Sensor Tower: Korean Mobile Gaming Market in H1'2024
It seems to me that foreign publishers cracked the success code for the South Korean market.
Revenue from mobile games in South Korea in the first half of the year reached $2.75 billion. This is $30 million more than the same period in 2023.
Google Play revenue decreased by 2.3% YoY; however, on iOS, it increased by 10.3%.
The Korean market saw a decline in downloads in the first half of 2024. Google Play downloads fell by 17%, but App Store downloads increased by the same percentage.
Successful Games
Last War: Survival became the market leader in revenue and ranked second in downloads in the first six months. The game has earned over $600 million worldwide since its launch, with 26% of that amount coming from South Korea.
Legend of Mushroom ranked third in revenue and first in downloads in the first half of 2024. Since its release, the game has generated $350 million in revenue, with South Korea accounting for 34%.
Games from the Lineage series and Odin: Valhalla Rising continue to perform strongly.
Brawl Stars performed well in South Korea in the first half of the year. The game ranked 7th in revenue and 8th in downloads. In May 2024, the game earned more than $10 million in the local market, the highest amount since May 2019. It also has the highest retention rates (7, 30, and 60 days) among all top games in the country.
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Supercell's new game, Squad Busters, entered the top downloads list (4th place) despite being released on May 29.
In the first half of 2024, 5 out of the top 10 games by revenue were foreign. This hasn't happened in South Korea since 2017.
Most Successful Publishers
NCSoft maintained its leadership in revenue among publishers. Kakao Games ranked second, and FirstFun (creators of Last War: Survival) ranked third.
5 out of the top 10 publishers by revenue were foreign, marking the first time this has happened in the past 10 years.