From Q2 2019 to Q2 2023, mobile app purchases on iOS grew by 15%, and on Google Play by 25%, according to the App Annie report. At the same time, games are the largest and fastest growing category on both platforms.
More and more mobile developers are starting to use gaming tricks in other categories such as fitness and cryptocurrencies. Let’s figure out why this is happening.
Why fitness and finance app developers are using game industry tricks
Daria Sidorova
What are the advantages of gaming platforms
Own network. Mobile game developers were among the first to realize that they shouldn’t rely on off-the-shelf custom networks like Facebook and Google. They began to view applications as separate social networks and attract the social circles of the target audience.
At the same time, according to Daniil Chernakhovsky, vice president of international business development at AppLovin, the non-gaming industry has always depended on social networks. They often represented the only channel for growth.
Cooperation. Mobile developers have always partnered with a large number of brands and companies to popularize their products. And now this tactic is spreading more and more.
According to Chernakhovsky, the AppLovin study showed that the average number of partners among mobile developers is from six to nine. In the non-gaming environment, there are usually four, and in the cryptocurrency, only three, because such applications cannot often work with Facebook and Google.
A / B testing. According to Francesco Mancone, head of marketing technology at Bending Spoons, mobile game developers are “obsessed with A / B testing.” Mancone and his colleagues also used this technique when developing and optimizing their own Live Quiz gaming app and Immuni, a COVID-19 contact tracing service.
Advertising. Mobile developers bring interactivity and gamification to in-app ads like games. They strive to keep users engaged and even improve their experience with the platform.
Impact of mobile games – reasons
Over the past few years, non-gaming companies have been actively recruiting professionals from the gaming industry. This is one of the reasons why more and more gaming techniques are used in mobile applications.
It’s not just mobile developers that are poaching employees: In July, Netflix’s gaming department was taken over by Mike Verdu, the former chief executive of Zynga, an online games company.
Mobile game makers have to contend with old misconceptions about players in order to expand their user base. This is probably one of the reasons why they use more flexible and unusual techniques than other developers.
Chernakhovsky and his colleagues believe that as the definitions of “game” and “gamer” expand, the creation of mobile applications will become more streamlined and applicable to the entire industry.
“Gaming now covers various segments of the population. We are often asked about the average age of the audience and its gender ratio, – says Chernakhovsky. “But it doesn’t really matter to us, because we work on a large scale, just like the gaming industry.”
A source.
