Report: The State of Roku Gaming Apps

Connected TV (CTV) platforms have seen a considerable boost in the past year alone, as the Roku app store grew from around 20,000 to over 33,000 apps.

While video streaming is the main offering on the platform, gaming apps are also holding their own.

This makes CTV games a hidden gem, which when discovered by users, seamlessly transforms the television set into a gaming station. Just like the arcade days, casual games are popular with the audience. 

According to a report by Playcent Games, with 9,268 publishers presented on Roku, there are roughly 3.6 apps per individual publisher.

In comparison, there are 85 Roku games publishers for the 461 titles – five gaming apps per publisher.

Almost 30% of the gaming apps on Roku are paid (according to 42matters), while others provide a different monetization method.

Gaming represents only 1.22% of Roku apps, making it the #14 category on the Roku channels ratings chart. Yet, despite their relatively low numbers, games on Roku surpass most other categories by a wide margin.

According to Adjust, last year, Games was the second most used category on Roku, outperforming such heavy hitters as Religious.

Between April 2021, when Playcent Games started gathering statistics, and November 2022, there were 142 new titles added to Roku’s Games channel.

Arcade is the most popular category among gaming publishers, with 54 apps (38%) added to the store. Social games accounted for 27 (19%) of all titles published in this period.

The social casino category of the Roku Games channel also grew from 33 to 60 apps in the reported period, for 19% growth.

Published Roku games by categories YoY

The chart below shows the 20 gaming apps with the highest amount of ratings:

20 Roku gaming apps with the highest amount of ratings.

The chart does not include the highest-rated apps.

For example, Playcent Games’ title Sloto World has a higher overall rating than most apps on the list, though being one of the newer additions to the platform, it didn’t make the list.

For comparison, here are the 20 highest-rated non-gaming apps:

20 Roku non-gaming apps with the highest amount of ratings.

Most heavy hitters on this list were listed on Roku seven years ago or more. Netflix has been present on the platform since 2009. 

While streaming apps continue dominating Roku and CTV in general, gaming has also firmly entrenched itself in the living room platform, and therefore should not be ignored.

Dozens of publishers are focusing on audiences that are looking for more interactive experiences.

Developers and investors should take notice of the presence of gaming apps on CTV, as this market has a lot of potential for growth.