General numbers
- The revenue from mobile apps in Q1 2023 in Japan was $4.65B. It’s a 13% increase compared to Q4 2022.
- ATT Opt-in in Japan is lower than the world benchmark. In games, 30% of people agree with their personal data usage.
Mobile games revenue
- It’s expected that Japanese gamers will spend $12.6B on mobile games in 2023.
- In Q1 2023 people of Japan already spent $3.41B on mobile games. 13% more than in Q4 2022. Games revenue growth is equal to the overall app revenue growth.
- Hypercasual games (+56% QoQ) and Simulation genre (+30% QoQ) are the fastest-growing revenue segments.
- Japanese gamer is the leader in the world of paying users. On average, one iOS user is spending $10.3 per month (first place in the world); a Japanese Android user spent on games is about $9.8 monthly (second place in the world).
Mobile games downloads
- Downloads in Q1 2023 increased by 12% compared to the previous quarter. The growth dynamics are higher than the market average by 3 percentage points.
- Japan is one of the few markets where iOS is dominating by downloads (61% of the overall amount). Android is responsible for 39%.
- Organic traffic in Japan in Q1 2023 decreased. The average by all genres ratio between paid to organic traffic dropped from 0.73 to 0.7.
- RPG is the most popular genre in the country. It’s responsible for 13% of all downloads.
User behavior in mobile games
- Median D1 Retention in Q1 2023 was 27%; D3 Retention – 18%; D7 Retention – 12%; D30 Retention – 5%.
- RPG titles have the highest D1 Retention – 32%. Simulation (30%) and Puzzles (28%) are next.
- The number of sessions in Q1 2023 increased by 6% compared to the previous quarter. It’s 3 percentage points lower than the market’s average.
- 33% of all sessions in Q1 2023 were on Android; 67% – on iOS.
- The overall length of sessions in games is growing in Japan since 2021. Now it’s about 26.59 minutes.
Mobile games audience
- There are about 70M mobile gamers in Japan now. It’s one of the largest markets in the world.
- 65% of smartphone users in Japan play games daily. 92% are playing at least once a week.
- Generation Z is 233% more likely to choose Party Royale; younger millennials tend to choose MOBA (52% more likely). Older millennials are more likely to choose puzzles. Generation X and baby boomers are spending 42% more time in card games than other generations.
