Data & Research

Honour of Kings, PUBG Mobile and AFK Arena climb global top grossing chart

Crunching the data with App Annie

Honour of Kings, PUBG Mobile and AFK Arena climb global top grossing chart

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.

For the fourth week running, SayGames’ Johnny Trigger is the most downloaded mobile game.

It’s an impressive achievement but even moreso for publisher SayGames as its Sand Balls - currently #4 - was the most downloaded game in November and December.

Indeed, the only reason it wasn’t also the most downloaded game in October was due to the release of Call of Duty: Mobile.

There is more movement on the download chart this week than normal, however, with Brain Out climbing one place to #2 and Hunter Assassin dropping down to #3.

PUBG Mobile is up, two places to #5 and this movement in terms of downloads is also reflected on the top grossing chart.

Another interesting trend sees Playrix’s billion dollar games Gardenscapes and Homescapes re-enter the download chart at #9 and #10 respectively.

Even the normally static engagement chart, measured in terms of weekly active users - sees titles changing position this week, especially at the top.

PUBG Mobile remains #1 as it has been for the past month, but Honour of Kings knocks Candy Crush Saga from the #2 position, while Game For Peace (the China-only version of PUBG Mobile) is up two places to #4.

That means four of the top 5 games by engagement are developed and/or published by Tencent.

The rise of mobile games with a strong Chinese element is also reflected in the top grossing chart. No doubt, this trend is driven by live events and promotions based around the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations.

Honour of Kings takes the #1 spot from Fate/Grand Order, while AFK Arena moves up to #3.

PUBG Mobile is up one place to #5 while Game For Peace is a re-entry at #6.

There’s activity on the chart that’s not obviously related to China though. Gardenscapes is a re-entry at #8, while - after a week off the chart - Roblox similarly is placed at #9.

Most surprising is the first appearance of Cygames’s RPG Princess Connect!Re:Dive - a very Japanese experience - at #10.

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Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.