Google Play now makes more in gaming revenue than Nintendo or Sony

posted by Michael H. / Aug 22, 2013, 5:36 PM

Google Play now makes more in gaming revenue than Nintendo or Sony

We've seen a couple of reports recently that show the Google Play Store growing very quickly in terms of revenue; and the newest report from App Annie says that Google Play's gaming revenue has finally surpassed the combined revenue of the Nintendo DS and Sony PS Vita. Of course, Google is still well behind Apple in this race. In fact, Google, Nintendo, and Sony combined couldn't match the App Store games revenue.

The data reiterates the fact that both Google Play and Apple's App Store rely heavily on games for revenue. While games make up about 40% of downloads in each store, Google Play generates about 80% of its revenue from games, and Apple's App Store earns just under 75% of its revenue from games.

As far as actual revenue, the data doesn't offer actual numbers, just comparisons to what Apple's App Store earned in Q2 of 2012. For Q2 2013, the App Store earned about 20% more year-on-year, while Google Play earned a bit over half of what Apple did last year. Apple still has a fairly good spread of revenue with Asia-Pacific and North America leading the way, and Western Europe tossing in a bit. Google Play is still seeing most of its gaming revenue coming from Asia-Pacific, specifically South Korea and Japan.

source: App Annie

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22 Comments

1. fanboy1974

Posts: 1345; Member since: Nov 12, 2011

I wish Sony would have just added Android to the Vita's hardware and keep it up to date on a yearly basis like smartphones. That would have been much better than the Nvidia Shield. And yes, I know Sony had that playstation phone. That phone was crap from the start.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 5:41 PM 8

4. buccob

Posts: 2980; Member since: Jun 19, 2012

Even though I never had a PSP and my mobile gaming is within my phone... I completely agree with you... It would have been a killer move to do a PSP with android built-in... and in the near future with the current convergence strategy (camera phones, tablet phones, etc) it would make sense to do a proper PSP Xperia Phone...

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 5:53 PM 4

9. Shatter

Posts: 2036; Member since: May 29, 2013

They would get much better sales.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 8:58 PM 0

15. buccob

Posts: 2980; Member since: Jun 19, 2012

Yeah specially when timing is the most critical point in smartphone manufacturing world... (and luck)... when it comes to niche products that want to become mainstream For example Motorola Atrix 4G was the first Smartphone/Laptop crossover... But hardware and software (2.2, 2.3) at the time sucked for such potential... Asus made the PadFone, a more logical step... but with EurAsia avaiability only... and an extremely high price Sony Ericsson made their Xperia Play... but also with huge hardware limitations... and little games advantages... And one would say it was popular enough to make people aware of itself... but overall a dissapointment Now, if they were to make those devices today, with high end specs, and fixing their old shortcomings... I am not saying they would become popular... (because 1st impression is important) but they would have an incredibly better chance to survive, if done right... The market today is flooded with Phablet, the trend is leaning towars camera phones... BUT there is still room for the devices I just mentioned if they are donde properly... There are no alternative to a Phone/Laptop... or Phone/Tablet and a Phone/PSP yet...

posted on Aug 23, 2013, 8:35 AM 0

11. renz4

Posts: 319; Member since: Aug 10, 2013

Updating the internal hardware on on frequent basis is going to go against the very foundation of the console business itself. Of course we see updated version from time to time but normally that's only limited to memory amount or storage capacity or using much cheaper component.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 10:44 PM 0

12. E.N.

Posts: 2610; Member since: Jan 25, 2009

It seems like the common solution to everything nowadays is to just thrown on Android OS. Adding Android to the Vita accomplishes absolutely nothing...The reason App Store and the Play Store have more revenue has to do with the simple fact that pretty much everyone already has a smartphone and therefore buying a game isn't too difficult. The games for the PS Vita (and even DS) are already tons better than what's available in the Play Store. Are more people going to buy the Vita because now they can play Cut the Rope both on their smartphone and on their gaming system? Or maybe sales will increase because they can customize their Vita so it can match the homescreens of their phones. The real problem here is the price tag. Most people would choose to play a simple game to keep them busy and only spend an extra $.99 to $3.99 versus paying $199 for the Vita and then $14.99 to $39.99 for every high-quality game afterwards.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 10:51 PM 0

