What Are Mobile Board Games?

Who Plays Mobile Board Games?

Data from the Mobile Games Index tells us that board games on mobile are equally popular among all age groups from under 20s to over 50s. We see that gameplay duration across each age group varies slightly between 24 and 25 minutes per day.

Where are mobile gamers engaging the most within this genre? The Oceania region saw the highest daily engagement with mobile board games at 28 minutes. It was close between all regions, though, with the lowest engagement time in Latin America at 21.4 minutes per day.

What Are the Best Mobile Board Games?

The most engaged-with board games on mobile is currently a mix of chess and dice games based on their physical counterparts Yahtzee and Ludo. These games already have a strong user base as established physical games, which helps with acquiring users.

Some developers in this games segment refer to these games as “evergreen games,” as users tend to engage with these titles for several years, and the concept of the game is integrated into popular culture. Just think of Monopoly as an example.

These top titles are furthermore popular because they tap into familiar mechanics. They are games that users can play on the go or to relax while retaining a competitive multiplayer element. Leaderboards, collectibles, customizable boards and high-quality graphics draw users in to enjoy longer gameplay sessions.

This genre of mobile games is slow-growing with a stable and faithful audience, meaning it has felt like a saturated market for user acquisition managers. Games are often rooted in certain cultures, meaning that global expansion is occasionally limited. 

MONOPOLY GO! has recently been able to draw in a younger audience through new mechanisms to modernize the genre and has now put the mobile gaming genre back on the map for top-ten games for downloads and revenue.

How Do You Monetize Board Games?

Board game apps monetize based on a hybrid model of in-app purchases and in-app advertising, with an almost-equal split across the two revenue sources. 

In-app advertising currently generates 1.2 billion US dollars of revenue worldwide, while in-app purchases account for 1.4 billion US dollars.

Both channels will grow to reach upward of 1.7 billion US dollars by 2028, with the US predicted to pull in the lion’s share of this revenue (55 percent) compared with other regions. Revenue from Asia will account for just over 30 percent.

Conclusion

Mobile board games offer compelling and simple gameplay as well as familiarity – they capitalize on these characteristics to appeal to a broad user base. 

These digital adaptations not only preserve the essence of their original versions – they have integrated more engaging features such as offering multiplayer games with players across the world and greater visual customizations. 

Evergreen games in this genre will be busy over the next year to ensure continued growth with new users, and their monetization managers will increasingly look into how their titles can tap into the market’s positive revenue projections.