Top Grossing Mobile Games of 2022

[Astrogamer]

This data comes from mobilegamer.biz via Appmagic

1. Honor of Kings - $2,223M
2. PUBG Mobile - $1,725M
3. Genshin Impact - $1,561M
4. Candy Crush Saga - $1,026M
5. Roblox - $861M
6. Coin Master - $820M
7. Romance of the Three Kingdoms - $712M
8. Pokémon Go - $703M
9. Fantasy Westward Journey - $601M
10. Monster Strike - $589M

This is the list of top 10 publishers

1. Tencent - $6,377M
2. NetEase - $2,290M
3. Mihoyo - $1,718M
4. Playrix - $1,652M
5. King - $1,527M
6. NCsoft - $1,216M
7. Bandai Namco - $1,170M
8. Supercell - $1,052M
9. Zynga - $888M
10. Roblox - $861M

2022’s top grossing mobile games: Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, Genshin Impact and more - Mobilegamer.biz

Here are the top earners globally from the last twelve months, according to Appmagic data.

mobilegamer.biz

2022’s top grossing mobile game publishers - Mobilegamer.biz

The 2022 numbers are in: here are last year’s top grossing publishers worldwide, according to Appmagic data.

mobilegamer.biz

 

[enpleinjour]

Tencent owns Supercell, so altogether Tencent is at $7.4B. Wish the markets were segregated with China and without China, as China's rules force foreign companies to license their IP to basically Tencent and NetEase.

I would like to say without that, the global market, has most of the top companies relatively even, $1-2B.

One thing that has surprised me when looking at the data, despite the headlines all mentioning how huge the total mobile market is, on an individual level, the mobile publishers are quite far behind the big AAA console/PC publishers. Some can remember when there story was mobile gaming was going to replace console/PC gaming. The reality has been mobile is an additive market that allows the traditional pubs to leverage their IPs further.

• Nintendo ~ $5.2B
• EA ~ $5B
• ATVI ~ $5B
• T2 ~ $3.4B
• Sony ~ $3B
• Epic ~$3B

Also puts into perspective how huge Fortnite was at its peak, making $5.5B in a single year on consoles/PC.

 

[ILikeFeet]

if MS would acquire Activision Blizzard, I wonder how they will leverage King's hold. will they use it to augment the exposure of their Xbox IPs, or will King keep the course autonomously

 

[Baki]

This data comes from mobilegamer.biz via Appmagic

1. Honor of Kings - $2,223M
2. PUBG Mobile - $1,725M
3. Genshin Impact - $1,561M
4. Candy Crush Saga - $1,026M
5. Roblox - $861M
6. Coin Master - $820M
7. Romance of the Three Kingdoms - $712M
8. Pokémon Go - $703M
9. Fantasy Westward Journey - $601M
10. Monster Strike - $589M

This is the list of top 10 publishers

1. Tencent - $6,377M
2. NetEase - $2,290M
3. Mihoyo - $1,718M
4. Playrix - $1,652M
5. King - $1,527M
6. NCsoft - $1,216M
7. Bandai Namco - $1,170M
8. Supercell - $1,052M
9. Zynga - $888M
10. Roblox - $861M

2022’s top grossing mobile games: Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, Genshin Impact and more - Mobilegamer.biz

Here are the top earners globally from the last twelve months, according to Appmagic data.

mobilegamer.biz

2022’s top grossing mobile game publishers - Mobilegamer.biz

The 2022 numbers are in: here are last year’s top grossing publishers worldwide, according to Appmagic data.

mobilegamer.biz

Square Enix makes almost as much as Zynga in mobile games. Although overall revenue for both companies are similar ($2B range). Square Enix currently valued at $5.6B. Zynga was valued at $7.1B before T2 bought them for $12B (67% premium lol).

 

[JohnSmith]

Tencent owns Supercell, so altogether Tencent is at $7.4B. Wish the markets were segregated with China and without China, as China's rules force foreign companies to license their IP to basically Tencent and NetEase.

