data.ai: State of the mobile market in Q3 2023
Royal Match is the top-grossing title of Q3 2023. Not Candy Crush Saga, not Honor of Kings!
Overall Figures
The mobile app market continues to recover from 2022. Revenue from mobile apps (both gaming and non-gaming) reached $33.6 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
However, the share of games is decreasing. In the third quarter of 2023, games earned $20 billion, which is $0.3 billion less than the same quarter in 2022.
The iOS gaming segment declined from $12.5 billion in the third quarter of 2022 to $11.8 billion in Q3 2023. In contrast, Google Play showed growth, increasing from $7.8 billion to $8.2 billion during the same period.
❗️ data.ai may underestimate the revenue of the mobile gaming market since it does not track payments outside of the App Store and Google Play. Many large companies are now diverting some payments from these platforms to reduce commission fees.
Downloads of all types of apps have plateaued. In the third quarter of 2023, there were 38.4 billion app downloads.
Games, in terms of download numbers, even increased by 0.1 billion in the third quarter of 2023, reaching 15.1 billion downloads. Downloads increased, albeit slightly, on both iOS and Android.
Top Games of the Q3 2023
Royal Match became the highest-earning game by the end of the third quarter. Dream Games managed to surpass Candy Crush Saga, Honor of Kings, ROBLOX, and Monopoly GO.
Leaders in terms of downloads are Garena Free Fire, Subway Surfers, and ROBLOX.
ROBLOX, Garena Free Fire, and Candy Crush Saga are the largest games in terms of Monthly Active Users (MAU).