Newzoo has refreshed the figures on its chart documenting the world’s biggest games companies by revenue, revealing that Google is hot on Apple’s heels sitting just behind it in the table.

Together both companies account for 83 percent of the world’s $24.5 billion mobile gaming market.

Google has managed to close the gap between the two, and Newzoo believes the battle for the Chinese market will be a decisive factor in deciding whether Google manages to overtake Apple once and for all.

The top 25

Tencent, meanwhile, has held on to its top spot of the world’s biggest games company. Over the past year it grew by a whopping 37 percent to rack up a total of $7.2 billion in sales.

Sony has also managed to leapfrog Microsoft and come second with 27 percent year-on-year growth from $4.7 billion to $6 billion.

Now stuck with third place, Microsoft only managed a 3 percent climb to a total of $5 billion.

The biggest upswing in the top ten came from Google, which leapt 89 percent from $1.4 billion to $2.6 billion.

Newzoo’s chart follows the industry’s top 25 companies. Between them, these 25 firms make up 65 percent of the global industry’s revenues – in hard cash, that’s $54.1 billion.