Google Play’s game-related revenues are growing twice as fast as iOS

Gaming continues to grow on mobile platforms, and Asia is helping Google Play outpace its main competitor.

The Android app store quadrupled its game-related revenue from the fourth quarter of 2012 to the same period in 2013, according to a report from market-intelligence firms App Annie and International Data Corporation (IDC). That’s twice the growth iOS saw, which doubled its revenues over that stretch of time. App Annie and IDC point to device adoption in Asian markets as having a key influence on the increased performance of Google Play and the App Store, which are helping both capture huge chunks of the multibillion-dollar app industry that generated more than $16 billion in spending last year.

“Total portable game spending in Asian and Pacific [nations] outpaced that of any other major global region last year,” IDC research director Lewis Ward said in a statement. “The Google Play ecosystem in particular benefited from a big regional upswing in the installed base of smartphones and tablets in 2013, but rising living standards in Asian and Pacific countries generally also buoyed game spending.”

As usual, game spending also represents the majority of revenue on both iOS and Android. In fact, games now represent three out of every four dollars spent on mobile software.

“While consumers have traditionally spent more on games versus other types of apps, more than 75 percent of combined iOS and Google Play consumer app spending in Q4 2013 came from games,” App Annie chief executive Bertrand Schmitt said. “This is a significant increase compared to Q4 2012 and a testament to the ever-growing popularity of games.”

The report also notes which games were the top-grossing apps overall for each platform in 2013 on a worldwide-basis:

iOS App Store

1. Clash of Clans (Supercell)
2. Puzzle & Dragons (GungHo)
3. Candy Crush Saga (King)

Android Google Play

1. Puzzle & Dragons (GungHo)
2. Candy Crush Saga (King)
3. Monster Taming for Kakao (CJ Group)

Supercell didn’t release Clash of Clans on Android until late September. It probably would have charted much higher had it seen a few more months of exposure on Google’s mobile operating system. Clash of Clans is currently the highest-grossing app on Android, followed by Candy Crush Saga.

The full report is available for free through App Annie, and it includes a breakdown of the above topics as well as a look into portable console gaming for Nintendo and Sony.