Juniper Research’s latest report titled Mobile & Handheld Games: Discover, Monetise, Advertise 2014-2019 found that mobile games’ total revenue in 2016 will reach $28.9 billion, a growth of over 38 per cent on the 2014 figure of $20.9 billion.

Other interesting findings include:

–   Developers are moving from bulk acquisition of unique players to focusing on increasing user lifetime value through analysing, engaging and monetising users.

–   The emphasis over the forecast period was convenience, accessibility and online streaming.

–   Latin America, Eastern Europe and South East Asia will be the regions to watch as rising disposable income accompanied by increased smartphone adoption will increase in-game purchasing revenues.

Interestingly, the report found that tablet users spend more on in-game purchases than smartphone users probably driven by the enhanced performance and graphical capabilities of tablets.  The report opines that there has been a marked migration from traditional portable gaming devices to tablet games, because of these superior capabilities.