Every Wednesday we break down the latest data, research and financial results into digestible chunks.
Read on for the numbers you need to know about without the fluff.
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Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Shadows is off to a slow start
Data from Appfigures shows that Nintendo’s surprise new mobile game Fire Emblem Shadows launch has had a slow start.
The data firm estimates that Shadows has generated an estimated 518k installs and $107k in spend in its first 10 days. That’s about $0.21 per download.
2017’s Fire Emblem Heroes, meanwhile, saw 2.3m (4.4x) installs and $5.3m (49x) in spend during its first 10 days – that’s $2.31 per download, 11x the revenue per download that Shadows has shown thus far.
LastWar leads September’s revenue charts, Ludo King tops downloads
Sensor Tower says LastWar was the top grossing mobile game in September, with Ludo King the top download.
Its latest blog does not offer actual revenue data, but by rankings alone says that Monopoly Go and Royal Match were “close behind”.
A revenue growth ranking chart shows Netmarble MMO Vampir on top, with Tencent shooter Delta Force and Mihoyo’s Genshin Impact also growing fast.
In its downloads rankings, Ludo King is on top, with Free Fire and Roblox in second and third. Topping the growth charts are Ludo King, new title Prison Master and Free Fire.
You can see how Appmagic’s top download and top grossing charts for September compare through the links.
Pokémon Sleep hit $100m in two years
Appfigures’ latest newsletter says that, according to its figures, Pokémon Sleep quietly passed the $100m mark in July, its second birthday.
At the time of writing, The Pokémon Company has earned about $112m from the game, which is posting significantly higher numbers than other apps in te category – Sleep Cycle earned $37m in net revenue across the same two years, for example.
Match Squad maker Cypher Games lands $30m
Cypher Games has closed a $30m Series A funding round led by Play Ventures and The Raine Group, with participation from MIT, E2VC and Huuuge founder Anton Gauffin’s VC Big Bets.
Following a $10m seed raise last September, the latest investment will be used to support ongoing development of its debut title Match Squad, as it gears up to launch the match 3 puzzle and dice game in the US.
The Istanbul, Turkey-based studio also plans to kick-off the creative production process for its second title in the next two years.
Southeast Asia on course for $6.5bn revenue in 2027
The latest market model from Niko Partners forecasts that the Southeast Asia games market will grow to reach almost $6.5bn in 2029.
It estimates the region generated $5.37bn in revenue in 2024, which was up 5.2% YoY. SEA’s games market is expected to rise 1.8% in 2025 to hit $5.47bn, and is forecast to reach $6.47bn in 2029.
There were 285.82m gamers in the region as of the end of 2024, which is projected to grow to 290m in 2025 and 324.4m in 2029.
Annual average revenue per user for Southeast Asia gamers in 2024 was up 2% YoY to $18.80, and it is forecast to grow to $19.96 in 2029.
Niko has also published various stats from a new survey of 3,131 players in the six key markets in the region – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
It found that average weekly playing time saw a YoY decline from 21.8 hours to 15 hours, while there was a 10-20 percentage point increase in the share of non-spenders in each country.
AltStore raises $6m
Third party app store AltStore has raised $6m in funding from Pace Capital, giving the venture firm a 15% stake in the company, reports TechCrunch.
The funding will help AltStore’s cofounders hire new staff and continue their work connecting the storefront to the fediverse, an open social web standard also supported by Mastodon and Meta’s Threads app.
Kakao Games raises $111m
Korean publisher and developer Kakao Games will raise ₩156.2bn ($110.8m) through a subsidiary sale and a paid-in capital increase, ChosunBiz reports (via PocketGamer.biz).
It is selling its entire equity in Kakao VX, which specialises in indoor golf simulators, to IVG, a subsidiary of Kakao Investment, for ₩210bn ($148.9m). And it will raise ₩108.5bn ($77m) through a third-party allocation paid-in capital increase.
