Game downloads increase by nearly 1 bn in India in Q2

San Francisco: Global player spending in mobile games increased by 27 per cent year-over-year in the second quarter of this year to $19.3 billion even as game downloads in India increased by nearly one billion during the quarter, said a report by analytics firm Sensor Tower.

From 1.8 billion game downloads in Q1, the figure rose by 50 per cent to 2.7 billion in India in Q2, the data showed.

Besides India, the other two top countries for downloads were the US and Brazil.

Compared to the massive downloads generated in the last two quarters in India, the US accumulated more than 1.4 billion in both quarters.

Brazil generated close to 1.1 billion installs in the first quarter of this year, with downloads surging nine per cent to 1.2 billion in the second quarter, Sensor Tower data showed.

The peak for the revenue was in May this year, which generated $6.6 billion, registering a rise of 21.5 per cent year-on-year.

Titles such as Roblox from Roblox Corporation and Fortnite from Epic Games experienced a surge in popularity on mobile amid Covid-19.

Globally, PUBG Mobile from Tencent was the highest-grossing game during Q2 2020, generating close to $621 million in the quarter.

That was down eight per cent from Q1 2020, when it generated $674.5 million.

Fortnite was one of the top-grossing games on the App Store globally in Q2, with player spending rising 110.7 per cent quarter-over-quarter to $146.5 million.

Pokemon GO from Niantic also saw a major revenue boost in Q2, rising 32.7 per cent quarter-over-quarter to more than $254 million in the quarter.

In terms of revenue generation, the US ranked No. 1 in the first half of 2020, followed by Japan and China, said the report.