Sensor Tower’s latest report has revealed insight into September’s top publishers, such as 39% of them being Chinese companies and their combined revenue totalling $1.96 billion for the month.
The store intelligence platform found that 39 of the top 100 mobile publishers came from China last month, with multiple anniversaries supporting games’ revenue.
A successful September
Clearly there is power in an anniversary, as even though Genshin Impact’s was lacklustre for many, the celebration of three years helped increase month-on-month revenue by 31%. This aided the title's return to seventh in Sensor Tower’s global mobile game revenue rankings, meanwhile creator miHoYo ranked third among publishers; overall, the company achieved 32% year-on-year growth through the success of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, and has maintained third place from August.
Qookka Games’ Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition also celebrated an anniversary, reaching four years in September. The game recorded a 49% month-on-month increase in revenue and rose the ranks on Sensor Tower’s list.
NetEase performed exceptionally well in September too. The company’s All-Star Streetball Party is a much newer game, having launched this August and already ranking at the top of China’s iPhone download list - a position held for five days. The title also reached the second spot among best-selling Chinese iPhone games and took the throne among sports mobile games. Even with so much success, it was beaten by Blackwater overall, which is itself another NetEase title.
Based on revenue, ranking in first among the top five Chinese mobile game publishers was actually Diandian Interactive, with revenue reaching 4.2 times last September’s thanks to the success of survival strategy game Whiteout Survival in the US and Korea. Haibi, meanwhile, saw the most incredible growth in September with a 511% increase attributed to RPG Souls: Land of Light.
Finishing strong, Sensor Tower reported that South Korean publisher Krafton's PUBG Mobile took the top spot across the App Store and Google Play Store. It and many other successful September publishers featured in our Top 50 Game Makers list.
