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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Pokémon TCG Pocket banks $24m
The latest Appmagic estimates suggest that Pokémon TCG Pocket has now earned The Pokémon Company $24.4m since its launch a week ago.
That’s from 11m downloads to date, with much of the spend coming from Japan (43%) and the US (26%). On installs, the US is top with 30% of the 11m downloads to date, followed by Brazil (12%) and Mexico (6%).
It is now earning The Pokémon Company around $3.5m per day, and peaked at over $4m on November 3.
Call of Duty Mobile hits 1bn downloads
Call of Duty Mobile has topped one billion downloads worldwide, based on internal estimates from publisher Activision. The milestone was reached shortly after the game celebrated its fifth anniversary on October 1.
Call of Duty: Mobile’s Season 10 — 5th Anniversary update will launch on November 6 at 5pm PT. It will introduce a new battle royale map, a new character class and a fresh weapon, among other features.
Nintendo Music app passes 1m installs
Appmagic estimates suggest Nintendo’s new Music app has just passed 1m downloads. Released on October 31, it allows Switch Online subscribers to listen to streams of retro Nintendo game soundtracks.
Total downloads to date on iOS are at 595k, while Android is on 405k. Leading markets for the iOS app are the US, Japan, UK, Germany and South Korea, while on Android the top ranking markets are the US, Mexico, Japan, France and Germany.
Revenue up 29% for Roblox in Q3
Roblox has reported $919m in revenue for its Q3, which is up 29% year-over-year. Bookings, meanwhile, were up 34% year-over-year to $1.12bn. The company’s net losses fell 13.7%, from $277.2m to $239.3m.
It said Q3 bookings “benefited from unusually high growth” in its console business following Roblox’s PlayStation launch. Console accounted for 8% of total Q3 bookings, with the remaining 92% primarily from non-console platforms including mobile and PC. Q3 non-console bookings were up 28% year-over-year.
Roblox’s average daily active users (DAU) increased 27% year-over-year to 88.9m, and average bookings per DAU rose 6% to $12.70. Average monthly unique payers totalled 19.1m, a 30% increase, and those users spent $19.70 on average. For hours engaged, Roblox reported a rise of 29% year-over-year to 20.7 billion.
Capcom’s mobile sales up 33% in H1 FY25
Capcom’s mobile games sub-segment was a bright if relatively small spot in its Digital Contents business during H1 FY25. Mobile sales totalled 2bn yen (~$13.1m) during the six months ended in September, which was up 33% year-over-year.
The publisher highlighted the performances of Monster Hunter Now, which has exceeded 15m downloads since its release last September, and Monster Hunter Puzzles: Felyne Isles, which has surpassed 1m downloads since its release in June.
Mobile accounted for 5% of total sales for Capcom’s games business, which slumped following a relatively light release schedule compared to H1 FY24.
EA’s mobile net bookings down 3% in Q2
Electronic Arts has posted another decline in net bookings on mobile, which fell 3% year-over-year for its second quarter.
While EA said FC Mobile “saw net bookings growth from increased monetisation”, this is the second consecutive year that net bookings for mobile have fallen in Q2.
The last time Q2 net bookings increased was in FY23, when they reached $296m. Since then, they have dropped to $279m in Q2 FY24 and to $270m during Q2 FY25.
Looking at the trailing 12-month period, the picture is similar, with mobile net bookings falling from $1.252bn in Q2 FY23 to $1.216bn in Q2 FY24 (down 2.9%) and $1.165b in Q2 FY25 (down 4.2%).
Mobile was comfortably EA’s least lucrative platform for net bookings during Q2. ‘PC and other’ net bookings were down 16% year-over-year to $327m, while console net bookings were up 29% to $1.482bn.
Mobile accounts for 8% of Ubisoft bookings for 2024
Ubisoft made 8% of its net bookings from mobile during the second quarter of its 2024-25 financial year, which was flat year-over-year. Mobile accounted for 9% of net bookings for the first six months of the year, which was also flat year-over-year.
The French publishing giant didn’t provide any updates on upcoming mobile games Assassin’s Creed Jade, Rainbow Six Mobile or The Division Resurgence.
Microsoft’s Q1 gaming revenue jumps 43%, thanks to Activision
Microsoft’s Q1 gaming revenue was up 43% year-over-year to $5.62bn, driven by its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Remove the Call of Duty maker from the equation and revenue would have been flat year-over-year.
For the three months ended in September, Xbox hardware revenue was down 29% year-over-year, but content and services revenue was up 61%, largely thanks to Activision Blizzard, which accounted for $1.69bn (30%) of overall gaming revenue.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company set new records for monthly active users in the quarter “as more players than ever play our games across devices and on the Xbox platform”, while Game Pass “set a new Q1 record for total revenue and average revenue per subscriber”.
72% of top-grossing games operate a web store
72% of top-grossing games mobile have their own web store, according to research from Appcharge.
It used Sensor Tower data to identify the 20 highest earning US games across several leading genres in August, and looked at how many of them are embracing direct-to-consumer monetisation.
Web store adoption was strongest among genres featuring games with high ARPU. 100% of the top social casino games had their own web store, followed by 80% of leading strategy games, and 75% of top action games.
In contrast, just 30% of leading casual games, with their relatively low ARPU and greater reliance on impulse-driven IAP, had their own web store.
Survey identifies top discovery channels and reasons for churn
Mistplay surveyed 2,300 North American adults about how they interact with the games they play for its Mobile Gaming Growth Report recently.
Two thirds (67%) said they discovered games through in-app ads, with app store exploration second (37%) and recommendations from friends third (25%). Alternative user acquisition channels include paid social (18.9%), offerwalls (16%) and influencers (7%).
Early churn is largely driven by misaligned expectations. 77% of players said their top reason to stop playing a game is the feeling that it’s too pay-to-win. 72% said a disruptive ad experience was the leading reason to stop playing, ahead of a misalignment between ads and gameplay (66%), and technical or performance issues (44%).
Top strategies to re-engage churned players include offering incentives (52%), releasing new content or features (49%), and running contests or sweepstakes (26%).
