There’s a deluge of new data and research to wade through in the mobile games business. Our regular data digest column breaks it all down into digestible chunks.
Read on for the numbers you need to know about minus the fluff.
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Maple Tale, Monopoly Go, Matchington Mansion top October’s ad charts
Maple Tale was the most advertised game on iOS in October, ahead of Matchington Mansion and Monopoly Go, according to marketing data firm SocialPeta.
The top three on Android were Monopoly Go, Maple Tale and Vita Mahjong. With Marvel and Halloween campaigns running last month, Monopoly Go was aggressively marketed with 16k ad creatives.
Monopoly Go monthly earnings down 13%, Whiteout Survival up 80%
Global earnings for Monopoly Go dropped 13% month-over-month to $100m in October, according to Appfigures estimates. With Google Play revenue ($82m) for Scopely’s property collection game flat month-over-month, the App Store version was accountable for last month’s $15m decline, which saw the game fall three places to number five on the combined iOS and Android earnings chart.
The rest of October’s top five games enjoyed month-over-month revenue increases. Honor of Kings generated $154m (up 11.6%) to make it the highest earning mobile game worldwide for a third consecutive month. While Tencent’s game topped the App Store revenue chart, Royal Match led the Google Play rankings, and it rose one place to second on the combined list with $125m (up 16.8%) earned in October.
Whiteout Survival generated $106m (up 79.7%) and Game For Peace earned $103m (up 9.6%), to climb to numbers three and four on the combined chart respectively.
Mini Games tops October downloads with 20m installs
Mini Games was the most downloaded title in October with 20m installs on Google Play, according to Appfigures estimates.
My Supermarket Simulator 3D came in at number two on the combined iOS and Android chart with 18m downloads, 89% of which were on Google Play.
Frequent chart-topper Subway Surfers also racked up 18m downloads, with the Android version accounting for 83% of the total.
Block Blast, which enjoyed a fourth consecutive month atop the App Store download chart, came in at number four on the combined marketplace rankings with 16m installs, while Hole.io rounded off the top five with 13m downloads.
Appcharge raises $26m
Mobile monetisation platform Appcharge has closed a $26m Series A funding round.
The investment was led by Creandum, with participation from Supercell, Bitkraft Ventures, Moneta Ventures and Corundum, plus existing investors Play Ventures, Glilot Capital Partners, and angel investors.
The Tel Aviv-based white-label sales platform said it is now processing $200m in DTC sales annually and has seen 3x growth in the last quarter. It plans to build on its current offering with new payment methods and AI tools for publishers’ web stores.
Appcharge research published last month found that 72% of top-grossing mobile games have their own web store.
New My.Games publishing arm earmarks $100m spend
My.Games, the Amsterdam-based company whose portfolio includes Rush Royale, War Robots and Hustle Castle, has launched a new mobile publishing arm called MGVC Publishing.
With an annual marketing spend exceeding $100m, MGVC Publishing said it is looking to sign soft launch projects, established titles, diverse game types, and projects from Asian developers.
MGVC’s line-up currently includes the likes of Press Fire Games’ multiplayer shooter Battle Prime, and ReactGames Studio’s survival title Days After. It claims the former enjoyed a nearly fourfold increase in monthly revenue after joining its stable, while the latter has seen a 30% rise in MAUs and 2.4m new downloads since it was signed in mid-2024.
SuperScale secures $1.2m
Game optimisation specialist SuperScale has closed an investment round of $1.2m, which it will use to support the launch of business analytics platform SuperPlatform.
The funding round was led by existing investors including Across Private Investments, LevelUp Ventures, Zero One Hundred, and Venture to Future Fund, plus new investor Strecko Investments.
SuperPlatform has been adopted by 60 studios since its soft launch in August, and SuperScale said this has enabled it to become cashflow positive. The company has also extended the current funding round by a further $2.15m by the end of 2024.
Matchingham Games hits 750m downloads
UK publisher and developer Matchingham Games Group said it has reached 750m downloads across its portfolio.
The label, whose top performers include Braindom 2, Judgment Day and Impossible Date, previously reported hitting 400m downloads in August 2023.
Top match 3 games by lifetime revenue revealed
Candy Crush Saga is comfortably the top match 3 game by lifetime revenue, according to data from Appmagic. King’s title has generated lifetime revenue of $7.4bn off the back of 1.3bn downloads for a cumulative revenue per download (RpD) of $5.57.
Gardenscapes came in second with $3.9bn in lifetime revenue, followed by Homescapes ($3.4bn), Candy Crush Soda Saga ($2.9bn) and Royal Match ($2.7bn).
Of the top 10 titles, seventh-placed Line PokoPoko had the highest RpD ($49.3), having generated $940m from 19m downloads.
