Game apps conquer the television market

• New Apple TV brings popular mobile games to television screens
• Growing numbers of televisions, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes support game apps
• ‘Market for game apps will experience an additional burst of growth’

Berlin, 10 September 2015 – Game apps for smartphones and tablets are increasingly being played on televisions as a result of the fact that growing numbers of televisions, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes now run on adapted versions of smartphone and tablet operating systems. This means that many game apps for these systems only require minor adjustments to work on the big screen as well. This trend was already evident among many of the exhibitors at this year’s IFA. The new Apple TV presented yesterday evening is in line with these developments: for the first time, this device features an App Store and runs on the tvOS operating system, which uses many of the same familiar technologies as the iPhone software iOS – allowing existing game apps for iPhone and iPad to be adapted to the television relatively easily. Like Apple, Google has also developed a version of Android adapted to the television screen – AndroidTV, as it is known, is implemented in televisions from companies such as Sony, Philips and Sharp, as well as in set-top boxes from NVIDIA and Asus. Amazon, too, has created an adapted version of the operating system for its Fire tablet series and implemented it in its own set-top box, Fire TV, allowing it to deliver game apps on television screens as well. Other examples of mobile phone operating systems being used on televisions include Tizen, developed by Samsung, and WebOS, the Linux-based operating system that LG installs on its televisions.
 
[quotation cite=”Dr. Maximilian Schenk, Managing Director of the BIU”] “Growing numbers of device manufacturers are using established mobile operating systems in order to offer additional functions – simple game apps, in particular – on their televisions, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes.[/quotation]‘Growing numbers of device manufacturers are using established mobile operating systems in order to offer additional functions – simple game apps, in particular – on their televisions, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. The beginner-friendly games on these televisions appeal to entirely new target groups for digital games,’ says Dr Maximilian Schenk, Managing Director of BIU, the German Games Industry Association. ‘The increasing number of televisions, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes using mobile operating systems will continue to fuel growth in the game app market, which was already a major driver of growth in the entire industry in recent years.’

Strong growth in the market for game apps

Last year, game apps in Germany generated sales revenue of 263 million euros. The market grew by 153 per cent compared to 2013. On the whole, games dominated the booming mobile app market: 75 per cent of sales revenue generated in app stores in Germany came from game apps, as the gamescom special report The mobile gaming landscape in Germany compiled by App Annie and BIU reveals. Sales revenue generated by game apps has grown by a factor of 2.2 since 2013. Measured by sales revenue, Germany is the second-largest market for game apps in Europe; only Great Britain, this year’s gamescom partner country, generated more sales revenue in this area. Globally, Germany is ranked seventh in terms of game app sales revenue.
 
The entire gamescom special report The mobile gaming landscape in Germany compiled by App Annie and the BIU can be downloaded at the following link: http://go.appannie.com/AA_game_mobile_gaming_market_outlook_Germany_WW

Note on methodology

The data used is based on statistics compiled by the GfK Consumer Panel and GfK Entertainment. The methods used by GfK to collect data on Germany’s digital games market are unique in terms both of their quality and their global use. They include an ongoing survey of 25,000 consumers who are representative of the German population as a whole regarding their digital game purchasing and usage habits, and also a consumer panel. The data collection methods provide a unique insight into the German market for computer and video games. The information regarding the share of app store sales revenue generated by game apps comes from the gamescom special report The mobile gaming landscape in Germany compiled by App Annie and the BIU.

About the BIU

BIU – Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware (German Games Industry Association) is the association of the German computer and video games industry. Its 26 members are developers, publishers and providers of digital games, and they represent over 85 per cent of the German market. The BIU is, for example, the sponsor of gamescom. As an expert partner for media and for political and social institutions, the BIU answers all questions on the topic of digital games.

Press contact

Martin Puppe
BIU – Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware e. V.
Charlottenstrasse 62
10117 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)30 2408779 20
Fax: +49 (0)30 2408779 11
Email: puppe@biu-online.de
Twitter: @game_eV
Facebook.com/BIUeV

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