GameRefinery has published an overview of the mobile RPG market
How much mobile role-playing games earn in the USA, China and Japan, and which subgenres are the most successful, GameRefinery experts tell. App2Top offers a brief squeeze of their mobile RPG market research.
The situation on the markets in China, Japan and the USA
RPG ranked half of the top 100, top 200 and top 500 highest-grossing games in both China and Japan. The most common subgenre in China is MMORPG. In the Land of the Rising Sun — turn-based RPG.
In America, the share of mobile RPGs is much smaller. They bring only 9.4% of revenue in the American segment of iOS titles. They are bypassed by puzzle games (23.2%), strategies (17.2%), social casinos (13.8%) and shooters (10%). The latter managed to surpass the RPG thanks to battle royals, experts say.
In the USA, Puzzle-RPG and turn-based RPGs bring good revenue. But action-RPG and MMO have not been able to gain a foothold yet. Not a single game of the last two subgenres is even included in the top 100 highest-grossing mobile titles in America.
Top 5 highest-grossing titles in each subgenre (USA)
Turn-based RPGs:
1) Summoners War;
2) Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes;
3) Fate/Grand Order;
4) MARVEL Strike Force;
5) Idle Heroes — Idle Games.
Turn-based RPGs are perhaps more successful than other role-playing subgenres. All five of the above games are in the top 100 highest-grossing products.
Summoners WarPuzzle-RPG:
1) Empires & Puzzles;
2) Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle;
3) Best Fiends — Puzzle Adventure;
4) Legendary: Game of Heroes;
5) WWE Champions.
Note that the entire top 5 was released more than a year ago. In 2018, not a single game of the subgenre was released that could have a significant impact on the market.
It is important to note the special success of Empires & Puzzles from the Finnish Small Giant Games. It alone accounts for a colossal share of the segment’s revenue — 35%.
Empires & PuzzlesAction-RPG:
1) MARVEL Future Fight;
2) Dragalia Lost;
3) Honkai Impact 3rd;
4) Legacy of Discord-FuriousWings;
5) BLEACH Brave Souls.
The most significant game here is Nintendo’s Dragalia Lost. As soon as she was released, she instantly entered the top twenty leaders. And although by the 4th quarter of the year its indicators had slightly decreased, it still brought almost 19% of revenue to the segment. As much as MARVEL Future Fight.
Dragalia LostMMORPG:
1) Era of Celestials
2) Old School RuneScape
3) Lineage 2: Revolution
4) MapleStory M
5) Blades and Rings
Era of Celestials, RuneScape and MapleStory M came out last year. And by the end of the year they managed to push Lineage 2. The share of this game decreased by 23% in annual terms.
Although there is strong competition in the MMO market, by itself it remains very niche for American players, analysts say.
Era of CelestialsAlso on the topic:
- App Annie: in 2019, the mobile market will account for 60% of the gaming industry’s revenueA third of Chinese residents play mobile games
- 96% of American avid gamers play mobile games
