Social-casino games made more money in August than in July, but no thanks to Facebook.
Slots, cards, and other casino video games made $212.1 million last month, according to intelligence firm SuperData Research. That’s up 8 percent from July despite the fact that Facebook is losing monthly active players as well as earnings. The increase is due to mobile’s continued growth.
Social-casino apps on smartphones and tablets generated $104.4 million during August, which is up 22 percent over the previous month. This category of games is one of the most popular on social networks and mobile-app stores, and it’s responsible for a significant portion of the $16 billion consumers spent on mobile last year.
SuperData’s full report is available on VB Insight
AI Weekly
The must-read newsletter for AI and Big Data industry written by Khari Johnson, Kyle Wiggers, and Seth Colaner.
Included with VentureBeat Insider and VentureBeat VIP memberships.
Mobile’s strong performance comes as Facebook continues to wither.
“Typically, a cyclical monthly active user dip occurs in June, July, and August,” reads SuperData’s report. “[But the PC’s current] player loss seems to be more permanent. Desktop players are abandoning social casino for mobile versions or leaving the genre all together.”
SuperData points out, however, that the players sticking around on Facebook are highly engaged. That means they’re more likely to spend money.
At the same time, developers are finding that players are also spending more money on mobile. The report specifically highlights strong performance from mobile releases Gold Fish Casino and House of Fun as examples of apps pushing overall revenue up for the month. Gold Fish generated nearly $1 million in revenue while House of Fun brought in more than $3 million, according to SuperData.
Above: Some info on tablets from SuperData.
Adding to the strength of mobile is the high demand for social-casino games on tablets. SuperData found that 86 percent of players in this category intend to buy a new tablet within the next year. Of casino and slots players with tablets, one in every four check in on their games multiple times a day. More than two-thirds are checking in at least three times per week.
Even though the average tablet owner doesn’t use the device primarily as a gaming machine, iPads and the Android slates give social-casino apps a serious performance boost.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More