Call of Duty: Mobile and 10 more mobile games to join $2 billion club in 2023
While mobile player spending is declining globally, some titles continue to prosper. Here are 11 more games that are expected to reach $2 billion in revenue in 2023.
Global mobile game spending is declining
The data was shared by data.ai, which recently released its 5 Mobile App Forecasts report.
Analysts expect consumer spend in mobile gaming to fall 5% year-over-year in 2022 to $110 billion. According to the forecast, global revenues will also drop another 3% in 2023 to $107 billion.
The economic downturn is the main reason for the decrease in player spending. data.ai also cited IDFApocalypse and upcoming privacy changes from Google as other key factors, which had a negative impact on user acquisition.
This forecast is in line with what other analysts say. For example, Newzoo expects the global games market to fall for the first time in 15 years, reaching $184.4 billion in 2022. Mobile games will drop 6.4% year-over-year to $92.2 billion.
11 games that will cross the $2 billion mark in 2023
Despite all these headwinds, data.ai said 14 apps will surpass $2 billion in consumer spending next year. 11 of them are games:
- Tencent’s Call of Duty: Mobile — mobile version of Activision’s flagship franchise, which surpassed $1.5 billion in player spending earlier this year;
- FunPlus’ State of Survival — free-to-play strategy game from Chinese developer KingsGroup, which topped 150 million downloads in September;
- Konami’s Pro Yakyū Spirits A — mobile baseball game, which is a part of the Professional Baseball Spirits series;
- Playrix’s Township — farm building game, which remains the company’s third most downloaded title, right behind Homescapes and Gardenscapes;
- Cygames’ Uma Musume Pretty Derby — horse racing / life sim game based on the popular Japanese media franchise of the same name;
- NetEase’s Onmyoji — 3D RPG / strategy game from one of China’s largest tech companies, which was initially launched in 2017;
- Netmarble’s Marvel Contest of Champions — Kabam-developed fighting game, which was the second highest-grossing mobile action title of 2021;
- Zynga’s Empires & Puzzles — developed by Finnish studio Small Giant Games, this Match-3 / battler generated over $500 million in just two years and continued to growth in the subsequent years;
- Supercell’s Brawl Stars — one of the company’s biggest hits, which crossed the $1 billion mark last year;
- Playtika’s Bingo Blitz — free-to-play board and card game, which initially found success on Facebook before coming to iOS and Android in 2012;
- Elex Tech’s Clash of Kings — MMO strategy game, which is especially popular in China.
One of the highlights here is Uma Musume Pretty Derby. As pointed out by data.ai, it is set to become one of the fastest mobile games ever to hit the $2 billion mark, just 2 years after its launch. Not to mention that it is still only available in five markets.
It is worth noting that seven out of the 11 games on the list were developed or published by Asian companies. Analysts also forecast that four titles — Call of Duty: Mobile, Township, State of Survival, and Uma Musume Pretty Derby — may reach $2 billion in revenue by the end of 2022.
According to data.ai, these three titles will join the $3 billion club in 2023: IGG Inc’s Lords Mobile, Lilith Games’ Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade, and Playtika’s Slotomania.
Other data, including the forecast on mobile ad spend, can be found in the full report.
