Weekly Gaming Reports Recap: June 3 - June 7 (2024)
A big Q1'24 report from Sensor Tower; Newzoo shared top PC/Console titles by Revenue & MAU in April'24; top mobile titles by Revenue & Downloads from AppMagic in May.
Reports of the week:
AppMagic: Top Mobile Games by Revenue and Downloads in May 2024
Newzoo: Top 20 PC/Console Games of April 2024 by Revenue and MAU
ESA: Facts about the US Gaming Industry in 2024
SocialPeta & SuperSonic: Marketing in Casual & Puzzle Games in Q1 2024
Sensor Tower: Mobile (Gaming) Market in Q1'24
AppMagic: Top Mobile Games by Revenue and Downloads in May 2024
AppMagic provides revenue data excluding store commissions and taxes.
Revenue
Honor of Kings continues to show consistently impressive results. In May 2024, the game earned $152 million, with 98% of the revenue coming from the iOS version in China.
Monopoly GO! has lost some ground. The hit from Scopely finished May in 4th place with $93.2 million. Remember that we don’t see all the money, as the game has a webshop.
Tencent launched Dungeon Fighter Online Mobile in China, and the game quickly entered the 9th place on the chart with $63.7 million in revenue in less than 2 weeks of operation (the game was launched on May 21). Since we are talking about China, we are only considering iOS revenue.
Downloads
Solo Leveling: Arise from Netmarble debuted in second place in the list of the most downloaded projects with 18.2 million downloads. The game earned $39.7 million in May (14th place).
The first place in downloads is Pizza Ready!, with 21.9 million installations.
Squad Busters narrowly missed making it into the top 10. The game is in 11th place with 10.9 million installs – in just 3 days.
Newzoo: Top 20 PC/Console Games of April 2024 by Revenue and MAU
Newzoo tracks the USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France data.
Revenue - All Platforms
Fortnite, the Call of Duty series, and EA Sports FC 24 were the revenue leaders in April.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor managed to climb 59 positions to reach 9th place in revenue. A 55% discount on Xbox helped.
Diablo IV saw significant growth in April, taking 5th place in revenue. The positive changes were influenced by recent updates.
Manor Lords is the only new entry in the top 20. The game, released by Hooded Horse, debuted at 16th place on the chart.
Revenue - by Platforms
Manor Lords (#5) and Content Warning (#12) were the main new entries in April on PC. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Cyberpunk 2077, Dead Island 2, and Fallout 76 also showed good performance.
Three new entries appeared on the PlayStation chart, two of which were from Microsoft: Sea of Thieves (#7 in platform revenue) and Grounded (#20). Stellar Blade took 12th place.
There were no new entries on Xbox, and the sales dynamics mirrored other platforms.
On Nintendo Switch, everything remained stable, with Grounded being the only new game in the top 20 revenue chart.
MAU - All Platforms
The main significant change in the MAU ranking was the appearance of Fallout 4. The game jumped 81 positions to take 13th place, thanks to the release of the series.
Helldivers II started to decline. The game dropped 3 positions in the overall ranking.
The leaders remain the same: Fortnite, Call of Duty, Minecraft, Roblox, and Grand Theft Auto V.
MAU - by Platforms
Content Warning entered the top 20 MAU on PC, taking 19th place.
Fallout 4 took 13th place in MAU on PlayStation in April.
On Xbox, besides Fallout 4's success, Fallout 76 also saw a significant rise in the rankings.
There were almost no changes on Nintendo Switch, as the PC/Console-first Fallout games (Fallout Shelter is not it) have not been released on this platform.
ESA: Facts about the US Gaming Industry in 2024
The US gaming market in 2023 amounted to $57.2 billion. $48 billion was spent on content; $6.6 billion on gaming hardware; $2.6 billion on gaming accessories
ESA estimates that the global economic contribution of the American gaming industry in 2023 was $101 billion. The contribution to the US GDP in 2023 was $66 billion.
GameDev Reports Newsletter offers promotion opportunities to gaming companies. Reach out to learn more.
190.6 million Americans play games. 61% of the US population plays games for over 1 hour weekly.
