Sensor Tower: mobile players spent $61.7B on games in 2019, up 12.8% YoY, with games making up 68% of total iOS App Store revenue vs 84% for the Play Store
Context & Ripple Effects
Sensor Tower's 2019 full-year tally lands mid-arc between its own projections and what came after: just months earlier it had forecast App Store spending reaching $96B by 2023, and the new numbers show games growing 12.8% — well below the roughly 34% pace both stores posted in 2017. The headline split matters more than the total: games are 68% of iOS App Store revenue but 84% of Play Store revenue, so Google's store is far more concentrated in game monetization than Apple's.
That concentration gap sets up the story's longer arc. Subsequent Sensor Tower data showed non-game spending compounding fast — US iPhone users' app spend jumped 38% in 2020 with games up 43%, and the top 100 non-game subscription apps alone hit $18.3B in 2021 — putting the ecosystem on a path toward the reported 2025 crossover where non-game apps outspent games for the first time.
First-order effects
- Apple enters 2020 with a more diversified revenue base than Google: with games at 68% of App Store revenue versus 84% on Play, Google has proportionally more exposure to game publishers' monetization — and to any backlash over the cut taken on it.
- Game publishers face a decelerating market: 12.8% growth on a $61.7B base means incremental player spend is getting harder to win than during the ~34% growth years of 2017.
Second-order effects
- As non-game categories grow faster than games, subscription apps become the battleground for platform policy — the same take-rate questions regulators apply to game purchases extend to services like the subscription apps Sensor Tower tracks.
- Google's heavier reliance on game revenue gives it a stronger incentive than Apple to court game studios with better terms or tools, since losing share there costs it disproportionately.
Third-order effects
- If the mix shift holds through the reported 2025 crossover — driven, per Sensor Tower, by GenAI-driven demand — platform leverage moves from hit-driven game studios toward recurring-revenue app makers, reshaping who negotiates with Apple and Google over store economics.
- A slower-growing, less game-dominated app economy invites closer regulatory attention to the platforms' fixed cuts, because the argument that games uniquely justify a 30% toll weakens as other paid categories scale.
The trend: The mobile app economy is maturing from a game-dominated market into one where subscriptions and GenAI-era non-game apps drive spending growth, diluting the platforms' dependence on game monetization.