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The highest-grossing mobile games of the quarter revealed

A new study examines the mid-core, casino, and casual markets

The highest-grossing mobile games of the quarter revealed

The mobile gaming industry is growing from strength to strength, being the most popular gaming platform worldwide. A new report from Apptica has examined the industry to identify the best performers of the quarter on both Android and iOS platforms across the mid-core, casual, and casino genres. Their report focuses on the top grossing charts of 37 countries from April 1 through to June 30.

Mid-core games experienced a particularly strong quarter, being reported as the highest-grossing genre of those surveyed on both iOS and Android platforms.

When analysing the top 10 games on each platform, across the casual, casino, and mid-core genres, Playrix and Playtika are identified as the publishing leaders, each responsible for 17.1 per cent of the games listed. King was responsible for 11.4 per cent of titles, while Lilith Games was the publisher of 8.6 per cent of the listed games.

However, King was identified as the highest-grossing publisher, with $264 million earned this quarter, followed by Lilith ($254.6 million) and Playrix ($182.8 million.)


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  • 1 Android

    Android logo

    Candy Crush Saga is the highest-grossing game of the quarter on Android platforms, earning $122 million. Coin Master came in second place, with $99.2 million, while Roblox earned a spot in third place with $68.1 million.

    Despite the fact that the two top-grossing surveyed Android games of the quarter are casual titles, mid-core games earned the top spot with a combined $457.7 million in earned revenue, compared to $434.1 million for casual titles and $179.6 million for the Casino genre.

    In terms of the top publishers, Playrix appears three times on the list with Homescapes, Township, and Gardenscapes. King and Playtika each appear twice on the list, while Lilith appear only once with Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade.


  • 2 iOS

    iOS logo

    iOS saw massive success with Rise of Kingdoms, which earned $179.5 million, being the highest-grossing mid-core game of the quarter.

    This was followed by Yalla Ludo – Ludo & Domino with $140.4 million, and Candy Crush Saga at $85.2 million.

    Similar to Android, Mid-core games were the most successful, earning $439.3 million in revenue. This was followed by casual games ($423.3 million) and the casino genre ($131.8 million).

    Of the previously identified top publishers, Playtika appears in the list four times, while Playrix appears three times with Gardenscapes, Homescapes, and Township. King appears twice with Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga, while Lilith Games also appears twice.


  • 3 Overview

    Overview logo

    The mid-core genre is growing quickly as developers continue to take notice of the potential of mobile gaming as a source of revenue, as well as the rapid developments in mobile technology. In total, the top mid-core games across both platforms earned $897 billion, compared to $857.4 million for casual games and $311.4 million for casino titles.

    Android came out of the quarter as the most successful platform in terms of their top-performing games across these genres, with $1.07 billion dollars, with Apple drawing $994.4 million during the same period.

    The top publishers (Playrix, Playtika, King, and Lilith) enjoyed success with a combined eleven titles in listed among the highest-grossing games on the iOS market for the period, compared to eight titles in the Android charts.

    Although Apple had the most successful exclusive with Rise of Kingdoms, and more games from the top publishers among the top-grossing titles on the App Store, the data shows that Android users are spending more money on a wider variety of games compared to Apple users.

    Of course, this data only discusses a small cross-section of the industry, and doesn't discuss the strengths of either platform in the surveyed genres as a whole or in other genres. As such, while this data does identify some key performers in the mobile games space, it doesn't speak to the strength of the market as a whole. By the end of this year, global mobile gaming revenue is forecast to hit over $100 billion.


Staff Writer

Lewis Rees is a journalist, author, and escape room enthusiast based in South Wales. He got his degree in Film and Video from the University of Glamorgan. He's been a gamer all his life.