I would like to say without that, the global market, has most of the top companies relatively even, $1-2B.

One thing that has surprised me when looking at the data, despite the headlines all mentioning how huge the total mobile market is, on an individual level, the mobile publishers are quite far behind the big AAA console/PC publishers. Some can remember when there story was mobile gaming was going to replace console/PC gaming. The reality has been mobile is an additive market that allows the traditional pubs to leverage their IPs further.

• Nintendo ~ $5.2B
• EA ~ $5B
• ATVI ~ $5B
• T2 ~ $3.4B
• Sony ~ $3B
• Epic ~$3B

Also puts into perspective how huge Fortnite was at its peak, making $5.5B in a single year on consoles/PC.

The cost and risk in doing a mobile game is far less, which is a major reason in addition to the profits.

 

[Astrogamer]

I had not realized this but 4gamer has been posting SensorTower 2022 rankings in their weekly posts for the Japanese market. It's similar to appmagic's listed in the OP but there are some big differences

スマホゲームのセルラン分析（2023年1月5日〜1月11日）。今週の1位は「ウマ娘 プリティーダービー」。昨年における全世界の売上ランキングも

　世界有数のスマホゲーム大国である日本において，現在最も売れているタイトルを始めとした，さまざまなデータを毎週お届けする本連載。今週のランキング1位は「ウマ娘 プリティーダービー」である。今回は，2022年における全世界の売上ランキングも紹介しよう。

www.4gamer.net

This is the top 10 games

Rank	Title	Publisher	YoY%
1	Arena of Valor/Honor of Kings	Tencent	1%
2	PUBG MOBILE	Tencent	-25%
3	Genshin Impact	miHoYo	4%
4	Candy Crush Saga	Activision Blizzard	16%
5	Roblox	Roblox	-11%
6	Coin Master	Moon Active	-10%
7	Pokémon GO	Niantic	-25%
8	Romance of the Three Kingdoms	Alibaba	-8%
9	Uma Musume Pretty Derby	Cygames	-17%
10	Fate/Grand Order	Aniplex	-16%

スマホゲームのセルラン分析（2023年1月12日〜1月18日）。今週の1位は「モンスターストライク」。昨年における全世界のパブリッシャ別ランキングも

　世界有数のスマホゲーム大国である日本において，現在最も売れているタイトルを始めとした，さまざまなデータを毎週お届けする本連載。今週のランキング1位は，「ガンダム」シリーズとのコラボイベントを実施している「モンスターストライク」である。今回は，昨年における全世界のパブリッシャ別ランキングも紹介しよう。

www.4gamer.net

This is the top 10 publishers

Rank	Publisher	YoY%
1	Tencent	-6%
2	Activision Blizzard	7%
3	NetEase	-20%
4	Playrix	-12%
5	Take-Two Interactive	-13%
6	miHoYo	3%
7	Playtika	-4%
8	Bandai Namco	-8%
9	Netmarble	-24%
10	NCSOFT	4%

 

[fiendcode]

Tencent owns Supercell, so altogether Tencent is at $7.4B. Wish the markets were segregated with China and without China, as China's rules force foreign companies to license their IP to basically Tencent and NetEase.

I would like to say without that, the global market, has most of the top companies relatively even, $1-2B.

One thing that has surprised me when looking at the data, despite the headlines all mentioning how huge the total mobile market is, on an individual level, the mobile publishers are quite far behind the big AAA console/PC publishers. Some can remember when there story was mobile gaming was going to replace console/PC gaming. The reality has been mobile is an additive market that allows the traditional pubs to leverage their IPs further.

• Nintendo ~ $5.2B
• EA ~ $5B
• ATVI ~ $5B
• T2 ~ $3.4B
• Sony ~ $3B
• Epic ~$3B

Also puts into perspective how huge Fortnite was at its peak, making $5.5B in a single year on consoles/PC.

