigned supreme on Google Play. Interestingly enough, though, the categories themselves were comparable; they simply differed in terms of their distribution and position within each respective platform.

As a gamer in MENA, I’ve noticed some interesting trends in app downloads across iOS and Android platforms. On iOS, my top picks are Casual games (19.25%), Action games (15.42%), and Simulation games (14.43%). Interestingly, on Android it’s a bit different; Casual games still reign supreme with 15.37%, but they’re closely followed by Simulation games (13.77%) and Action games (13%). When it comes to total downloads across all applications, Egypt takes the lead with an impressive 3.2 billion, while UAE has the least number of downloads.

According to revenue trends, the same categories are made into the list. iOS users in the MENA region contributed the most to Action (20.22%), Strategy (13.94%), and Casual (11.52%) games, which were the top-grossing categories. On Google Play, Strategy games made the most money (22.46%), followed by Action (16.28%) and RPG (15.13%) in third, replacing the simulation genre.

An Outlook of the State of the MENA Mobile Gaming Market in H1 2024

It’s worth mentioning that gaming apps on iOS accounted for approximately 20.9% of the total income, compared to Android apps which brought in an impressive 58.6%. To add, Egypt emerged as the top-earning country on Google Play, raking in about $166 million, primarily from Role-Playing Games (RPG), Action, and Strategy apps. Conversely, Kuwait recorded the least revenue at around $122.5 million.

The advertising trend leans towards video ads

In the MENA region, video ads accounted for approximately 74.19% of the total advertising budget, a trend mirroring what we observed globally. Trailing behind were banner ads and playables, accounting for around 18.23% and 7.59%, respectively.

An Outlook of the State of the MENA Mobile Gaming Market in H1 2024

The report also mentions that the share of playable creatives is growing, as marketers are trying out different formats in an attempt to boost user acquisition. Games also accounted for the majority of advertising traffic on Google Play and the App Store, with 74.7% and 73.38%, compared to the apps.

Boasting a dominant 95% market share, it’s clear that Google Ad Manager stands as the foremost user acquisition strategy for both gaming and non-gaming apps. Notably, Google DV, along with Teads AD Manager, Criteo, and Amazon Ads, were found to be the most frequently utilized platforms when launching campaigns.

2024-09-02 11:11