On the first working day after the Spring Festival holiday, mobile app data analysis company Sensor Tower released the global revenue ranking of Chinese mobile game publishers in January 2024.
According to the Sensor Tower report, due to the recent successful launch of popular new games by Chinese manufacturers in multiple tracks such as SLGs, RPGs and female-oriented mobile games, as well as blockbuster events such as the Spring Festival and anniversary celebrations, a total of 38 Chinese manufacturers were shortlisted in the top 100 global mobile game publishers in terms of revenue, with a total of 19US$600 million (only publisher revenue, excluding third-party Android channels in China), accounting for 378%, an increase of 1 and 0$100 million and 18 percentage points.
Top 30 Chinese Mobile Game Publishers by Revenue in January 2024 (Data**: Sensor Tower) In addition to the above 30 manufacturers, the top 100 Chinese mobile game publishers in terms of global revenue include Hortor Games, Hulai Games, Yi World, Dewdrop Games, and Zhixingtong (872801NQ), Hero Games, Youzu Network (002174SZ), Yale Technology (Yalan), a total of 38 publishers.
*: Photo.comThe leading position is stable, and Tencent mobile games occupy the top four
In the January 2024 TOP30 list of China's mobile game publishers by revenue, the top six publishers are Tencent (00700.).HK), NetEase (NTESo), miHoYo, Diandian Interactive, Sanqi Mutual Entertainment (002555SZ), Lilith, in line with the December 2023 ranking.
Tencent's mobile games "Honor of Kings", "Battle of the Golden Shovel", "Peace Elite" and "CrossFire" ranked the top four in China's App Store mobile game revenue list in January 2024, while "League of Legends Mobile Game", "Naruto", "Genmeng Star" and "QQ Speed" ranked 6th, 11th, 13th and 16th respectively.
With the launch of the annual version of "Cloud Dream Youling", the new season and the new **, the revenue of "Honor of Kings" in January 2024 increased by 15% month-on-month. The new season of "Golden Shovel Battle" "Chosen Lucky Star" was launched on January 26, and the daily turnover of the game hit a new high on that day, and ranked first on the best-selling iOS mobile game list in China for two consecutive days, with monthly revenue increasing by 154% month-on-month. Driven by these two games, Tencent's mobile game revenue surged by 13% in December 2023 and then increased by 11% in January 2024.
In addition to "The Battle of the Golden Shovel", another classic mobile game under Tencent, "CrossFire", also ushered in a new revenue high. On the day of the launch of the 2024 capsule toy machine event, CrossFire jumped to the second place on the best-selling iOS mobile game list in China, and the launch of the Spring Festival version of the Year of the Dragon also effectively maintained the popularity of the game, making its January revenue surge by 515% month-on-month.
NetEase Games' female-oriented mobile game "Beyond the World", launched in mid-January 2024, also performed well, landing on the top 20 mobile games in China's App Store revenue list in January. In addition, NetEase's "Against the Cold", "Fantasy Journey to the West" and "Egg Boy Party" ranked 5th, 8th and 12th on the list respectively.
miHoYo's "Genshin Impact" ushered in 4 at the end of JanuaryWith the update of version 4 of "Spring Breeze of Colorful Harriers" and the annual Lantern Festival event, along with the launch of new characters such as "Xianyun" and "Jiaming", "Genshin Impact" increased its overseas revenue by 16% in January, ranking 7th in the top 20 mobile game revenue list in China's App Store, and "Honkai: Star Dome Railway", which is also owned by miHoYo, ranked 14th.
Diandian Interactive's "Frost Apocalypse" (Whiteout Survival) maintained a high frequency of content and activity output, so that key data such as the game's daily turnover, monthly revenue, active users and ** volume all set new records in January, and topped the list of Chinese mobile games overseas revenue for the first time. While maintaining the top spot in the global SLG mobile game best-selling list, "Frost Apocalypse" further increased its revenue share in this track to 12%.
It is worth mentioning that Diandian Interactive is Century Huatong (002602SZ). Century Huatong said in the 2023 annual performance forecast that in the overseas business, Diandian Interactive's self-research revenue has more than doubled, driving the company's consolidated operating income in 2023 to increase by about 20% year-on-year.
The RPG track ran out of the "dark horse", and a number of popular models successfully went to sea
In the January 2024 list of China's top 30 mobile game publishers by revenue, 4399 Games and FirstFun ranked 7th and 10th respectively, up 13 places from December 2023.