The Nintendo figure's low, their packaged software FGS alone will be near $5B annually. You add dlc, services, digital only software, as is included for the others like EA, T2, etc, and they'll be closer to $6b at least.

edit: Fornite's annual peak was $5.8B (2021) but that's all platforms? Where are you finding $5.5B for console+PC only?

 

[Astrogamer]

This is the regional rankings from Sensor Tower. Missed that they already released the Japanese annual rankings but, they are from mid December 2021 to mid December 2022, instead of the calendar year for the rest of them.
US - https://www.4gamer.net/games/236/G023612/20230131049/

Rank	Title	YoY Change
1	Candy Crush Saga	6%
2	Roblox	-23%
3	Coin Master	-14%
4	Royal Match	136%
5	Pokémon GO	-15%
6	Evony	87%
7	Clash of Clans	-1%
8	Homescapes	-19%
9	Bingo Blitz	5%
10	Jackpot Party	8%

Europe- https://www.4gamer.net/games/275/G027528/20230207057/

Rank	Title	YoY Change
1	Coin Master	3%
2	Candy Crush Saga	31%
3	Roblox	-7%
4	State of Survival	-18%
5	Gardenscapes	-11%
6	PUBG Mobile	-26%
7	Clash of Clans	4%
8	Homescapes	-17%
9	Fishdom	10%
10	Pokémon Go	-30%

Japan - https://www.4gamer.net/games/456/G045622/20221221001/

Rank	Title
1	Uma Musume: Pretty Derby
2	Monster Strike
3	Fate/Grand Order
4	Pro Baseball Spirits A
5	Puzzle & Dragons
6	Genshin Impact
7	Dragon Quest Walk
8	Pokémon Go
9	Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle
10	Knives Out

China - https://www.4gamer.net/games/275/G027528/20230215001/

Rank	Title
1	Arena of Valor (Honor of Kings)
2	PUBG Mobile
3	Genshin Impact
4	Fantasy Westward Journey
5	Romance of the Three Kingdoms
6	League of Legends: Wild Rift
7	Teamfight Tactics
8	Crossfire Tactics
9	One Thought
10	Osaku

S. Korea https://www.4gamer.net/games/236/G023612/20230221001/

Rank	Title
1	Lineage W
2	Lineage M
3	ODIN: Valhalla Rising
4	Lineage 2M
5	Dungeon & Fighter Mobile
6	Heroes of the Sky
7	FIFA Online 4M
8	Genshin Impact
9	HIT2
10	Roblox

 

[Vena]

Genshin's collapse on mobile in NA/Europe has been interesting to watch. The severity of the decline in the back half of 2022 is masked by a strong early 2022.

 

[Astrogamer]

JAPAN’S TOP 10 MOBILE GAMES IN 2022 (BY REVENUE) – Kantan Games Inc. CEO Blog – From Tokyo, Japan

www.serkantoto.com

Got this source from a newsletter
This is the top 10 mobile games in Japan with estimated gross sales from Kadokawa ASCII

1. Monster Strike: US$705M
2. Uma Musume Pretty Derby: US$675M
3. Fate/Grand Order: US$473M
4. Puzzle & Dragons: US$319M
5. Genshin Impact: US$286M
6. Pro Baseball Spirits A: US$263M
7. Dragon Quest Walk: US$215M
8. Knives Out: US$185M
9. Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle: US$182M
10. Pokemon Go: US$173M

We also now know that these 10 games combined account for about a third of the Japanese mobile game market for 2022

 

[Vena]

JAPAN’S TOP 10 MOBILE GAMES IN 2022 (BY REVENUE) – Kantan Games Inc. CEO Blog – From Tokyo, Japan

www.serkantoto.com

Got this source from a newsletter
This is the top 10 mobile games in Japan with estimated gross sales from Kadokawa ASCII

1. Monster Strike: US$705M
2. Uma Musume Pretty Derby: US$675M
3. Fate/Grand Order: US$473M
4. Puzzle & Dragons: US$319M
5. Genshin Impact: US$286M
6. Pro Baseball Spirits A: US$263M
7. Dragon Quest Walk: US$215M
8. Knives Out: US$185M
9. Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle: US$182M
10. Pokemon Go: US$173M

