3 minutes
Using App Intelligence and other modules, SocialPeta has identified the top 20 global mobile games by revenue, downloads and advertising in August 2022.
Overall global mobile gaming performance in August:
- Thanks to its seventh-anniversary celebration, FGO increased revenue by 150% and topped the revenue chart;
- South Korea’s Uma Musume Pretty Derby experienced a revenue slump;
- Talking Tom and Temple Run were on the download chart, signalling the return of parkour games’ popularity;
- Midcore and hardcore mobile games overtook casual puzzle games in advertising.
Top 20 by revenue
First on global mobile game revenues in August. Some mobile games reported significant revenue growth due to major event updates.
Even though it’s been seven years since the game’s release, Fate/Grand Order is still generating very high revenue. In August, the game saw events and updates such as the celebration of the 7th anniversary of the Japanese version, the reappearance of the popular character Ryogi Shiki, the collaboration with Tsukihime, and the appearance of summer swimsuits.
SocialPeta reports that thanks to such frequent, high-quality, and popular card pool updates, FGO has shown rapid revenue growth. The game grossed nearly $70 million in revenue on the App Store and Google Play, a 150% increase over last month’s App Store and a 63.4% increase over last month’s Google Play, which was the highest revenue figure of the year. Gamers were also surprised that the Japanese version of the game brought in more than 10 billion yen in revenue in a single month.
Unlike FGO, Uma Musume Pretty Derby did not perform well. First, revenue for the Japanese version of the game dropped both on the App Store and Google Play: by 25% compared to last month on the App Store and by 13.4% compared to the previous month on Google Play. Due to the stupidity of the operator Kakao Games, the South Korean version of the game (released in June) rapidly lost its reputation, its rating fell to 1.4 on Google Play, and its revenue dropped by 33.2% for the month on Google Play in August.
In addition to the two games listed above, several other games stood out in terms of revenue:
- Tencent’s shooter games were still at their peak. In August, Call of Duty: Mobile released a brand new version of «New Vision City», introducing Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045. The game generated nearly $15 million in App Store revenue in August, up 38.3% from the previous month;
- PUBG Mobile announced a collaboration with Blackpink, South Korea’s most successful kpop group, in August, including an online concert of virtual humans in-game and an updated Blackpink in-game voice package. Thanks to the metaverse concert and idol participation, the game generated more than $40 million in revenue on the App Store and Google Play combined.
Top 20 by number of downloads
Let’s move on to the overall global mobile game download numbers for August, with TikTok boosting the popularity of older games and Dog Head Games taking a new spot on the App Store and Google Play.
SocialPeta estimated that Subway Surfers received about 19 million downloads on Google Play in August, up 2.7% from the previous month. India (24.3%), Brazil and Pakistan accounted for most of the downloads. Thanks to the new and fun racing gameplay and the influence of web celebrity TikTok lexakt, Subway Surfers has caused a wave of racing in Brazil. For example, the global ranking of Subway Surfers races has seen a surprisingly high number of Brazilian gamers.
The game Temple Run became popular again on social media thanks to funny parkour videos. The game received more than 10.3 million downloads on Google Play, a 30.4% increase over the previous month. According to sources, Warner Bros. recently considered producing a movie adaptation of Temple Run. Talking Tom Gold Run, another game in the Talking Tom series, charted with about 2 million downloads on the App Store in August, up 26.7 percent from the previous month.
Antistress is a casual mobile game released by JindoBlu in November 2016. With its simple gameplay and a variety of new items, the game again caught the attention of gamers via TikTok, receiving 8.4 million downloads on Google Play in August. Save the Doge; a casual Wonder Game, was new to the Google Play and App Store charts. With its beautiful dogs, a large amount of advertising and line-drawing gameplay, the game was a big surprise in August and quickly gained popularity. It was downloaded a total of 12.5 million times.
Top 20 by advertising volume
Let’s look at the ad charts, which have changed significantly.
The SocialPeta report says that there are 27 new advertisers on the charts because many new mobile games began to be heavily advertised in August. Dogs have gained a lot of popularity. There were three new mobile games with dog icons in the top 20 of the advertising chart in August, including:
- 英雄戰紀, a game by Bingchuan Network, a total of 4,400 creatives released on the App Store and Google Play combined, mainly in the Chinese regions of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan;
- X-HERO, a game from Bingchuan Network, had 1,300 creatives released on iOS, mainly in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States;
- Epic Heroes, a game by Dinosaur Games, had the most creatives, with 6,600 creatives released on Android, mainly in Brazil, Indonesia and the U.S.
SpringGame, a mobile MMO game, began advertising on Aug. 9 and had more than 3,400 creatives on the App Store and Google Play combined. The mobile game Eskyfun began broadcasting on July 27 and released more than 6,000 creatives on the App Store and Google Play combined, mainly in the Chinese regions of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, but also in Singapore and Malaysia.
There were fewer creatives for casual mobile puzzle games. Word Trip and Daily Themed Crossword fell off the charts. The famous game advertiser Coloring Book posted about 2,900 creatives on the App Store and Google Play, down 55.4% from last month and down 17 spots on the charts.
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