RPG dethroned as top-grossing genre for first time since 2017, with mobile games market reaching $19.7 billion in Q2

Sensor Tower has released a report on the state of the mobile market for the second quarter of 2024. Let’s focus on general gaming trends and data, including revenue, downloads, and top genres.

Dungeon & Fighter Mobile (left), Squad Busters (right)

• According to Sensor Tower’s Q2 2024 Digital Market Index, quarterly spend on mobile apps and games across the App Store and Google Play reached $36 million, up 11.7% year-over-year.
• Interestingly, the share of non-gaming apps in mobile market revenue continues to grow, reaching 46% in Q2 (up 4 percentage points from the same period last year).
• However, analysts noted that mobile gaming “turned a corner.” Overall, players spent $19.7 billion on mobile games globally in Q2 2024, up 4% compared to the same period last year.
• It was the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth, with Sensor Tower expecting “modest positive growth to continue as the market attempts to regain the highs seen in 2021.”
• Player spending on iOS grew 7% year-over-year to $12.85 billion, compared to a 2% decline on Google Play ($6.84 billion).

• For the first time since 2017, RPG has been dethroned as the highest-grossing game genre globally. Strategy took the lead with $4.149 billion (+12% YoY), followed by RPG ($4.142 billion, -15%), Puzzle ($2.89 billion, +12%), Casino ($2.88 billion, +20%), and Simulation ($1.28 billion, +7%).
• The rise of mobile strategy games was driven by the success of FirstFun’s Last War, which ranked 2nd in quarterly spend growth in Q2 2024. According to Sensor Tower, RPG also suffered from “declining mobile game markets in Japan and South Korea, where the genre still accounts for nearly half of all consumer spend among games.”

• Mobile game downloads continued to decline in Q2, reaching 12.6 billion (-6.4% YoY). This is the lowest number of installs since before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
• When looking at the top genres by downloads, Arcade and Puzzle remained the leaders despite significant YoY declines. The top 5 categories by installs were Arcade (2.19 billion, -16%), Puzzle (1.69 billion, -10%), Simulation (1.48 billion, +3%), Lifestyle (827.1 million, -5%), and Shooter (495.6 million, +3%).
• Strategy was the only genre to reach a new high in downloads last quarter, growing 19% year-over-year to 488.1 million. Supercell’s Squad Busters accounted for more than half of its YoY growth.

• The top 5 highest-grossing mobile games worldwide remained unchanged from the first quarter: Monopoly Go!, Honor of Kings, Royal Match, Roblox, and Candy Crush Saga retained their leadership positions.
• Tencent’s Dungeon & Fighter Mobile broke into the top 10, moving up 421 positions to #7 overall. Sensor Tower previously reported that the game generated $270 million in player spending on iOS alone in the first 30 days of its launch in China.
• Garena Free Fire remained the most downloaded mobile game globally in Q2, followed by Pizza Ready (↑6 positions), Roblox (↓1), Subway Surfers, and Ludo Kings.
• Two titles from Supercell landed in the top 10: Squad Busters debuted at #6, with Brawl Starts climbing 8 positions to #9.

More data, including the top apps by downloads/revenue and digital ad spend, can be found in the full report.