We also now know that these 10 games combined account for about a third of the Japanese mobile game market for 2022

I was curious for something of a YoY but the website only has earlier data for some reason from 2019 before. So I went looking and only concrete data I could find was a 2021 article from Statistia: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1028613/japan-leading-mobile-games-by-sales/

Which may actually share similar data source but I cannot view their "source" link without an account, hah. Convert from billions of Yen to USD:

1. Uma Musume Pretty Derby: US$977M
2. Fate/Grand Order: US$691M
3. Monster Strike: US$557M
4. Puzzle & Dragons: US$394M
5. Pro Baseball Spirits A: US$361M
6. Dragon Quest Walk: US$344M
7. Genshin Impact: US$294M
8. Pokemon Go: US$287M
9. Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle: US$203M
10. Hochi Shojo: US$200M

These numbers roughly make sense from what I would have expected from 2021 and the trends into 2022 seem to match the market movements of the top hitters.

Also regardless of the movements of things outside of the top 2, the gap between the top and everything else remains largely unchanged and a massive gulf.

 

[Astrogamer]

The likely source is probably the same as the one Serkan Toto gets this year's data from which would be the Famitsu Mobile Game White Paper. It looks like the previous editions are still available but it is only available physically (the regular Game White Paper has a eBook version). The link I posted has a link to the 2023 edition (https://f-ism.net/fgh/2023mobile.html) and if you just change the year, you can find the pages for the other years' books.

Edit: Looking around more, I found the ebook option with options for Bookwalker and Kindle

ファミ通モバイルゲーム白書（ビジネスファミ通）(実用)の電子書籍無料試し読みならBOOK☆WALKER

ファミ通モバイルゲーム白書（ビジネスファミ通）、検索結果(実用)の電子書籍の作品一覧(最新刊から)です。KADOKAWAグループ内外の電子書籍を数多く配信中。新着のマンガ（漫画）・ライトノベル、文芸・小説、新書、実用書、写真集、雑誌など幅広く掲載。

bookwalker.jp

(2022 edition)

 

[Vena]

The likely source is probably the same as the one Serkan Toto gets this year's data from which would be the Famitsu Mobile Game White Paper. It looks like the previous editions are still available but it is only available physically (the regular Game White Paper has a eBook version). The link I posted has a link to the 2023 edition (https://f-ism.net/fgh/2023mobile.html) and if you just change the year, you can find the pages for the other years' books.

Edit: Looking around more, I found the ebook option with options for Bookwalker and Kindle

ファミ通モバイルゲーム白書（ビジネスファミ通）(実用)の電子書籍無料試し読みならBOOK☆WALKER

ファミ通モバイルゲーム白書（ビジネスファミ通）、検索結果(実用)の電子書籍の作品一覧(最新刊から)です。KADOKAWAグループ内外の電子書籍を数多く配信中。新着のマンガ（漫画）・ライトノベル、文芸・小説、新書、実用書、写真集、雑誌など幅広く掲載。

bookwalker.jp

(2022 edition)

That would be a logical source, and not unlikely to be what both used for such a specific market subsegment.

Regardless of the immediate source, they tell a similar picture to what Serkan Tot was talking about in that once you leave the Top 2, and then the Top 3, you are dropping by hundred to hundreds of millions in revenue just from those three spots.

It does seem the market contracted quite a bit from 2021 to 2022, I wonder if this is a post-pandemic cooling. Almost every title is down a little to a lot except Monster Strike.

 

[Astrogamer]

We generally see the drop off around the top 3 for most markets. In the US, there's probably a big drop off from just Candy Crush to Roblox and then another drop off after Royal Match to Pokemon Go, given that Pokemon Go does well in Europe and Japan as well.
There's also the massive inflation that happened last year. That inflation probably had a wider spread dampening effect on top of general pandemic cooling on luxury spending which probably cools off the mobile market a fair bit more.