Japan generates $10bn in mobile game revenue despite declining downloads

• Players spent around 16.7bn hours in mobile games during the latest 12-month period.
• eFootball became Japan’s highest-grossing mobile game from January through July 2026, while Block Blast! remained the most downloaded.
• Puzzle games led mobile downloads, while 4X Strategy remained the leading spending subgenre.

Japan generated more than $10 billion in mobile game IAP revenue over the past 12 months.

Though this marked a 5.1% year-over-year decline, Japan continued to earn more than double South Korea's games IAP revenue and surpassed Taiwan nearly four times over. In fact, Japan ranked second in Asia, only behind China’s iOS market.

That’s according to Sensor Tower’s Japan Gaming 2026 report, which also found that Japan recorded 585 million mobile game downloads during the same period, ranking ninth in Asia. Installs declined by 5.4% Y/Y.

The difference between revenue and download rankings pointed towards the maturity of Japan’s mobile market, where growth relies more on established players, engagement and high spending than large volumes of new installs.

Players spent around 16.7bn hours in mobile games during the latest 12-month period, with engagement remaining comparatively stable since 2024. Also, iOS maintained a modest lead in downloads and accounted for the majority of consumer spending.

Mobile market trends

Konami's eFootball climbed six positions to become Japan’s highest-grossing mobile game from January through July 2026, with revenue reaching an all-time monthly high in July. World Cup-related activities helped drive engagement and spending, with this title also seeing the most revenue growth during the period.

Monster Strike and Last War: Survival ranked second and third for IAP revenue, followed by Whiteout Survival and Umamusume: Pretty Derby.

New releases including Arknights: Endfield, Dragon Quest Smash/Grow, Heartopia, NTE: Neverness to Everness and hololive Dreams were among the fastest-growing titles. Nobunaga’s Ambition: True Battle also recorded notable gains.

Meanwhile, Block Blast! remained Japan’s most downloaded mobile game, while hololive Dreams debuted in second place and Arrows Puzzle Escape climbed 52 positions to third. Royal Kingdom and Dragon Quest Smash/Grow completed the top five.

hololive Dreams, Dragon Quest Smash/Grow and Heartopia led download growth, while Order Crazy climbed 384 positions and Arrows Puzzle Escape rose 52 places.

Genre trends

Puzzle formats remained Japan’s strongest for downloads, with subcategories like sort, match pair, block and match merge-2 all recording Y/Y growth. Puzzle sort games led at 45.8%.

Revenue remained concentrated in deeper live-service experiences, with 4X strategy leading all mobile subgenres and growing 9.4%. 

Turn-based, puzzle and squad RPGs remained major spending categories, while realistic sports grew 8%, with eFootball highlighting the role of regular events and licensed content in sustaining monetisation.

You can access the full report here.