Here’s our fifth and final batch of mobile games industry leaders with their games of the year.
You can see what fellow mobilegamer.biz readers at King, Xsolla, FunPlus, Big Fish, SciPlay, Kwalee, My Games and more chose in parts in parts one, two, three and four of this week’s articles.
Ignacio Monereo, Boost Capital partner
Squad Busters is the best game of the year. As with all previous Supercell games, super polished, well executed and lots of fun!
Chris Wilson, Metaplay head of marketing
My game of the year is Pokémon TCG Pocket. As it has with many others, this game has sent me into nostalgia overdrive, and has me fondly recalling younger days spent hiding Pokémon cards under my pillow so that if our house got burgled, they wouldn’t get stolen (such were the worries of life growing up in a leafy Birmingham suburb).
Naturally, it’s hard to recreate that kind of attachment with anything digital, but I feel like this does a decent job of coming close. (My house never did get burgled.)
Manuel Prueter, Colossi Games CEO
Did you know that there was only one new game developed outside of Asia that had more than $1 per download in IAPs, and more than five million downloads in 2024?
That one game, unsurprisingly, was quite an experiment at first for the company, but also shows how the people in the company reinvent themselves and create games that are actually both exciting to watch AND play.
It was Squad Busters by Supercell. In mobile, repeat success is not a question of money but the ingenuity of the game designers. Easy favourite of 2024 right there.
Tom Froud, Ludoforma founder
The highlights for me this year were Monster Hunter Now (my most played, but was released in 2023), Balatro (just a great concept) and Pokémon TCG Pocket (absolute money spinner).
So in short, Monster Hunter Now is my addiction, Balatro is my game designers’ choice and Pokémon TCG is my product/business persons’ choice.
Mike Gallagher, Untitled Labs founder
I have a controversial take on my games of the year – I’m going to go with Queens and Tango on LinkedIn. Not only are they incredibly sticky, but the simple mechanics, metrics you get about how you compared to other players, and the win streak achievements have had me coming back every day for over 100 days to keep my streak alive.
I have never played a mobile game to that degree. So I tip my hat to the Linkedin team.
Christian Lovstedt, Midjiwan CEO
Balatro+ on Apple Arcade is a great fusion of a deck-building game and poker, offering relaxed, laid-back play sessions and a perfect balance of strategy, luck, and resource management for success.
Gabi Weinberg, Hathora head of growth
My mobile game of the year is LinkedIn dropping games into their platform. I’m not entirely sure where the idea came from, but as I’ve started to play I’m seeing that it is definitely another way to get me glued to the platform. I do feel the casual nature of the games make them easy to pick up and I’m excited to get more into them in the future.
Alexey Meleshkevich, Goodville founder and CEO
Monopoly Go deserves recognition for turning simple core mechanics into a project of remarkable scale. Royal Match has also done a remarkable job, standing out in live ops, content, and player retention strategies.
Rana Rahman, Raptor PR founder and CEO
Grand Mountain Adventure has been around for a while, but I have frequently found myself playing it on my iPad. It’s a tour de force mobile gaming experience, which is full of nuance, fun, and skill, and devoid of aggressive monetisation. For me, it shows the potential of what mobile should be about.
Kian Hozouri, ByteBrew cofounder and COO
2024 marks another remarkable year in gaming with so many incredible titles launching. For me the game this year that had me constantly playing was My Superstore Simulator by the Game District team.
My Superstore Simulator was a perfect example of how to combine strategic decision-making and fun game mechanics that kept me as a player eager for another session. It’s absolutely astounding to see the surge of the Pakistan region this year – no doubt with massive contributions from the Game District team.
