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.
Will SayGames’ Sand Balls be the most downloaded mobile game of 2019?
It was only released in July so that seems unlikely, especially given competition from the likes of Call of Duty: Mobile and Mario Kart Tour.
But certainly ever since we’ve been running these App Annie data articles, it’s been near or at the top of the most downloaded charts.
Maybe it will have to be satisfied with being the most downloaded mobile game of the second half of 2019?
For this week - as last week, and the week before that etc - Sand Balls remains at #1.
Ditto AppLovin’s Ink Inc - Tattoo Tycoon, at #2 and Focus Apps’ Brain Out at #3.
In fact, the biggest movement is Call of Duty: Mobile which drops out of the top 10.
There’s a similar dynamic happening on the weekly engagement chart, with the top four games from last week - Anipop, Pokemon Go, PUBG Mobile and Game For Peace - repeating their positions.
And the bigger faller is Call of Duty: Mobile dropping from #5 to #8.
The only other change of note is the reappearance of Brawl Stars in the #10 position.
Over recent weeks, it appears to have been losing momentum in the key English-speaking countries such as Australia, the UK and the US but remains very popular, including in terms of new downloads, in European markets such as France, Germany and Spain.
Surprisingly, the most active chart this week in terms of movement is the top grossing chart.
Tencent’s Honour of Kings remains the nailed down #1 but every other position see change, including two re-entries in the shape of Lineage 2 (#7) and Gardenscapes (#10).
The three top Japanese RPGs perform a little shuffle with Fate/Grand Order up to #2 while Monster Strike drops to #5 and Dragon Quest Walk drops to #6.
The biggest climber is Clash of Clans, which celebrates its status as the top grossing game of the decade, moving up to #3.
Such activity pushes Candy Crush Saga down to #8, but no doubt it will be back up in future weeks as the holiday season provides more opportunities for match-3 gamers to carve out additional time for their favourite digital pastime.
(Incidentially, Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans were the only two mobile games to feature on both of App Annie's most downloaded and top grossing games of the decade list.)
And all that sees Call of Duty: Mobile slip out of the global top grossing top 10 altogether.
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