Analytics firm App Annie has released their latest numbers for the mobile market, with (as usual) some interesting data to look at. Their numbers are derived from the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store, and the company noted some interesting trends.
As industry observers have noted in recent months, messaging apps are an important driver for games in the Asian markets. Tencent showed this with their 2D sidescroller WeRun hitting the #1 spot for the top iOS game downloads based on the strength of Tencent’s WeChat messaging. This also propelled Tencent to the #2 slot for iOS publishers. As yet, though, Tencent hasn’t cracked the Top Ten for iOS publisher or game revenue, showing that downloads alone aren’t enough to make a great business.
App Annie also highlighted the success of Supercell’s Clash of Clans as it moved onto Android platforms worldwide, grabbing the #9 slot by revenue on Google Play to complement its #1 position on iOS by revenue. Cross-platform play is probably a feature that’s important to the title’s success, and it’s likely that Clash of Clans will move up on the Google Play revenue charts in the future.
An interesting development App Annie noted is King’s use of KakaoTalk in Korea to propel Candy Crush Saga in that country. “The release of a special version of Candy Crush Saga for Kakao in September allowed King to reach Kakao’s approximately 110 million users, and started paying dividends in October as the game and publisher climbed the revenue rankings,” noted App Annie on their blog.
Once again, the top publishers by downloads are weighted towards the West for both iOS and Google Play, but when you look at revenues Japanese publishers do much better. Monthly revenue for games is once again led by Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga, and Puzzle & Dragons on iOS (#1, #2 and #3, respectively), with Google Play’s top three slots were held by Puzzle & Dragons, Candy Crush Saga, and Monster Taming (a game on Korea’s KakaoTalk).
King’s Pet Rescue Saga is doing well at #6 in iOS revenue (perhaps because of relentless promotion and TV advertising), while EA’s The Simpsons Tapped Out came in at #5 in iOS revenue. Machine Zone’s Game of War: Fire Age continued to post good revenue at #7 on iOS, while new entry Megapolis from Russian publisher Social Quantum leaped into the #9 position for iOS revenue (jumping 18 ranks).
The biggest movement on Google Play was from EA’s The Simpsons Tapped Out, which moved up six spots to claim the #8 ranking in revenue. Other Google Play games showed little revenue changes.
