Mobile gaming is among the most lucrative segments of the gaming industry. Based on the analysis of data from Sensor Tower in 2021, the market percentage of the mobile games industry increased by an unprecedented eight games that exceeded $1 billion in expenditure by gamers between January 1, 2021, to December 14, 2021.
There are many games that are top performers which earn more money for game developers than the vast majority of PC or console games have ever imagined. This is an increase from five games that exceeded one billion in the year 2020 only five games that exceeded one billion dollars in the year before.
And esports has a major contribution to the growth of these titles. Out of these 8 titles, the top 2 titles have an established esports ecosystem. Free Fire also has its esports, however, not as big as the other 2. And with the expansion of esports mobile gaming on the United States market (publishers’ first choice), all the big esports organizations are also pouring in their money resulting in more limelight and growth of the overall growth of the mobile gaming scene.
PUBG Mobile is still the highest-grossing title
The majority of the top games are well-known titles that have proved to be successful over time, and will only increase because more players play more on their mobile devices and tablets. This comprises PUBG Mobile as well as Honor of Kings, which are on the very top of the pile with more than $2.8 billion of player spending over the past year.
The two mobile games are among the top mobile gaming titles in 2021, which shows how strong the Chinese smartphone gaming market is even though some games, such as PUBG Mobile, have to be rebranded in order to be released in a local setting because of the strict rules regarding games. PUBG Mobile has many regional versions and the scene is quite similar for Honor of Kings as it is exclusive to China. The global version is named Arena of Valor.
Trend makers of 2021 $1 billion club of Mobile Games industry
Ranking at number 3 is Genshin Impact, which has increased in value to $1.8 billion in revenue up to 2021. The publisher miHoYo has been providing players with various updates, continually adding new characters, islands, and features to keep gamers entertained. This month’s 2.4 release showed how useful these updates could be as their release resulted in a five-fold increase in the number of hours players are spending every week. Even after several community backlashes, the continuous efforts from the dev team are paying off very well.
Roblox is a game developed by Roblox Corporation that is ranked number 4. It has earned $1.3 billion of mobile revenue in its first quarter of the year. This is a rise of 20.3 percent in the last year. Coin Master comes an app from Moon Active ranks number 5 in the world with $1.3 billion, which is a rise of 13.8 percent annually
The lockdown sensation Among Us could not make its mark in the $1billion club as the sudden popularity has gone down a lot over the months.
Other top performers
Ranking at number 6 is none other than Pokémon Go from Niantic, which has brought in $1.2 billion. The game is on the path to having the highest ever year in five years from the game’s debut. The other games that are billion-dollar in value are Candy Crush Saga from King at number 7 with $1.2 billion. Free Fire from Garena has already surpassed $1.1 billion in worldwide players’ spending to become the top game at 8th place. And the game is successful to hold its massively active player base with interesting updates and brand collaborations once in a while.
It was surprising to see Uma Musume Pretty Derby from Cygames fail to exceed one billion by 2021. It was very close to the goal with $965 million at the time of Sensor Tower’s calculation. However, it is worth noting that this is already a big achievement for them, despite it being released in February, and is only accessible in Japan.
These eight games on mobile that hit $1 billion in 2021 are more than the five games that crossed the milestone in the year 2020 for the mobile games industry. They’re a huge jump from the three games that were awarded an honorary status as unicorns between the years between 2019 and 2018. With the exponential growth of the mobile games industry over the last few years, it will be interesting to see where it reaches after a few years.
For more Mobile Gaming news and updates, join our WhatsApp group, Telegram Group, or Discord server. Also, follow us on Instagram and Twitter for quick updates.
