Flurry: iOS, Android games rake in $800M in 2010

Game sales across the iOS and Android mobile operating systems generated revenues in excess of $800 million in 2010 and now represent 8 percent of the U.S. multi-platform gaming market, according to new data published by mobile app analytics provider Flurry.

A year ago, Flurry reported that iOS games yielded $500 million in revenues, translating to 5 percent of the U.S. gaming market; the firm credits 2010 growth, in part, to surging consumer interest in Android smartphones as well as the introduction of Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad tablet, but adds that iPhone titles still yielded the majority of 2010 mobile game revenues. Almost 40 percent of all consumer app sessions are now dedicated to gaming, Flurry adds.

Total U.S. game revenue increased from $10.4 billion in 2009 to $10.7 billion in 2010. Console gaming continues to dominate overall revenues at 76 percent market share, up from 71 percent a year earlier--however, portable gaming revenues (e.g., Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable) fell dramatically, sliding from 24 percent market share in 2009 to 16 percent a year. Factoring smartphone-based game revenues into the portable gaming equation, Nintendo DS controls 57 percent of the U.S. market, with the iOS and Android at 34 percent and PSP at a distant 9 percent.

"It's clear that prolific installed base gains by Apple and Android devices, low priced games (including a very robust free-to-play model enabled by in-app purchases) and seamless digital distribution to games on devices so near to consumers 24-hours-a-day, is driving potent industry-disruption," writes Flurry Vice President of Marketing Peter Farago on the firm's blog. "Over 2011, we expect to see continued and significant smart-device game growth fueled by the recent launch of iPad 2, iPhone coming into distribution on Verizon (NYSE:VZ), the expected release of iPhone 5, a relentless expansion of Android devices by leading OEMs across all major U.S. carriers, and Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) enablement of in-app purchase billing, a proven key driver in iOS game revenue."

For more:
- read this Flurry blog entry

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