App analytic firm Sensor Tower (via Ars Technica) has discovered something interesting while going through second quarter 2022 data. For the first time since the App Store opened for business in 2008, the majority of revenue in the states is coming from apps rather than games. According to Sensor Tower, spending on non-gaming apps is increasing at twice the rate of gaming-apps. Since June 2014, spending on apps that are not games has grown at a compounded rate of 40%.
The move toward non-game apps started this past May. Last month, 50.3% of U.S. App Store spending was for non-gaming apps like Netflix and TikTok, This is partly due to the use of subscriptions for non-gaming apps. Gaming apps typically offered users simple subscription packages which non-game apps have started to adopt. Apple reportedly met with iOS app developers in an attempt to get more of them to support the use of a recurring subscription model.
During the second quarter of this year, 400 non-game App Store apps brought in at least $1 million from consumers. That compares to only 50 such apps that reached that benchmark during the second quarter of 2016. Even better, 61 apps in the App Store grossed $10 million during this year’s second quarter.
Spending on non-game apps tops gaming apps in the Apple App Store
Keep in mind that the strong growth in subscription apps that Sensor Tower discovered relates to the App Store only. In the Google Play Store, gaming apps for Android devices still make up the bulk of incoming revenue. On that platform, gaming apps took in $2.3 billion in revenue during Q2 of this year compared to $1 billion generated by non-gaming apps. To compare, 50.3% of App Store spending was for non-game apps while those apps made up only 30.3% of purchases in the Google Play Store during the same quarter.
Earlier this month, a report covering the first half of 2022 showed that spending in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store amounted to $65 billion, up just 1% during the first half of the year. Android device owners spent $21.3 billion in the Play Store during the first half of 2022, down 7.4% from the $23 billion they spent during the first half of 2021. App Store gross came to $41.4 for the first six months of 2022, up 22.1% year-over-year.
As people get tired of having to deal with the pandemic, many are no longer interested in staying at home and playing games, or even streaming movies, audio, and television shows purchased from the App Store or the Google Play Store.
