This article is part of an ongoing series of data-driven articles from PocketGamer.biz and App Annie highlighting trends in the mobile games sector.
Continuing our world tour of mobile games, this week we're looking at what's happening on the Apple App Store and Google Play store in France, which has been locked down since 16 March.
Starting with the combined most downloaded chart, and it's interesting to see how few of the hypercasual games that typically dominate the global charts are in evidence.
Of course there are some. Top of the chart is Lion Studios' Save The Girl. There are three brain tests; Easy Game, Brain Out and Brain Test. But that's it.
The rest of the chart consists of well-known, traditional casual games such as Scopely's Scrabble Go, Moon Active's Coin Master and Playrix's Gardenscapes and Fishdom.
Nintendo's historically strong connection in France is also reflected in the position of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and - particularly - Mario Kart Tour.
The chart of mobile games gaining the most player engagement in France throws up fewer surprises than the download chart but there are some.
The most obvious is the position of FDJ (Française des Jeux) app at #5, which combines the French national lottery with social casino mini-games.
But in terms of the other well-known titles on the chart, what stands out is Supercell's positioning with three games in the top 4, while King has two Candy Crush games in the top 10.
This is particularly impressive given we'd expect high level of user cannibalization across such titles.
And the great popularity of Supercell's games is underlined by the performance of these games on the top grossing chart, particularly the continued success of Clash of Clans in the #2 position.
The excellent monetisation of Playrix's game is also reflected with Gardenscapes and Homescapes in the top 10, although these games didn't feature on the engagement chart.
What does stand out, however, is the presence of two games based on Japanese anime.
Like Japan, France has always had a strong visual culture, so perhaps the success of Netmarble's The Seven Deadly Sins: Hikari to Yami no Grand Cross and Youzu’s Saint Seiya: Awakening shouldn't be so surprising.
And we shouldn't forget Coin Master at #1 either. Why are people still playing it?
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