Holler to all the gamers! Head down, thumbs engaged, lost in battles far away, do your titles figure in the highest-grossing games for the month of February?
According to monthly data released by leading market intelligence provider Sensor Tower, there has been quite some contention among the game titles for holding on to the top spots. The revenue estimates, taken from data from the App Store and Google Play world over paint an interesting ladder of the moolah raked in by the popular games.
As per data between February 1, 2020, and February 28, 2021, it was PUBG Mobile from Tencent’s TiMi Studios that emerged as the top money-spinner worldwide. With $250 million in player spending representing a healthy 16.2% increase from February 2020, around 66.5% of PUBG Mobile’s revenue came from Chinese shores. Better known by its localized version of the title, Game For Peace in China, revenue shares of 7.4% came from the United States, followed by a 3% share from Saudi Arabia.
The second spot on the list was bagged by Tencent’s Honor of Kings, which posted earnings of $218.5 million worldwide in February 2021. Not far behind PUBG Mobile’s numbers for the month, it represents a 57.2% YoY growth for the title from February 2020. The revenue stream for Honor of Kings was again fuelled by China, accounting for a staggering 95.6% of the revenue, followed by a measly 1.6% from Thailand, underscoring its popularity abroad.
The list also constitutes Genshin Impact from miHoYo, followed by Pokémon GO from Niantic and Roblox from Roblox Corporation rounding up the top 5 worldwide money makers. The third on the podium of highest gaming app grossers, Pokémon GO lodged one of its best months ever for player spending in February. GO managed to accumulate $124.2 million, an increase of as much as 95% YoY. Taking full advantage of the ticketed Pokémon GO Tour: Kanto event, the title managed to generate an eye-popping $10.6 million in a single day on February 20. Its previous best performance dates July 29, 2016, when it grossed $13.3 million.
Roblox had a similarly fruitful month, racking up a cool $101.6 million ahead of going public on the NYSE. Roblox revenue was up 84.8% YoY from February 2020. Roblox has been riding a tide of immense popularity, having already generated $2.5 billion in lifetime player spending across the App Store and Google Play by the end of last month. The sustained performance has impressed all, seeing as Roblox had grossed $1.2 billion worldwide in 2020 too.
Overall, while some other popular offerings like Fate/Grand Order from Sony and Three Kingdoms Strategic slipped down in the pecking order, the #1 and #2 spots saw a swap as compared to numbers accrued in January.
Here are few other major highlights of the report:
- On Apple App Store PUBG Mobile topped the list of top grossing mobile games for February 2021.
- The influence of the Apple App Store on the overall list of top grossing mobile apps is quite visible. The overall list of the top 3 highest grossing mobile apps worldwide is quite identical to the list of top 3 highest grossing mobile games on the Apple App Store.
- The preferences of gamers on Android devices appear quite different. PUBG Mobile games failed to secure a place in the list of top grossing mobile games on Google Play.
- Genshin Impact emerged as the top grossing mobile game on Google Play.
Impact of Mobile Games On App Revenue
While seeing such astounding revenue gains was only touted as a matter of time, the single biggest benefactor to the industry as a whole has been the pandemic. As a whole, the mobile games market generated $79.6 billion across the App Store and Google Play in 2020, a 26.2% YoY increase. Additionally, total game downloads grew 33% to 56.3 billion. Having a pronounced impact on revenues and users in the sector, the hypercasual sector, in particular, made up 31% – nearly one-third – of all game installs in 2020, growing by an enormous 123%!
Talking about the highest grossers, the app which caught everyone’s attention in the year gone by was Among Us from InnerSloth, accounting for a mammoth total of 282 million downloads. Casino, RPG simulation, and shooting genres all chirped loudly, seeing some heady growth, most notably in the US markets.
While there are a lot of genres still to unleash their potential, one thing is for certain. There will be absolutely no dearth of titles supplied by avid glued gamers anytime soon. The surge is on for mobile gaming!
Stay tuned here for more updates.
