Report: 29% of mobile game revenue generated by top 1% of spenders

Two-thirds of mobile game revenue is being generated by 10 percent of mobile game players, according to results of a mobile game market survey published today (relevant graph embedded below) by mobile video-sharing firm Everyplay. What's more, the top 1 percent of spenders -- survey respondents who spend more than $50/month on mobile games, $108/month on average -- account for roughly 29 percent of all mobile game revenue. By contrast, the average survey respondent spent $4.58 per month on mobile games. The survey was conducted using over 3,000 subjects and offers further evidence that so-called "whales" -- disproportionately large spenders -- are supporting large portions of the mobile game market with their buying habits, influencing the development of mobile games in the process. The ethics of free-to-play game design remain a point of contention in the industry. It's also interesting to note that the people Everyplay surveyed most commonly found new games to play based on word of mouth from friends and family, rather than app store charts, media outlets or broadcast personalities. Even when you restrict the recommendation sources to online-only, the majority of those surveyed were introduced to new mobile games via invites from Facebook friends. You can download the full 30-page white paper [PDF], which documents the survey's findings, directly from the Everyplay segment of parent company Unity's website.