Mobile Gaming Publishers Recap H1 2024 by Revenue
All the data is gathered from AppMagic.
We’ve completed the first half of 2024, and it’s been an intense period for me personally, leading my team. Last week, I decided to dive into the latest snapshot of the mobile gaming industry, leveraging tools like AppMagic for deep market analysis.
Before we proceed, here’s a preview of what you’ll find in this post:
- Top 10 Publishers in H1 2024 by net IAP revenue
- One honorable mention
- Comparison between H1 2023 and H1 2024 Performance of Top 10 Publishers
Top 10 Publishers in H1 2024 by net IAP revenue
Chinese Publishers are Dominating the Market
Here we are, in our Top 10 Publishers list, with 4 publishers from China, 2 from the US, 1 from Ireland, 1 from Finland, 1 from Turkey, and 1 from Sweden.
Chinese publishers are mainly focusing on RPG, Simulator, and Strategy games. Not a surprise 🙂 Also, all 4 have applications as well. However, we will go through releasing apps as a gaming publisher topic in our next blog. So, let’s continue with the gaming industry.
Let’s Check the Top Titles of Each Publisher
Shenzhen Tencent
The giant is here. Of course, we will not mention Tencent Holding, otherwise, we would have to accumulate the revenues of Supercell, Riot Games, Miniclip, and the others to calculate the cumulative one.
The majority of Tencent Games’ revenue comes from the top 3 titles:
NetEase
The runner-up, which will pass the 1B USD net IAP revenue this week, or maybe while I am writing this, they could have already passed.
The majority of NetEase’s revenue comes from the top 4 titles:
NetEase doesn’t focus on the Western market; they are really strong in the Asian market.
Scopely
The king of entertainment IPs. Scopely has really strong partners in the entertainment industry, and with this power, they can generate really strong IAP revenue.
The majority of Scopely’s revenue comes from 1 title:
But in its portfolio, there are other strong IP-based games such as:
- MARVEL Strike Force: Squad RPG
- Star Trek™ Fleet Command
- Yahtzee® with Buddies Dice
Playrix
Playrix is one of the best casual puzzle game developers. They use decoration meta gameplay in the most efficient way. AppMagic tagged such games as Gardenscapes-like.
So, I mentioned the strongest title, Gardenscapes, but the majority of Playrix’s revenue comes from 4 different titles:
miHoYo (aka HoYoverse)
miHoYo is a leading Chinese mobile gaming publisher known for creating highly successful, top-grossing titles like the global phenomenon Genshin Impact, which has generated over $4 billion in revenue and established the company as a major challenger to industry giants Tencent and NetEase in the world’s largest gaming market.
The majority of miHoYo’s revenue comes from 2 titles:
Supercell
Supercell is a highly successful Finnish mobile game developer and publisher known for creating genre-defining, top-grossing titles like Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Brawl Stars. Also, Tencent Holding has 81.4% of Supercell’s shares.
The majority of Supercell’s revenue comes from 5 titles:
King
Another puzzler is here, and they probably own the most well-known game all around the world, Candy Crush 🍬. Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga make up the majority of King’s revenue.
Dream Games
King Robert became an internet celebrity, and a really large world population tried to save him from trouble. Dream Games has only 2 active titles, but the majority of their revenue comes from Royal Match.
Roblox Corporation
Roblox Corporation is a leading global mobile gaming platform and publisher known for its user-generated, social gaming experiences that have amassed over 164 million monthly active users, primarily among younger audiences. Probably, Roblox’s net revenue is higher than this because Robux (In-Game Currency) can be bought over the Roblox Website. However, even the tracked net IAP revenue over the Apple Store and Google Play is still high enough to be listed in the Top 10 :)
Century Games
❄️ Brrr! So cold!
Yep, the creator of Whiteout Survivor is on the list as well. The game performs so well. Of course, Century Games is one of the leaders of the global mobile gaming industry known for its diverse portfolio of successful titles across genres. But definitely, they are good at 4x Strategy games. Across 24 game titles, the most valuable one is Whiteout Survivor. Therefore, I don’t want to write about the rest of the games.
Honorable Mention
There is another strong publisher, whose core gameplay is a simple gate runner with a detailed 4x meta layer. You probably recall the game after this :)
FirstFun HK is slightly behind Century Games. In 2023, there was no revenue by them, but at the beginning of 2024, they started promoting “Last War: Survival” and they made a really huge amount of money.
Congrats to them. Zero to hero with one game.
Of course, they are backed by Rivergames in my opinion, but the internet says the opposite of my thought, LOL.
I tried to briefly explain which titles these publishers use to achieve success. Of course, they are huge, but still, you may get insight from their strategies.
At the beginning of 2024, we are seeking funds for our gaming studio. We had many meetings with VCs and I joined many speeches. Many people were saying the mobile game industry is in winter. So, I decided to compare the Top 10 Publishers’ H1 2023 and H1 2024 revenues. Let’s see what’s changed.
Comparison of H1 2023 vs H1 2024 by NET IAP Revenue
Total NET revenue increased by 1.8B USD compared to the previous year’s first half.
Between these 11 publishers, 3 publishers lost NET IAP revenue between 7–21%.
The rest of them increased their revenues. But the star of gained publishers is FirstFun.
- Last year, they didn’t generate any IAP revenue, but this year they had 9M% growth. 🤯
Note: Last year, in the top 11 list, Bandai Namco and Zynga were listed instead of Century Games and FirstFun, but this year they couldn’t be listed.
Disclaimer: Some publishers have applications in their portfolio, such as Tencent and NetEase. In this table, the revenue from apps is included. I will write a blog related to this topic soon.
Conclusion
Due to the revenue of the top publishers, there is no winter at all in the mobile gaming industry.
The mobile gaming industry is still evolving, with significant shifts in revenue and market dynamics even within a year. The H1 2024 revenue comparison highlights how agile and adaptive publishers can thrive, while others may struggle to maintain their positions. Chinese publishers continue to dominate, showcasing their stronghold on the market, while innovative newcomers like FirstFun demonstrate the potential for rapid growth with the right strategy.
As we look ahead, understanding these shifts and the strategies behind these successes is crucial for anyone in the mobile gaming industry. Whether you’re a seasoned publisher or an emerging studio, there’s always something to learn from these industry giants. Stay tuned for our next blog post, where we’ll delve deeper into the role of applications in a gaming publisher’s portfolio and explore more insights into what drives success in this dynamic field.
