The mobile gaming industry had a very merry Christmas, indeed.
Users spent a record $967.6 million on mobile gaming apps between Christmas and the New Year, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing data from Sensor Tower Inc.
The WSJ reported that this is the most spent on game apps for iOS and Android on during any particular week of the year, crediting people who receive mobile devices as holiday gifts who spend money of the apps. Additionally, the paper credits people being off from work and school for the spending spree.
The figure, which approaches $1 billion, is up 53 percent from the same week last year, according to Sensor Tower Inc.
“People are playing more and they’re spending more,” said Kabam COO Kent Wakeford told the WSJ. “We see a spike in all the key metrics for our games around the holidays.”
Citing Newzoo BV, the WSJ reported that mobile is the largest sector of the roughly $100 billion videogame industry, with games for phones and tablets generating $36.9 billion in world-wide revenue, while computer games generated $31.9 billion and console games racked up $30.8 billion.