4399 Games' recently launched adventure mobile game "Legend of the Mushroom Brave" in overseas markets is undoubtedly a dark horse product in the RPG track, with overseas revenue surging by 163% in January 2024. In the Korean market, which has been dominated by local RPG manufacturers for many years, "Legend of the Mushroom Brave" surpassed local Korean RPG masterpieces such as "Lineage M" and "Odin: God Rebellion" in one fell swoop with its humorous setting, relaxed gameplay and massive benefits, and topped the best-selling list of Korean mobile games in January, becoming the first foreign mobile game product to win the crown in many years, and the first non-heavy mobile game to achieve this achievement.
The 4X strategy mobile game "Last War: Survival Game" published by FirstFun continued its strong growth momentum, with an increase of 83% in volume and 169% of overseas revenue in January, ranking second in the global revenue list of the same category and topping the MAU list, becoming another popular product that has successfully gone overseas recently. By integrating the apocalyptic theme, casual sub-gameplay and the traditional SLG mobile game framework, as well as a large number of advertising, the game successfully broke through the bottleneck of SLG mobile game user introduction, with users paying more than $40 million in January, and the top three markets in terms of revenue were the United States, South Korea and Taiwan, China, accounting for 29% and 27 respectively6% and 82%。
It is reported that behind firstfun is Beijing Yuanqu Entertainment *** hereinafter referred to as: Yuanqu Entertainment), core member Xie Xianlin once co-founded Zhixingtong and brought the popular "Happy Farm" in China to overseas. In May 2020, Xie Xianlin resigned as the president of Zhixingtong and founded Yuanqu Entertainment, which received capital injection from Tencent in the same year. At present, Yuanqu Entertainment also holds more than 40% of the equity of Jiangyu Interactive, which ranks 28th in this list.
In addition, the Japanese version of "Azure Files" launched new characters at the end of January, and combined with the 3rd anniversary celebration, its January revenue increased by 96%. The Japanese version of Ark of Tomorrow celebrated its 4th anniversary and a new side story in mid-January, with revenue increasing by 175% quarter-on-quarter. Publisher Youxing Network's revenue increased by 60%, moving up 7 places to return to No. 9 on the list.
On January 18, Papergames launched the interactive mobile game "Love and Deep Space" around the world. With exquisite 3D art, more immersive interactions, and a novel "fight side by side" mechanic, the game was an instant hit with domestic and overseas female gamers, earning more than 5.4 million hits in less than two weeks**, topping the global best-selling list of interactive narrative mobile games, with China, Japan, and the United States accounting for 66 percent of the top three markets in terms of revenue6%，10.4% and 66%。Publisher Papergames surged 246% month-over-month in January, jumping to No. 23 on the list.
At the end of January, XD Network (833897nq，02400.HK) launched the adventure idle mobile game "Let's Go Muffin" in the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao markets of China, and its cute art style, warm atmosphere and relaxed gameplay made the game quickly enter the top of the local mobile game best-selling list and won more than 4With an average rating of 6, the publisher returns to number 27 on the list.
In addition to the above-mentioned manufacturers, the publishers that will rise in the ranking in January 2024 include mattel163 and Microfun (838966).NQ) and Thunder Games. Behind the Thunder game is Thunder shares (873228nq), by Gigabit (603444.)SH) ultimate control.
There are also listed companies behind the other manufacturers that are on the top 30 list of China's mobile game publishers by revenue in January 2024.
The 8th ranked shell wood game is Shenzhou Taiyue (300002SZ), a subsidiary of Shellwood Games, has developed a number of mobile games that have been published in more than 150 countries and regions around the world, and the game revenue from overseas accounted for more than 85% in 2022. According to the mobile market evaluation service provider DataAccording to AI statistics, a total of 19 mobile games in the world will have a cumulative turnover of $1 billion in 2023, of which domestic manufacturer games occupy 6 seats, and the two main games of Shellwood Games, "Age of Origins" and "War and Order", are both on the list.
Behind the 12th-ranked Tuyou game is **Tuyou (Beijing) Technology*** As of the end of June 2023, 360 (601360SH) confirmed a long-term equity investment in it15.6 billion yuan.
The 13th-ranked Lingxi Mutual Entertainment is Ali (BABAn) its R&D and operation integrated game brand. According to statistics from Appmagic, a mobile application market research agency, "Three Kingdoms: Strategic Edition" released by Lingxi Interactive Entertainment will attract 3$800 million.
In addition, the 15th ranked IGG (00799HK) is a listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the 25th-ranked Xinghe Mutual Entertainment has successively received capital injections from Sanqi Mutual Entertainment and Tencent, and the 29th-ranked Yihuan Network is Baotong Technology (300031).SZ). ByteDance confirmed in November 2023 that it will shrink its game business on a large scale, and its subsidiaries Mutong Technology and Chaoxi Lightyear have uncertain futures, and the two publishers are ranked 14th and 17th respectively in this issue.