App Store: Which genres were the most popular in 2014?
The New Year is getting closer, which means it’s time to sum up. The Gamasutra resource shared with readers exactly which genres were leading in the App Store in the outgoing year.
Which iOS games are most often found in the App Store? How do the top charts differ from country to country? Statistics reflect exactly how many games in a particular genre are present in the store, so you can understand which games are most popular among developers.
The top 10 genres for Russia look like this:
- Puzzles
- Educational Games
- Family games
- Adventure games
- Arcades
- Action games
- Card battles
- Strategies
- Simulators
- Word Games
In England , the seats were distributed as follows:
- Puzzles
- Arcades
- Action games
- Family games
- Educational Games
- Adventure games
- Strategies
- Card battles
- Simulators
- Quizzes
The same list for China:
- Puzzles
- Family games
- Action games
- Educational Games
- Arcades
- Strategies
- Adventure games
- Card battles
- Quizzes
- Cards
The top 10 in the Japanese and Korean App Store look the same as in English, except that they contain RPGs, but quizzes do not.
Puzzle is the most popular genre in the world Puzzles are leading the world charts by a large margin.
They are in first place in the top 10 of all countries except the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic and Sweden (educational games top the list there). In any case, puzzles are among the top three.
Family and educational games are among the top five most popular. Arcades are also in the top 5. This ratio persists everywhere except Poland and Japan (where arcades are in 6th place), as well as Denmark and Greece (7th place). In Arab countries, arcades occupy the 10th place, and in the Czech Republic – the 9th.
What about stereotypes?Is it possible to say that in certain parts of the world some games are more popular than others?
The opinion that RPGs are more popular in eastern countries has a basis. In England, RPG is on the 16th place, in France and Russia – on the 13th, in Germany – on the 14th. While in Japan – on the 9th, on the 10th – in Korea and Thailand and on the 11th – in China.
Maps are not particularly popular in Europe: they are not included in the top 10 most popular genres neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in France, nor in Italy or Germany. The Czech Republic is breaking out of the general system again: there are maps in 5th place.
Who is in the last places? At the tail of the list all over the world are dice games and music. Racing and casinos are popular in England (11th and 12th place) and Vietnam (10th and 12th place), in the rest of the world they are in the top four of the list of 20 genres.
Let’s summarize the resultsThe above statistics rather show what exactly the efforts of developers in different countries are focused on, rather than which genres are the most popular among users.
The most common games in the store are not necessarily the most profitable. For example, from last year’s report by Distimo, it is clear that in the first place in terms of revenue in the App Store are titles in the genre of RPG, strategy and action games. Simulators and adventure games complete the list.
It can be stated with certainty that different genres are popular in different parts of the world. Comparative statistics can help determine in which country it is more profitable to launch your project. However, it is important not to forget that there is no direct correlation between the number of games in the store and their popularity.
Other materials on the topic:The present and future of the mobile market
