Asian developers dominate as 2024's top 10 new mobile games surpass $3 billion

2024 has been full to bursting with hit new mobile games, some expanding well-known IPs, others establishing entirely new ones, and all of them reinforcing that there’s still room for something fresh in this lucrative industry.

With the year almost over, a total of 11 brand-new games released this year have already reached the $100 million mark and it’s safe to say which among them excelled beyond the pack, soaring to the 2024 crown unchallenged.

That game is Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile. Having debuted in China this May through the combined might of Nexon and Tencent, this was the only mobile game released in 2024 to surpass $1 billion in gross player spending, and it achieved the major feat in one country alone. These estimates only include China App Store revenue, with the title likely to have made far more on the country's third-party Android marketplaces.

2024 proved a lucrative year for many other newcomers too, with Love and Deepspace, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, Zenless Zone Zero and AFK Journey ranking second through fifth by player spending.

According to AppMagic data, these top five new games triggered a combined $2.2bn in player spending across the App Store and Google Play, while $3bn was spent across the top 10. This increased to $3.8bn for the top 15.

A new dawn

AppMagic data shows that the 10 most lucrative 2024 releases were all games made in Asia, indicating a seismic disparity between Western and Eastern publishers.

The West’s best result was with Sea of Conquest from FunPlus, which has its HQ based in Switzerland, which ranked in 12th. It should be noted, however, that it houses a lot of its development talent in China.

Squad Busters, the latest game from repeat blockbuster maker Supercell and the company’s first fully launched title in five and a half years, ranked 13th. It's worth also noting that the Finnish developer is owned by Chinese publisher Tencent.

Developers and publishers in Asia dominated this year's top new revenue generators with a mix of new and existing IPs. It's worth mentioning markets like China, South Korea and Japan have historically been significant revenue drivers for top games. Though as Monopoly Go and Royal Match have proven in recent years, the US also has potential for high player spending.

This year in Asia, developers demonstrated that original IPs still stand a fair chance against their well-established competition with newcomers Love and Deepspace, Zenless Zone Zero and Wuthering Waves among the year's biggest new titles.

Established IP made up a number of the title tops, too. Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket builds upon a very well-known brand and is the newest game in the top 15, having made it to third place despite debuting globally as recently as October.

It’s an impressive feat to outcompete all but two of 2024’s new games in merely six weeks, and was made possible through achieving the second-strongest launch month of the year - only behind Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile.

Had it released earlier in 2024, Pocket may well have placed even higher overall.

Regarding launch months, it's been evident this year that a strong release doesn’t inevitably mean ongoing success. At the same time, a modest launch doesn’t necessarily reflect on a title's long-term potential. A great game can transcend beyond its launch and gain momentum down the line, as demonstrated by Top Heroes, AFK Journey and Love and Deepspace.

Fire at Zombies is the standout example of this in 2024, propelling from $1.1m in its first month to over $132m across 2024 as a whole.

Triumphant chart-toppers

Diving deeper into the year’s greatest triumphs, every one of the top five games comes from a different developer and publisher, and the games they produced each possess unique merits that help them stand apart.

1: Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile

Gross Earnings - $1.1bn (iOS)

Release Date - May 21st, 2024 (China)

Leading the pack, Nexon and Tencent’s beat ‘em up RPG Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile earned $1.1bn in gross player spending on China’s App Store in just over six months, marking a rewarding recompense to its two-year delay in the country.

Players in China were forced to wait through government restrictions before they were finally permitted to play, but once they got their hands on the game this May, Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile immediately soared to success.

Based on iOS data alone, that $1.1bn makes this title the biggest mobile launch of 2024 and the 10th most lucrative mobile game overall this year, in amongst mainstays like Honor of Kings, Roblox and PUBG Mobile.

The exact revenue generated from China’s Android app stores is unclear, but in Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile’s first month Android spending was confirmed to have kept pace with iOS.

2: Love and Deepspace

Gross Earnings - $397m

Release Date - January 18th, 2024 (Global)

Delivering dating simulation and real-time combat in a photorealistic package, anime title Love and Deepspace released worldwide on January 18th with the strongest mobile launch in Infold Games’ (the international business arm of developer Papergames) entire catalogue - beating every entry in the Nikki series with $24m gross by the end of the month. Its first four days have even outpaced the recent launched of the hotly anticipated Infinity Nikki

Papergames infused Love and Deepspace with sci-fi elements, character customisation and a 3D aesthetic, earning the game an immediate niche in markets like China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the US.

11 months later, Love and Deepspace is well on its way to $400m in gross revenue, surpassing Shining Nikki’s lifetime player spending. Its most lucrative month was September, when players spent $45m over 30 days.

