Mobile game market research with Google Play data

Three questions every game team asks before greenlighting a project, and the data that answers them.

Is the genre crowded?

Count live games in the genre and look at how installs are spread: if the top 20 hold almost everything, the genre is a winner-takes-all market. The genre pages here list titles by installs; the API gives you the full distribution.

Do new games break through?

Look at release dates inside the top charts. In some genres half of the top 200 is less than a year old; in others the same titles have ruled for a decade.

Where to soft-launch?

Compare the grossing chart of the genre across countries. Markets where the leaders are smaller studios, and where it takes fewer installs to enter the top 100, are cheaper places to test retention and monetisation.

Scouting

Publishers use the same data in reverse: new games with fast install growth and good ratings, by studios with few titles, are candidates for publishing deals.