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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Playtika completes SuperPlay acquisition
Playtika confirmed today that it has completed the acquisition of fellow Israeli mobile game firm SuperPlay.
The deal was announced in September, when Playtika revealed that it would be paying an initial $700m for the maker of Dice Dreams and Domino Dreams, but the total value of the deal could rise to $1.2bn over the next three years if certain conditions are met.
SuperPlay also has two new games in development which are “are expected to be a meaningful growth driver for the company,” Playtika said.
Pokémon TCG Pocket earns The Pokémon Company nearly $100m
The latest revenue estimates from Appmagic suggest that The Pokémon Company has earned $94.4m from Pokémon TCG Pocket to date. That figure is an estimate of developer earnings, so does not include Apple and Google’s 30% cut, meaning total consumer spend is likely over $120m. Total downloads to date since launch on October 31 are just over 25m.
It’s easily one of the biggest launches of the year, and as we’ve reported before, most of that spend has come from Japanese players – Appmagic estimates that the game has been downloaded in Japan 1.4m times, 6% of the total, and yet player spend from Japan represents 42% of the game’s earnings – a little under $40m.
Global mobile games market to near $100bn in revenue in 2024
Xsolla has released its quarterly State of Play report, drilling down into the size of the market, the growth of webshops, and the impact of female players, among other subjects.
This year the global mobile games market is forecast to generate $98.7bn in revenue, up 10.5% from $89.4bn in 2023, with China accounting for over a third (35%) of the total.
Elsewhere, the report claims that on average, 77% of players have purchased IAP through a webshop. That includes 79% of Canadian players, 78% of both German and US players, 76% of UK players, and 74% of Japanese players.
In terms of webstore discovery, 36% of players learned about them through in-game promotion. Other leading traffic drivers to webstores include social media (28%), friends/family (26%), online/community forums (7%) and industry news sources (2%).
Xsolla’s report also found that 87% of women play mobile games at least weekly, and that 64% of those make in-app purchases.
Premium indie game Balatro passes $2.5m
Fresh off a Game of the Year nomination at the Game Awards, Balatro’s $9.99 mobile edition continues to do remarkably well for a premium title. It’s earned indie developer LocalThunk and publisher PlayStack over $2.5m to date, according to Appmagic estimates, with 53% of those downloads from the US market. UK was a distant second on 7% of the downloads.
Balatro mobile was released on September 27 on iOS and Android as well as Apple Arcade, which will have pushed the game’s earnings even higher – Arcade royalty payments are generous across the board, we’re told, and calculated based on engagement and play sessions.
Easybrain’s mobile games hit 2bn downloads
Casual puzzle specialist Easybrain says its portfolio of mobile games has surpassed 2bn downloads. That’s up from 1.5bn announced in March 2023 and 1bn in November 2021. Key growth drivers include Sudoku.com, Pixel Art, Blockudoku, Jigsaw Puzzles, Nonogram.com and Art Puzzle.
The milestone was announced to coincide with the news that Easybrain is being sold by Embracer to Miniclip for $1.2bn.
Mobile accounts for 71% of NetEase’s games revenue
A strong start for Naraka Bladepoint wasn’t enough to stop NetEase’s net revenue for Q3 2024 falling 4% year-over-year to RMB 26.2bn ($3.6bn).
Games and related value-added services generated RMB 20.9bn ($2.9bn) during the three months ended in September, which was down 4.2% year-over-year. Online games generated approximately 96.8% of this segment’s net revenue, compared with 96.1% in the previous quarter and 93.7% in Q3 2023.
Mobile games accounted for 70.8% of online game revenue, down from 76.4% in the previous quarter and from 77.6% in the same quarter in 2023.
Gross profit for Q3 2024 was RMB 16.5bn ($2.3 billion), up 3.1% from the previous quarter but down 3% compared with Q3 2023.
‘Evergreen’ Tencent titles help drive 8% revenue growth
Chinese giant Tencent has reported an 8% year-over-year increase in revenue to RMB 167.2bn ($23.1bn) for its Q3 2024. Gross profit was up 16% to RMB 88.8bn ($12.3bn).
Revenue from its domestic games business increased by 14% year-over-year to RMB 37.3bn ($5.1bn), while its international games saw revenue rise 9% to RMB 14.5bn ($2bn).
The Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile maker said revenue growth in its games business was underpinned by the “consistent performance of evergreen games globally” and “contributions from new games with evergreen potential” like Dungeon & Fighter Mobile.
Embracer mobile games sales down 8%
Embracer’s net sales from mobile games during its second quarter fell 8% year-over-year to SEK 1.358bn ($123.5m). Its top five revenue generating titles were Sudoku.com, BlockuDoku, Alien Invasion, Art Puzzle and Jigsaw Puzzles – many of which will soon become part of Miniclip.
The mobile revenue decline was relatively small compared to the fall in console and PC sales, which were down 46% year-over-year. Overall, the company’s net sales declined 21%.
For its mobile games business, profitability as measured by adjusted EBIT rose by 0.5% to SEK 374m ($34.2m), yielding a 28% adjusted EBIT margin. User acquisition costs fell by 15.6% year-over-year to SEK 591 million ($53.8m), or 44% of net sales.
Total daily active users during Q2 were down 13% year-over-year to 27m, while total monthly active users fell 15% to 214m.
Sales and earnings decline at Ten Square Games
Fishing Clash maker Ten Square Games has reported year-over-year declines in sales and earnings for its Q3. Revenue was down by 11% to PLN 94m ($22.9m), bookings dropped by 7.3% to PLN 102.3m ($24.9m), adjusted EBITDA declined by 24.4% to PLN 26.5m ($6.5m), and net profit fell by 43.4% to PLN 12.5m ($3m).
Merge Mayor surpasses $25m revenue, 6m downloads
Town building puzzler Merge Mayor has generated $25m in gross revenue, according to creator StarBerry Games. The Berlin-based developer said the game hit the milestone in July 2024, several months after its third anniversary, and it has now been downloaded over 6m times.
Power Rangers helps lift East Side Games revenue 3.5%
Canadian firm East Side Games Group has posted revenue of CAD 21.4m ($15.2m) for its Q3. That’s a 3% increase year-over-year and a 4% increase quarter-over-quarter. The company said adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended in September was $2.56m, representing a 12% margin.
The launch of Power Rangers Mighty Force was cited as one of the company’s key growth drivers. It also highlighted the performance of new bi-monthly season passes for Trailer Park Boys: Greasy Money and Cheech and Chong: Bud Farm.
Daily active users in Q3 totalled 236k (down 1% year-over-year), with an average revenue per daily active user of $0.99 (up 3% year-over-year).
Say Games plans to invest up to $30m in hybridcasual studios
Say Games plans to invest up to $30m in studios specialising in hybridcasual games over the next three years.
As part of a multi-year investment strategy, it has already distributed $10m across five studios, with one beneficiary being Redux.Games, maker of My Perfect Hotel, which has topped $100m in revenue.