3: Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket

Gross Earnings - $291m

Release Date - October 30th (Global)

The Pokémon Company’s latest game Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket thunderbolted to its first $100m in just 17 days and rocketed on past $200m 14 days later. Just six weeks on from release, it’s already made $278m gross and is on track to become the second-biggest Pokémon mobile game.

Pocket was first announced this February as a collaborative mobile project between The Pokémon Company, TCG creator Creatures Inc. and Pokémon Masters dev DeNA.

It flew under the radar for much of the year and even through its New Zealand soft launch, but burst forth with its worldwide release on a scale unseen since Pokémon Go. In fact, Pocket matched 91% of Go's first month revenue, according to AppMagic estimates.

Pokémon cards themselves were already popular physically, but what TCG Pocket’s done right as a mobile title shouldn’t be downplayed. As well as leveraging 90s nostalgia, Pocket has successfully inspired discourse in forums and on YouTube, cultivating an online community led by speculation and playground-style rumours.

This has only served to further promote the game and gain that much more player interest, with over 60m people now opening digital packs in search of the rarest cards around.

4: Zenless Zone Zero

Gross Earnings - $214m

Release Date - July 4th (Global)

Zenless Zone Zero is an interesting case for this year's top five. Technically a brand-new IP like Love and Deepspace, but benefiting from the rising reputation of developer HoYoverse.

Following back-to-back sensations Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, the HoYoverse name helped push Zenless Zone Zero past an unprecedented 40m pre-registrations.

This record-breaking anticipation translated to nearly $100m in the urban RPG’s first month on mobile alone.

It was a modest release compared to Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, however. Zenless Zone Zero's sales have waned down to $34m in August and to its lowest point, $19m, in October - still lucrative by most standards.

Meanwhile, Genshin Impact made another $57m this October and Honkai: Star Rail $47m. In fact, with $214m to date, Zenless Zone Zero has generated less mobile revenue over its five months so far than Genshin Impact made in its very first.

Even so, Zenless Zone Zero’s strong launch month helped carry it to fourth place among this year’s new releases overall, despite failing to reach its predecessors' lofty heights.

5. AFK Journey

Gross Earnings - $212m

Release Date - March 27th, 2024

Lilith Games is one of China's most successful exports, with its games proving popular both in China and on the global stage. AFK Journey is the follow-up to AFK Arena, and has made $212 million to date.

Its China launchwas particularly impactful to the game's revenue. That release proved over five times more impactful than its Western opener. This expansion was so effective that it helped skyrocket AFK Journey into the top five new earners of the year.

China came to account for 7% of lifetime spending after just five days’ access to the game, increasing to a 21% share since.

We caught up with Lilith Games earlier this year to uncover more about the company's culture and greenlighting process for games like AFK Journey. We also caught up with the team again to discuss how the launch of the title has gone and what its plans are next.

Amongst the mighty

The second half of this year's top 10 comprises titles all released in the first half of 2024, with the summer months proving to be their most lucrative.

Kuro Games' Wuthering Waves had a huge launch. It's somewhat coasted (while still being very lucrative) since, however, ranking sixth overall for new releases in 2024. The title's success was enough to see the developer acquired by Tencent earlier this month.

BiliBili’s Three Kingdoms: Conquer the World, meanwhile, has netted $180m in China since June, and Netmarble’s Solo Leveling: Arise, QualiArts’ Gakuen Idolmaster, and Hainan Shengcan Network Technology's Fire at Zombies have each made more than $150m each to date.

In conclusion

Wrapping up the year, it’s again worth emphasising that the biggest new games of the year were largely developed by Asian teams. In fact, no 2024 Western release made it to the $100m mark, nor did any developer but FunPlus and Supercell rank in the top 15 based on player spending.

Dream Games’ Royal Kingdom deserves an honourable mention as one more Western game that could find success in 2025, having earned over $20m just during its soft launch. But its November release means it hasn't yet had the time to show its potential full might yet.

Meanwhile, 2023 latecomers like FirstFun's Last War and Joy Nice Games' Legend of Mushroom also deserve recognition, generating $1.5bn and $527m, respectively. Last War only began scaling significantly in November/December last year, while Legend of Mushroom released in its top market, Japan, in February this year and launched globally in March.

Tencent's DreamStar, its answer to NetEase's Eggy Party, stormed the stage in December 2023, generating $26m during that month. Overall, it's accumulated close to $114m to date.

As we enter 2025, it remains to be seen whether any new Western games find breakout success. More Asia-developed titles could be set to steal the show with the expected launches of titles like Anata and Honor of Kings: World.

With successful new titles from 2023 and now 2024 shaking up the top charts, there’s plenty of room for more major mobile earners to come in 2025.

For a look at the top companies of the year, check out the Top 50 Mobile Game Makers list.

Please note: All player spending estimates are listed as gross revenue and covers the App Store and Google Play only. Publishers can also generated revenue from ads, third-party marketplaces and web shops, which is not shown here.