Here are Appmagic’s top grossing charts for 2024.
First, the usual caveats: Appmagic’s revenue estimates are based on publisher payout, and therefore do not include Apple or Google’s 30%. Of course, they do not include ad revenue or webshop revenue either, nor China’s fragmented Android ecosystem. Still, these numbers are indicative of the shape and size of things.
There’s more 2024 analysis elsewhere on the site, through the below links:
– 2024’s top downloads
– 2024’s top publishers by downloads
– 2024’s top grossing publishers
Also, Appmagic’s live monthly top grossing and top downloads charts are here.
It’s been another terrible year for Tencent’s Honor of Kings, which earned just $1.87bn in 2024.
Seriously though, Tencent’s monster MOBA had another go at cracking the west in 2024 with what amounts to its second global launch. But once again it didn’t really work – the vast majority of Honor of Kings’ revenue still comes from China ($1.84bn in 2024), while the game’s second biggest market, the USA, earned Tencent ‘just’ $5.6m last year. A rounding error, basically.
Western developers occupy the next three slots, though. Second-placed Monopoly Go earned Scopely $1.58bn in 2024, having raked in $777m in 2023. This might just be its peak in terms of IAP earnings, though – after posting spectacular numbers in the first half of 2024, Appmagic says Monopoly Go tailed off – though of course a lot of that cash may be going to Scopely direct though its webshop, which is impossible to estimate.
Royal Match comfortably beat match 3 rival Candy Crush Saga, ending the year in third place. Having earned $932m in 2023, it’s up year-on-year by over $530m to a record $1.46bn. And it’s not got a webshop yet either…we assume there’s a big scrap going on among webshop providers to claim that prize.
It’s been another stellar year for Roblox, too, despite some controversy. Its highest-ever IAP earnings total of $1.19bn places it in fourth spot, and it also topped the 2024 download rankings again. Its cross-platform presence means App Store and Google Play IAPs aren’t nearly the full picture for this massive UGC platform, though.
PUBG Mobile broke the $2bn barrier in 2021, and it is usually a top contender. But it fell three spots in the rankings this year with $1.18bn earned, a little down on 2023’s total. The drop in rankings here is more due to increased competition than any major earnings wobble, though as we noted in another recent chart analysis, it had a terrible December.
Last War’s incredible rise through 2024 saw it end up as the sixth biggest earner by IAP with $1.15bn last year. That’s up 531 spots after pulling in $15.2m from late 2023 onwards.
Candy Crush Saga is actually up a little on 2023’s full year IAP earnings, but drops three spots for 2024 due to the newer contenders above. It’s still a very, very steady earner for King, and one that keeps ticking upwards year-on-year even after well over a decade on the app stores.
Rising 24 places is Whiteout Survival, which was very close to breaking $1bn in 2024. It’ll do that comfortably in 2025 if it can maintain even half the momentum it gained last year. Monthly earnings just kept going up and up – from $53m in January to a whopping $123m in December.
Tencent’s DNF Mobile ends the year in ninth spot as the top new entry for 2024. It’s another one powered entirely by players in China, who have spent nearly $800m on the game since its launch in May.
Rounding out the top ten is Moon Active’s Coin Master, which is waning a little after breaking the $1bn barrier in 2021. It has steadily declined since then, but remains pretty resilient even with a very similar product like Monopoly Go on the scene.
The top grossing mobile games of 2024: 11-20 and beyond
11. Brawl Stars (Supercell): $662m
12. Honkai: Star Rail (Mihoyo): $596m
13. Pokémon Go (Niantic): $545m
14. Genshin Impact (Mihoyo): $514m
15. Gardenscapes (Playrix): $504m
16. Township (Playrix): $403m
17. Monster Strike (Xflag): $393m
18. TfT: Golden Spatula (Tencent): $379m
19. Legend of Mushroom (Joy Net): $361m
20. Clash of Clans (Supercell): $356m
Brawl Stars’ much talked-about comeback boosted it up the rankings 79 places year-on-year, ending 2024 with over $662m in IAP earnings (it pulled in $115m in 2023). Supercell won’t be quite so pleased with new launch Squad Busters, though – it entered the chart down in 161st place with $65m earned, having launched in May.
Honkai: Star Rail’s very bumpy earnings profile means it dropped out of the top ten earners in 2024, earning about $100m less than it did in 2023. Stablemate Genshin Impact fared worse, dropping from $979m in 2023 to $514m last year. New Mihoyo game Zenless Zone Zero launched in July and ended up in 56th spot, pulling in $183m in its debut year.
Sandwiched in between those top two Mihoyo games is Pokémon Go, which is down a little year-on-year from $584m in 2023 to $545m last year. But it is apparently making very good money through its webshop, whose earnings are obviously not included here.
Playrix duo Gardenscapes and Township land in this 11-20 bracket for the second year running, though they have seen contrasting fortunes – Gardenscapes earnings are down by about $130m year-on-year, but Township is up from $374m in 2023 to $403m in 2024.
Monster Strike is now in steady decline, and dropped about $57m in IAP earnings year-on-year, but Riot/Tencent’s Teamfight Tactics spin-off Golden Spatula had a strong year, up 17 places and about $120m in IAP earnings year-on-year.
A cracking year for Legend of Mushroom saw the idle RPG leap 596 places into 19th slot with $361m earned, and Supercell’s Clash of Clans held onto a top 20 spot despite dropping about $23m in IAP earnings year-on-year.
Outside the top 20 Playrix’s Homescapes dropped nine spots to 21st as it lost about $110m in IAP earnings year-on-year, while Fishdom dropped a little too, but only by about $4m.
Up 20 places to 24 is Konami’s eFootball, which grew IAP earnings year-on-year by about $92m, landing on $304m for 2024. Just behind that in 25th spot is newbie Love and Deepspace, which racked up $295m since launch in January. Toon Blast also had a good year, growing IAP earnings by about $87m year-on-year to reach $287m in 2024.
Despite only launching on October 30, Pokémon TCG Pocket made it into the top grossing charts at number 31 with $267m earned. Moon Active’s Travel Town jumped up 92 places year-on-year to hit $224m in 2024, while new Playtika buy Dice Dreams also grew nicely, up from earning $116m in 2023 to $206m last year.
Zynga’s Match Factory is new at 57th on $178m, while fellow newbie AFK Journey debuted at 68 with $152m earned in IAP during 2024. Lilith’s Rise of Kingdoms seems to be fading, dropping 33 places and shedding $121m in IAP earnings year-on-year, landing on $177m.
As we noted in the 2024 downloads article, Activision won’t be happy with Warzone Mobile’s performance. It debuted in 540th spot with $15m earned since launch in March 2024.
And it’s looking grim for Zynga’s Star Wars Hunters. The 1000th top grossing game, which has an indecipherable Chinese name, earned $6.5m in 2024; but Hunters earned a paltry $2.9m last year, so it’s safe to say Hunters is not anywhere near even the biggest 1000 earners in 2024.
