- Ludo King entered the top 5 most downloaded and top 3 most played games worldwide, driven largely by the game’s popularity during COVID-19 lockdown.
Mobile gaming has created a forum not just for entertainment but also for social interactions as people are advised to stay home and practice social isolation amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to App Annie report. The weekly mobile game downloads broke records at more than 1.2 billion in the first week of Q2 2020, and weekly download levels remained at an average of 1 billion throughout the quarter, up 20 percent year-over-year.
Quarantined consumers also set new quarterly records for consumer spending on mobile games, with more than $19bn spent on purchases through the Q2 2020 app stores — the largest quarter ever.
Through the end of 2020, spending on mobile games is set to expand its lead over online gaming and home console gaming to more than 2.8x and 3.1x, respectively — solidating that mobile gaming is in its league.
On Google Play, India and Brazil were the biggest game download markets while India and Indonesia had the largest quarter-over-quarter growth in absolute downloads. Casual, action, and board games have been driving the most quarter-over-quarter download growth from a genre perspective, as customers are searching for games to help pass the time and link them to family and friends during the lockdown.
Ludo King entered the top 5 most downloaded and top 3 most played games worldwide, driven largely by the game’s popularity during COVID-19 lockdown in India. Based on a familiar traditional board game model, the mobile app featured online multiplayer support with the ability to quickly generate game invites to share through popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp Messenger, which fuelled rapid adoption among friends and families looking to digitally recreate the board game experience.
Ludo King has consistently ranked among India’s top ten downloaded apps across both gaming and non-gaming categories.
The casual board game from homegrown has overtaken popular titles like Candy Crush Saga, PUBG, Clash of Clans, Subway Surfers, and others in monthly active users. Ludo King adds a modern touch to Pachisi ‘s royal game, which used to be played in ancient times between Indian kings and queens.
There are four-player modes — multiplayer online, play with friends, play vs. computer, multiplayer locale. There’s a Ludo board with six teams too. Also, the app comes with ‘Snakes and Ladders’ on seven different variations of the game board.
Other social features include live chat with players in a private game room, Facebook challenges for friends, save game choice (which allows players to restart from where they left), player ratings, and leaderboards.
