According to a report from Sensor Tower Store Intelligence, a record five mobile games have generated more than $1 billion in 2020 so far. The five one-billion-dollar mobile games in 2020 surpass the numbers seen in 2019 and 2018 where three titles generated more than $1 billion.
PUBG Mobile, combined with the Chinese localization of the title, Game For Peace, is the top mobile game of 2020 in terms of revenue-generated globally across the App Store and Google Play. According to the report, Pubg Mobile “accumulated close to $2.6 billion since the start of the year, up 64.3 percent from 2019.”
With a revenue of $2.5 billion in player spending, Honor of Kings, also from Tencent, came in second. It has picked up its revenue 42.8 percent from the year prior.
Listed at the third spot is Pokémon GO from Niantic, which accumulated $1.2 billion to date, picking up 31.5 percent from 2019, making it the game’s most profitable year ever. The reason for its outstanding performance is “a string of updates to help players continue playing amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns.”
Coin Master from Moon Active generated $1.1 billion to rank a close fourth. It has had a more than two-times increase from last year. Since the beginning of 2019, Coin Master has grown rapidly, with its best month ever coming in 2020 in November when it picked up close to $118 million.
To complete this year’s billion-dollar games list, Roblox from Roblox Corporation, earned a revenue of $1.1 billion, nearly doubling its 2019 revenue. Sensor Tower reported that “Off the back of the title’s cross-platform success, the company is heading for an IPO next year.”
Monster Strike from Mixi, which has racked up $958 million so far in 2020, just missed out on the billion-dollar list. A 2.8 percent growth from 2019 still sees the title out of the top five even after it has been “a global top-five grossing game since at least 2014, and is one of the world’s most lucrative mobile titles of all time.”
There is no doubt about the fact that the global COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have aided the success of the industry’s top performers. This has seen global mobile game revenue soar as people look for recreation while at home. Sensor Tower does not expect similar outstanding success next year. “So far in 2020, the global mobile games market has generated $75.4 billion, which is already up 19.5 percent from 2019. While 2021 is unlikely to match this year’s extraordinary mobile games revenue growth, we expect the sector to build upon 2020’s strong performance, which could result in more billion-dollar hits by the end of next year.”
