Our data digest column breaks down the latest data, research and financial results into digestible chunks. Read on for the numbers you need to know about minus the fluff.
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January’s top 10 grossing titles generated over $1bn
The top 10 mobile games in January collectively grossed over $1bn for the first time in Appfigures’ tracking history. Having fallen to fourth place in December, Tencent’s Honor of Kings led the charge, generating $146m on iOS alone last month (up 39% month-over-month).
That was 20% more than the total brought in by its closest competitor, Monopoly Go, which moved up three places on the chart after earning $122m (+16% MoM) across iOS and Android in January. Scopely’s game came in narrowly ahead of Dream Games’ Royal Match, which generated $120m (+15% MoM).
Century’s Whiteout Survival, and Funfly’s Last War, which was December’s top earner, rounded off the top five, generating $113m (+4% MoM) and $105m (-8% MoM) respectively. Elsewhere, Pokémon TCG Pocket dropped from number two in December to number 10, as monthly earnings fell from $110m to $68m.
Subway Surfers tops January downloads with 21m installs
Frequent chart-topper Subway Surfers was the most downloaded title in January with 21m installs, including 18m on Google Play, according to Appfigures estimates.
That was enough to see Sybo’s game leapfrog Block Blast, which saw downloads drop by 1m month-over-month to 20m – the same total Subway Surfers achieved in December.
Hungry Studio’s title was the number one game on the iOS download chart with 7m installs, ahead of Netflix’s Squid Game: Unleashed, which saw its monthly App Store downloads rise to 5m (+2m MoM).
Roblox held the number three spot on the combined iOS and Android chart as its downloads increased to 20m (+2m MoM), while a Naruto collaboration helped Free Fire move up one place to number four with 13m downloads (+2m MoM), and Ludo King jumped five spots to number five with 12m installs (+2m MoM).
Pokémon TCG Pocket revenues spike 4000%, Summoners War 1600%
GameRefinery’s January update includes details on significant US revenue increases for Pokémon TCG Pocket and Summoners War on iOS.
According to its data, daily revenue generated by Pokémon TCG Pocket spiked by around 4000% coinciding with the release of the game’s Space-Time Smackdown expansion on January 30. Arriving the day after the launch of a new trading feature, the expansion added over 155 new cards to the game. As we’ve previously reported, Appmagic estimates the game earned over $7.7m in a single day on February 1.
Summoners War also saw daily iOS revenue spikes of over 1600% in the US and 650% in Japan on January 10, driven by a collaboration with the anime Demon Slayer.
DnF Mobile fires Nexon to ‘record-breaking’ $2.9bn revenue
South Korean publisher Nexon has posted “record-breaking” revenue of ¥446.2bn ($2.94bn) for its full fiscal year ending on December 31 2024.
That’s up 5% year-over-year, driven by Dungeon & Fighter Mobile in China and the global release of console and PC MMO The First Descendant.
Operating income fell 8% year-over-year to ¥124.2bn ($818m), reflecting the company’s ongoing investments to “revitalise, strengthen and expand” its IP portfolio. Net income was up 91% year-over-year to ¥134.8bn ($888m).
Dungeon & Fighter Mobile, which is published by Tencent, has generated almost $2.5bn in gross revenue since its release in May 2024, Niko Partners recently reported. However, in its earnings results, Nexon said a New Year update released for the beat ’em up in Q1 “has been slow to retain users as well as attract new and returning players”, leading it to reduce its revenue forecast for the quarter.
Nitro Games sees 24% revenue boost
Finnish developer and publisher Nitro Games has reported a strong set of results for its 2004 financial year ended on December 31. The Autogun Heroes and Nerf: Superblast maker saw revenues increase 29% year-over-year to reach €11.4m ($11.9m). EBITDA also swung from €1.7m ($1.8m) in the red in 2023 to €2.4m ($2.5m) last year.
Mobile accounted for 10% of Ubisoft’s net bookings in Q3
Mobile generated 10% of the $316.3m in net bookings French publisher Ubisoft made during the third quarter of its 2024-25 financial year, double the 5% reported for the same quarter a year earlier.
Mobile accounted for 9% of net bookings for the first nine months of the year, which was up from 7% in the first three quarters of FY 2023-24.
During its earnings call (via VGC), Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reiterated that the delayed The Division Resurgence will launch during the company’s FY 2025-26, which begins in April, and suggested Rainbow Six Mobile will do the same.
It’s still unclear when the company is planning to release Tencent’s Assassin’s Creed Jade, which was announced back in 2022.
Papergames hit $850m in 2024
Chinese developer and publisher Papergames generated around $850m last year, data providers have told Forbes (via Niko Partners’ Daniel Ahmad). The company is responsible for the hit dating sim Love & Deepspace, which was one of 2024’s top-grossing mobile games, and the end of year blockbuster Infinity Nikki, which racked up 10m downloads in four days.
Released last January, Love & Deepspace has an estimated 6m monthly active players. China reportedly accounted for 60% of its worldwide sales last year, with 11% coming in the US across the App Store and Google Play, based on Sensor Tower estimates.
Established in 2013, privately held Papergames employs about 2,000 people and is valued at over $2bn, according to Forbes’ estimates.
Whiteout Survival was China’s top grossing export mobile game last year
Century Games’ Whiteout Survival was last year’s highest-grossing mobile game export from a Chinese developer, Niko Partners reports.
According to its data, the 4X strategy game generated higher overseas revenues than Tencent’s PUBG Mobile at number two, and Mihoyo’s Honkai Star Rail at number three.
The top five Chinese mobile game export publishers by revenue last year were Tencent, NetEase, Mihoyo, Century, and Lilith Games.