14. juandante

Posts: 679; Member since: Apr 23, 2013

I stopped reading to the second "Play Store". The reality is Android is an Open OS, and if Sony threw Android on their Vita this doesn't mean in anyway that their games have to be Java-emulated and exclusively online Play Store depended. As an Android device, they can use the exact same DRM based system and native game support (as on the current Vita and all other old PSP), and in consequence, in addition of having UMD games (I don't know witch material Vita games use), they will have Android games and all other Android ecosystem of now. Throwing Android on the Vita is just a win-win situation. The only effort Sony have to make is to push the developers to use the native language and to make them confident enough on the quality of the DRM chip the "Vita Android" would be using for those other devs to program HQ games like Uncharted without worrying about hack.

posted on Aug 23, 2013, 6:19 AM 1

16. E.N.

Posts: 2610; Member since: Jan 25, 2009

Throwing Android on the Vita does nothing for it. There have been many Android powered devices (non-smartphone/tablet) that have been released and haven't done well. This is probably because people don't care to have Android on all their devices. Having Android is not going to increase the quality of gaming on the Vita end of story. Most of the games are extremely basic and a lot of developers don't really spend time making sure the graphics and game itself works well on Android smartphones... and then you have to worry about skins, updates, smoothness/lagginess, compatability with applications....talk about a decrease in perceived value of PS Vita. Why don't we just throw Android onto the PS3 and Xbox while we're at it?

posted on Aug 23, 2013, 10:27 AM 0

22. buccob

Posts: 2980; Member since: Jun 19, 2012

Having Android does not increase the quality of gaming, but it allows you to have a wider range of options...

posted on Aug 25, 2013, 1:58 AM 0

17. renz4

Posts: 319; Member since: Aug 10, 2013

well after the mess with ps3 and linux i don't know if it will be sony interest to allow android to run on vita

posted on Aug 23, 2013, 11:11 AM 0

20. madpiyal

Posts: 108; Member since: Feb 11, 2013

I think putting Android in PS Vita will be a huge mistake. Because the original game developer will lose to the popular android based game. Which u n I both know will be a degradation in gaming quality. Eventually we the gamer will lose and have to make do with crappy and boring android games. And there is another big fact in android which is fragmentation which will one day or another catch PS Vita(android). And with every version of android will come lot of issues. Not only that the lagging issue of Android will make the user experience worse. And lastly people will think why bother to buy a Vita when all the big titles can also be played in their own mobile phone. That will destroy PSP from the earth.

posted on Aug 23, 2013, 1:44 PM 0

21. renz4

Posts: 319; Member since: Aug 10, 2013

that's what i'm thinking as well. with android on board the original developer of ps vita have to compete with android developer that use to make free and cheap games. to compete with android game developer vita might take similar approach with what android dev has been doing: IAP. that or drop the platform altogether.

posted on Aug 24, 2013, 2:01 PM 0

2. Atlas

Posts: 158; Member since: Apr 15, 2012

Well its kind of expected because the iOS and Play store are in wider use and easier to access because you can buy just about any phone with Android whereas you have to buy the Vita or 3DS with its proprietary software.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 5:45 PM 0

3. XperiaFanZone

Posts: 2280; Member since: Sep 21, 2012

Of course there'd be more App Store revenues due to apps costing more than the apps in Google Play.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 5:50 PM 0

5. Blazers

Posts: 766; Member since: Dec 05, 2011

They should make up for that in ad revenue. And all the major games are the same price on Google Play as they are in the App Store.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 6:18 PM 0

6. Mxyzptlk unregistered

Revenue in ads maybe but not by volume of games purchased.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 6:33 PM 0

18. MichaelHeller

Posts: 2734; Member since: May 26, 2011

Ad revenue is not taken into account in this data

posted on Aug 23, 2013, 11:18 AM 0

7. Blazers

Posts: 766; Member since: Dec 05, 2011

Just a guess, but perhaps iOS users also make more in-app purchases. The bulk of games in the App Store, are freemium, not paid. Even the paid games offer in-app purchases.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 6:42 PM 1

10. Shatter

Posts: 2036; Member since: May 29, 2013

If a paid game has inapp purchases the developers are a bunch of greedy POS.

posted on Aug 22, 2013, 8:59 PM 2

8. Jklaz

Posts: 159; Member since: Jul 01, 2013

Seriously though gaming on phones is so dumb compared to console gaming. I get that the comparison is between handheld gaming and phones, but even then I would rather have a solid PSP in my hand playing top notch titles instead of the app games that get boring after 10 min. I never get the fascination with playing games on phones. Minecraft is the only thing that can keep me relatively interested