The average age of a gamer today is 36 years. Twenty years ago, the average age was 29 years. The percentage of gamers over 50 years old is 29% - in 2004, it was only 17%. Meanwhile, the rate of gamers under 18 years old decreased from 34% in 2004 to 24% in 2024.
53% of gamers are male; 46% are female. 1% identify as non-binary. 11% identify as LGBT.
People mainly play to relax and have fun. Overall, the American audience believes that games help cope with stress; develop social skills; improve problem-solving skills; and enhance cognitive functions.
78% of gamers play on mobile devices. PCs and consoles are more popular among Generations Z and Alpha. VR devices are most interesting to millennials.
The female audience is larger on mobile devices, while the male audience is larger on PCs, consoles, and VR.
78% of American households played on at least one device during the year.
19% of players over 8 years old have mobile devices, PCs, and consoles at home.
55% of players play with others every week. 88% generally play games with an online component. In 1999, this was only 18%.
Games have become an important element of social interaction with friends and family.
72% of parents play games with their children. They note that it is fun (58%); helps spend quality time together (51%); and is a great opportunity to socialize with the child (49%).
63% of players believe that games offer the greatest value for their money compared to streaming services, music, movies, and books.
SocialPeta & SuperSonic: Marketing in Casual & Puzzle Games in Q1 2024
General Trends
The number of advertisers in Q1’24 increased by 28.9% YoY to 51.3k.
The average number of creatives per advertiser dropped by 18% to 109.
In Q1’24, the share of new creatives in the market was 74.7% - slightly below the 2023 average. The share of advertisers with new creatives was 84.2% - lower than in the past two years.
63.92% of creatives in Q1’24 were videos; 23.37% were static images; 6.14% were Playable ads; 5.66% were HTML creatives; 0.91% were carousel ads.
The share of iOS advertisers has been growing for three consecutive quarters - in Q1’24, the share of iOS advertisers was 31.9%.
Consider subscribing to the GameDev Reports Premium tier to support the newsletter. Get access to the list of curated articles & archive of Gaming Reports that I’ve been collecting since 2020.
The number of advertisers in the casual and puzzle segments increased by 0.83% and 2.1% respectively in Q1’24. The number of creatives grew by 1.97% YoY in the casual segment and by 1.17% in the puzzle segment.
Casual and Puzzle Games in Q1’24
❗️SocialPeta has its taxonomy. For example, Legend of Mushroom (Idle RPG) or 1945 (shoot ’em up) are classified as casual games. I would argue.
Legend of Mushroom, Magic Card, and 1945 led the casual segment by advertising on iOS. On Android, the leaders were Monopoly GO!, Braindom, and Block Blast!
The top puzzle advertisers were Block Blast!, Block Puzzle, and Royal Match on iOS; and Braindom, Block Blast!, and Garden Affairs on Android.
The most competitive markets for casual games are Europe, the US, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Speaking of the casual market, the share of advertisers on iOS is 20.9%. For puzzles, the situation is quite different - 37.6% of advertisers are on iOS.
The most popular languages for ad creatives in casual (and puzzle) games are English, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Korean.
Marketing Approaches of Top Genre Games
Royal Match: At the end of 2023, Royal Match had more than 4,500 creatives in operation. The average number of creatives on iOS was 1.35 times higher than on Android. 94.86% of all creatives were videos. The main markets for the project were the USA, the UK, Australia, Japan, and Canada. However, since the beginning of 2024, the number of creatives on iOS has been decreasing, while on Android it has been increasing.
Block Blast!: At the end of 2023, Block Blast! had more than 8,000 active creatives. There were 2.5 times more creatives on Android than on iOS.
Twisted Tangle by Rollic Games: This game was primarily advertised on Android for a long time. Growth on iOS occurred almost a year after testing. The main market for advertising was the USA.
Sensor Tower: Mobile (Gaming) Market in Q1'24
Sensor Tower only accounts for iOS revenue and downloads in China. Revenue figures are Gross, meaning they include commissions, taxes, etc.
Overall Mobile Market condition
The mobile market has been steadily growing since the second quarter of 2023. In Q1’24, it reached $35.8 billion, showing a year-over-year (YoY) growth of 9.5%. Non-gaming apps experienced a YoY increase of 19.4%.
