Most popular gaming related apps in the U.S. 2019, by audience

In a world where people are constantly on the move and seeking new forms of entertainment to make their journeys go faster, mobile gaming is bigger than ever. In September 2019, Google Play Games was the most popular mobile gaming related app in the United States with over 18.74 million monthly users. The highest individual game on the list was Pokémon GO, which averaged 10.66 million users in the same month.

Google Play Games

Google Play Games is an online gaming service developed for Android. It allows users to develop their profiles, share their achievements, and see how they are faring on global leaderboards. Users with Google phones can also use the Google Play Store to download new gaming apps – a total of almost 30 billion downloads were carried out in the store worldwide in 2018, over three times the amount of Apple’s App Store. The leading mobile gaming app on the Google Play Store worldwide is Candy Crush Saga. The legendary puzzle game generated revenue of over 67 million U.S. dollars in January 2019. Given that the game is free to play, how has the game’s developer, King, made it into such a commercial success?

Sweet success of Candy Crush Saga

First released by King in April 2012 for Facebook, Candy Crush swiftly became a global phenomenon that took over smartphones around the world. Despite now being over seven years old, it still ranks very highly among other gaming apps based on the revenue it generates. While the game itself is free to download and play, users are offered tempting in-game purchases in the form of power-ups to help them get past particularly tricky levels. It seems that many people have relied on this help as almost one billion U.S. dollars was spent by players on the original Candy Crush Saga worldwide in 2018. Over 500 million U.S. dollars was spent on the various spin-offs of the game, leaving it in no doubt that Candy Crush has been a sweet success for King.