Since its inception in 2008, revenues from App store of iOS, in its division between those created by games and other types of applications, the classification had always been led by the first. Whether with more or less difference, but in general users seemed more inclined to take out the wallet with games than with the rest of the types of applications that, from day one, we could find in the Apple store for the iPhone.
At this point, yes, it’s important to clarify that when I talk about revenue, I’m obviously not just referring to the purchase price of the app or game, tIn-app transactions and subscriptions of all kinds are also includedtwo areas in which the smartphone video game industry has been able to exploit much better, and for a long time, the new monetization models which, unfortunately (at least in my opinion) are gradually imposing themselves in the software world, as well as in other sectors.
Although the app market is very dynamic, trends can be identified over time. In this case, we’ve seen for some time how revenue from apps approximates to revenue from games and, depending on the SensorTower Boardduring the second quarter of 2022, the change was made official, as it the first quarter in which revenue from apps exceeded revenue from games on the US App Store.
Does this data only apply to the United States? At least on first analysis, this does not appear to be the case. Although Apple does not provide these types of numbers, let alone separate by local markets, what happens with the App Store is usually quickly transferable to other local App Store instanceswe can therefore deduce that the situation in Europe may not be identical, but it is quite similar, with the same evolution of the market.
A quick read from this data is that users are becoming more interested in apps, and that might sound like a positive. However, and given the software market trends I was talking about earlier, the conclusion points in a very different direction and that, unfortunately, seems to be the one that really explains it. And it is that app developers learn from game developers.
Just take a look at App Store apps to see that in-app purchases have proliferated in apps like mushrooms in a pine forest after a rainy day. Purchases which can be micro transactions to unlock features (such as free versions which offer the jump to the “pro” version) or subscriptions to use the application for a certain period of time. The cheating and greedy implementation that we have seen for a long time on PC.
So we’re moving towards a pay-as-you-go model, which in some cases is fully justified, but in others it’s just a shameful and embarrassing decision by some developers. Will he succeed? The problem is that, given these numbers, it seems to be the case, at least in the short term.