The total number of downloads decreased by 3.5% compared to Q1’23, falling to 34 billion. Non-gaming apps saw a slight decline of 1.3%.
The largest mobile markets by revenue in the first quarter of 2024 were the USA ($12.4 billion, +16% YoY), China ($6 billion, +4% YoY), Japan ($4.1 billion, -17% YoY), South Korea ($1.6 billion, +5% YoY), and the UK ($1.1 billion, +28% YoY).
In terms of downloads, the top markets were India (5.93 billion, -9% YoY), the USA (3.06 billion, -4% YoY), Brazil (2.05 billion, -2% YoY), Indonesia (1.83 billion, +3% YoY), and China (1.76 billion, +2% YoY).
GameDev Reports Newsletter offers promotion opportunities to gaming companies. Reach out to learn more.
Gaming Market
The mobile gaming market in Q1’24 reached $20.3 billion, the highest figure in a year, representing a YoY growth of 2.9%.
User spending on iOS games increased from $12.3 billion in Q1’23 to $13 billion in Q1’24. Conversely, Google Play saw a decrease from $7.4 billion in Q1’23 to $7.3 billion in Q1’24.
Game downloads are decreasing faster than the overall mobile market, with a YoY decline of 6.8%. In Q1’24, games accounted for 12.8 billion downloads. However, this is the first quarter in a year showing positive quarter-on-quarter dynamics.
The decline in game downloads is solely on Android, dropping from 11.8 billion in Q1’23 to 10.8 billion in Q1’24. The situation on iOS remains stable.
❗️ The overall trend of non-gaming apps capturing user attention from games continues. This trend is slightly masked by the success of MONOPOLY GO!.
Gaming Genres by Revenue
Top growth: Lifestyle games (+36% YoY to $420 million in Q1’24), casino games (+34% YoY to $3.025 billion in Q1’24, largely due to MONOPOLY GO!), and puzzle games (+17% YoY to $2.912 billion).
Top declines: Arcade games (-22% YoY to $500 million in Q1’24), sports games (-15% YoY to $670 million in Q1’24), and action games (-15% YoY to $469 million in Q1’24).
Consider subscribing to the GameDev Reports Premium tier to support the newsletter. Get access to the list of curated articles & archive of Gaming Reports that I’ve been collecting since 2020.
In absolute terms, RPGs saw the most significant decline, falling by 13% in Q1’24 compared to the previous quarter, dropping from $5.25 billion to $4.57 billion. Revenue for this genre fell by 24% in Japan, 10% in the USA, 9% in China, and 3% in South Korea.
Gaming Genres by Downloads
Top growth: Racing games (+11% YoY), shooters (+9% YoY), and strategy games (+5% YoY).
Top declines: Arcade games (-17% YoY), sports games (-16% YoY), and Lifestyle games (-15% YoY). It's important to note that the top four genres in terms of downloads are declining.
Most Successful Games in Q1’24
MONOPOLY GO! set a record for mobile games in terms of quarterly revenue, earning $770M. The previous leader was Honor of Kings with $765M in Q2’21. No other mobile game has crossed the $600 million mark in a quarter, and only seven projects in history have earned more than $500 million in a quarter.
❗️ When discussing Honor of Kings' revenue, we do not count Android stores. Similarly, MONOPOLY GO!'s full revenue is not visible, as some of the money comes to Scopely via off-store methods.
Garena Free Fire secured the top spot for downloads in Q1’24. Wood Nuts & Bolts Puzzle and Pizza Ready! saw significant rises in the rankings.
Last War: Survival Game, Legend of Mushroom, and CrossFire: Legends were the fastest-growing projects by revenue in Q1’24.
In terms of downloads, the most significant gains were made by Wood Nuts & Bolts Puzzle, Pizza Ready!, and Help Me: Tricky Story. Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile started at the 4th place in the growth rankings and ended up at the 23rd place in the overall download rankings.
Digital Advertising Spend
In Q1’24, advertising spend increased in North America, Latin America, and Western Europe, with growth rates of 15-30% compared to Q1’23, depending on the market.
However, spending on game advertising fell in the USA and Canada by 19% and 24% respectively.
❗️ The decline in advertising spending in the USA in Q1'24 will impact future gaming revenue.