Best 
Google Play Game Categories by 2023-2024 Download Trends
With the advent of affordable mobile devices and widespread access to high-speed internet and 4G networks, mobile game developers have irrefutably usurped the gaming crown from their PC and console-based rivals.
But this brave new world of mobile gaming brings with it a unique set of challenges. While the Xbox One boasts nearly 2,500 games, and Playstation 4 offers over 2,600, Google Play offers gamers nearly half a million options. Indeed, based on our calculations — which you can find on our app store stats pages — that’s just under 11% of all apps available on the platform. As such, mobile game studios face the daunting challenge of standing out in a crowded market.
So, to help connect developers with their target consumers, Google has created 49 app and game categories. These range from ‘Action’, to ‘Puzzle’, to ‘Trivia’, and beyond. In this piece, we’ll cover the best game categories on Google Play by downloads over the last year. The data provided will be updated automatically on a weekly basis.
Now, before we go much further, we’d like to remind the mobile game designers out there that, because Google’s categories often overlap and vary in specificity, determining the best categories for your games requires some extra brainpower.
Compounding matters: one cannot assume that by selecting the most precise or best-sounding categories they will achieve the best possible results. So, that ‘extra brainpower’ will require some real-world insights into the mobile game market.
This is where game category download estimate trends come into play; these estimates provide valuable insight into the popularity of each category. This information can then be used by game developers to avoid downward trending categories and identify those on the rise. It can also be used to identify less competitive categories (i.e. those with fewer games) that appear to be on an upswing in terms of downloads.
If your head is already spinning, don’t worry! In what follows, we will provide a starting point for navigating the deceptively tricky process of picking the best categories for your games. We’ll cover:
- The Best 5 Upward-trending Google Play Game Categories by Downloads from 12/2023 to 11/2024
- The 5 Most Downward-trending Google Play Game Categories by Downloads from 12/2023 to 11/2024
- The Best 5 ‘Large’ Google Play Game Categories by Global Downloads in 11/2024
- The Best 5 ‘Small’ Google Play Game Categories by Global Downloads in 11/2024
The Best 5 
Upward-trending Google Play Game Categories by Downloads from 12/2023 - 11/2024
Let’s begin by examining game categories that are on the up and up. The data you will find in the following chart is from 12/2023 - 11/2024
As you can see, Casino leads the pack after increasing monthly downloads by 12.49%, followed by Simulation (6.74%), Card (5.56%), Role playing (5.51%), and Casual (5.28%).
5 Upward-trendingGoogle Play Game Categories
How Casino fared in the period between 12/2023 and 11/2024.
Over the past 12 months, Casino has trended upwards, with downloads improving by 13.76%.
More recently, since 01/2024, Casino has been trending up, with a 0.86% change in downloads.
The 5 Most 
Downward-trending Google Play Game Categories by Downloads from 12/2023 – 11/2024
Next up, let’s take a look at those game categories that experienced the greatest losses in the period from 12/2023 – 11/2024.
Sports took the biggest hit, with downloads declining by -9.3%; followed by Educational (-6.43%), Arcade (-2.47%), Racing (-1.14%), and Action (-0.73%).
Downward-trendingGoogle Play Game CategoriesIn the graph below you will find how Action fared in the period between 12/2023 and 11/2024.
Over the past 12 months, Action has trended downwards, with downloads falling by -12.81%.
More recently, since 01/2024, Action has been trending down, with a -0.48% change in downloads.
The Best 5 ‘Large’ Google Play Game Categories by Global Downloads in 12/2023
Now, it’s important to remember that not all game categories are alike — some are naturally larger than others. For instance, there will be more games filed under ‘Games’ than under ‘Casino’, since ‘Casino’ is more or less a subset of ‘Games’.
However, it should not be assumed that because one category has more competition than another that it will therefore represent a larger share of global downloads. Indeed, it’s possible that less competitive categories can be overrepresented in global downloads owing to the extreme popularity of one or some of its games.
In any case, these natural differences in game categories present game publishers with a dilemma:
- Should they place their game in a more competitive environment that receives more traffic, but where they run the risk of blending in with the crowd?
- Or should they place their game in a less competitive environment, where they will have a better chance of standing out, but receive less traffic?
This is a challenging question; and, of course, the answer varies from business to business. Still, with this in mind, we’ve taken a look at the top 5 ‘large’ (i.e. more competitive) and ‘small’ (i.e. less competitive) categories to offer game publishers a starting point to address it.
We begin with the best 5 ‘large’ categories. The following chart depicts the number of apps in each category, as well as the number of downloads they receive as a percentage of total downloads. In sum, these categories represent 61.82% of global downloads.
Google Play Game CategoriesAs you can see, Action ranks highest with 18,767 apps representing 15.38% of global downloads. Then comes Casual (40,322; 13.69%), Simulation (22,006; 12.19%), Puzzle (42,683; 10.94%), and Arcade (24,009; 9.62%).
The Best 5 ‘Small’ Google Play Game Categories by Global Downloads in 11/2024
Now the welterweights. Just as before, the following chart depicts the number of apps in each category, as well as the number of downloads they receive as a percentage of total downloads. These categories represent 6.46% of global downloads.
Google Play Game CategoriesAs the chart indicates, Music ranks highest with 2,605 apps representing 2.06% of global downloads. Then comes Card (7,233; 1.57%), Word (7,052; 1.35%), Trivia (7,010; 0.88%), and Casino (3,723; 0.6%).
Going Beyond Game Categories...
And there you have it — the best Google Play game categories as determined by 2023-2024 download trends. Hopefully we’ve done enough to demonstrate that selecting the best categories for your game is not merely a descriptive exercise. It is, in fact, a critical piece to driving downloads.
Still, it is not the only factor. You’ll need to consider:
- Game name
- Game description
- Rating and reviews
- Updates and changelog
- Download trends
- And more...
By understanding how these things work and how successful apps are leveraging them, you’ll be better positioned to build a profitable mobile business.
Don’t let this overwhelm you. Schedule a free demo and we’ll walk you through everything.
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