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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Top 10 mobile games make $3.8bn in Q3
The world’s top 10 mobile games generated $3.8bn in gross IAP revenue in Q3, down 3% on Q2, according to Sensor Tower.
Honor of Kings held the number one spot with $556m, while Microfun’s Gossip Harbor rose from fourth to second with $444m. Whiteout Survival ($392m) and Royal Match ($386m) each slipped a place to third and fourth.
Pokémon Go was the biggest climber, jumping from 21st to ninth with $319m and more than doubling its revenue on the back of its 10th anniversary events. Roblox also broke into the top 10, rising from 12th to eighth with $322m, after revenue grew 56% quarter-on-quarter and downloads rose 27%.
Last Asylum: Plague leads 2026’s new launches
AppMagic has analysed the 158 mobile games released in 2026 that have so far reached $1m in IAP revenue.
4X strategy game Last Asylum: Plague leads the pack on $77.1m lifetime revenue, despite taking 18 days to reach $1m. Arknights: Endfield ($72.9m) and Hololive Dreams ($48.8m) hit the milestone in two days, while merge 2 game Hollywood Merge ($45.1m) took 40 days. Chinese shooter 逆战：未来 was the quickest of the 10, reaching $1m in a single day.
Puzzle games took twice as long as RPGs to reach $1m, but generated 2.15x higher median lifetime revenue. IP-based games reached that mark more than 2.4x faster than original titles, but their median lifetime revenue was only 30% higher.
Mobile to take 56.6% of games revenue in 2026
Mobile will account for 56.6% of global games revenue in 2026, ahead of console (21.9%) and PC (21.5%), according to Newzoo data in a new 108-page report from Google’s CEE apps lead Mariusz Gąsiewski.
Of the 3.7bn people expected to play games this year, 2.31bn play on Android and 795m on iOS, compared with 401m on Steam, 365m on PlayStation, 311m on the Epic Games Store, 247m on Nintendo and 231m on Xbox. Mobile is also forecast to have the fastest player growth, at 3.9% in 2026, ahead of PC (3.5%) and console (3%), and to stay ahead of both through to 2029.
South Korea fines Google and Apple $47.6m over app payments
South Korea’s Media and Communications Commission has fined Google and Apple a combined $47.6m for breaking the country’s app payment rules, Reuters reports.
Google was fined KRW 42.9bn ($32m) and Apple KRW 20.81bn ($15.6m). The regulator found both companies restricted external payments and charged a 26% commission on third-party payment options. Both have been ordered to allow links to external payment options. Apple said it disagreed with the decision and was reviewing its options.
Capcom’s games revenue up 70.8% to $538.4m in H1
Capcom’s Digital Contents segment, which includes its games, generated ¥85.1bn ($538.4m) in the six months to September 30, up 70.8% year-on-year. Total net sales rose 49% to ¥120.8bn ($764.2m).
Unit sales reached 36.86m, up from 23.85m a year earlier, driven by Resident Evil Requiem (more than 8m units), Pragmata (2.7m) and Onimusha: Way of the Sword (1.7m).
Xbox revenue down 2% as Minecraft hits record highs
Microsoft’s Xbox revenue fell 2% year-on-year in the three months to September 30, an improvement on the 10% decline the previous quarter, according to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. Content and services revenue was hit by lower third-party content and Game Pass performance, only partly offset by first-party growth, while hardware revenue fell 14%.
Minecraft saw “all-time highs in both engagement and revenue” in the quarter, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft expects Xbox content and services revenue to grow by mid- to high-single digits in the December quarter.
Aniimo passes 15m players and Tiles Survive hits 40m downloads
FunPlus-backed creature collector Aniimo has passed 15m players across mobile, PC and console since its global launch on September 16, developer Pawprint Studio said. The milestone arrived alongside its first major update, Departure with the Wind: Part 2, which adds 51 new Aniimo and runs until December 9.
FunPlus also said its game Tiles Survive has surpassed 40m downloads worldwide.
9 Kings tops 1m mobile downloads in two weeks
Playdigious’ mobile port of roguelike kingdom builder 9 Kings has passed 1m downloads two weeks after launch, making it the publisher’s most-downloaded free-to-try release, Playdigious said.
The game hit number one in the App Store’s strategy charts in six countries and the top 10 of all games in Germany and South Korea, and was Game of the Day in more than 170 territories.
Google Play picks 10 studios for $1m Africa fund
Google Play has named the 10 studios that will share its first $1m Indie Games Fund in Africa. Four are from Nigeria, four from South Africa and one each from Ghana and Kenya. Each will receive non-dilutive funding and mentoring from Google Play specialists.
Europe’s games industry employs 123,000 people
Europe’s games sector employs around 123,000 people across roughly 8,700 studios, according to Video Games Europe and EGDF. Women make up 24% of the workforce.
The UK has the largest workforce, with 28,520 people, followed by Poland (14,930), Germany (12,410) and France (12,000).
AppMagic’s decade in mobile: PUBG Mobile grew from $99m to $9.1bn
To mark its tenth anniversary, AppMagic has looked back at how the mobile market changed between 2016 and 2026.
In 2016, games held every spot in the global top 15 grossing apps. By 2025, total IAP revenue from non-gaming apps had overtaken games for the first time, and ChatGPT was both the world’s most downloaded app (990m) and its third-highest-grossing app ($1.9bn).
Among games, Honor of Kings has been the decade’s most durable number one, topping the grossing charts in six separate years, including 2026. PUBG Mobile made just $99m in its launch year but has since generated $9.1bn, while Free Fire MAX made nothing in its first year before going on to earn $3.3bn. Royal Match ($4.7bn) and Monopoly Go ($4.5bn) are among the decade’s other biggest breakouts.
Gossip Harbor has grown from $9m in its launch year to $1.4bn lifetime, and is one of only three top 10 grossing games still growing in 2026, up 95% year-on-year between January and October. The others are Kingshot (up 126%) and Honor of Kings (up 5%).
