Newzoo: The mobile games market in Saudi Arabia will earn $520 million by the end of 2021. Less than a year ago

The analytical company Newzoo has published an analysis of the mobile market of Saudi Arabia. It contains the gaming demographics of the country, the payment habits of local gamers and the most popular genres.

The overall picture:

• Last year, against the background of the pandemic, the entire Saudi Arabian gaming market (PC, console and mobile) grew by 41.1% at once compared to 2019. Then he earned over a billion dollars. This year, its revenue will fall to $946 million.;
• mobile is the most popular platform in the country. According to Newzoo’s forecast, gamers will spend $520 million on mobile games alone in 2021. This is also less than a year ago, but analysts did not specify how much;
• despite the downturn, Newzoo is confident that the situation will not worsen and the Saudi Arabian market will continue to grow in the future;
• analysts associated the popularity of mobile games with two things: the availability of smartphones (58% of the population use them) and the presence of many free-play titles in stores.

Demographics:

• Just under 21 million mobile gamers live in Saudi Arabia. 58% of them are men;
• the majority of players (41%) are 25-31 years old. Another 34% of gamers are aged 36-50 years, and 25% are aged 10-20 years.

Player expenses:

• gamers in Saudi Arabia don’t mind spending money in mobile games. According to Newzoo estimates, 59% of them will do it this year;
• there are the most “dolphins” among mobile gamers — 34% of people are ready to leave average amounts in games. There are also a lot of “minnows” in the country — those who spend relatively little in titles. There were 17% of them. Generous “whales” — 8%;
• among the most popular purchases over the past six months, analysts identified: in-game currency (34%), game characters (33%) and battle passes (31%).

Genres and preferences:

• puzzles were the most attractive mobile genre for Saudis. 31% of local gamers have played in them over the past six months. In addition, more than a third of respondents indicated that they generally like it when there are puzzle elements in games, regardless of genre;
• also in Saudi Arabia they like to play shooters, strategies and battle royales;
• in the titles, the Saudis especially appreciate the fantasy setting and sci-fi motifs.