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Simulation games had great revenue growth in H1 2020

Casino had the most growth in downloads

Simulation games had great revenue growth in H1 2020

Simulation games have proven to be extremely popular in the US as player spending in the genre increased by 63.2 per cent year-over-year in H1 2020 according to Sensor Tower.

With such an impressive increase, simulation titles have proven to be the top risers when it comes to revenue. The genre includes top games such as Roblox and Playrix's Township. The former of which, hit $1.5 billion in lifetime revenue on mobile back in June.

However, across the 100 top earners in the genre, $851 million was generated in H1 2020. Furthermore, the most-successful sub-genre was sandbox, at an increase of 96.5 per cent, year-on-year it generated $368.8 million.

At 51.9 per cent year-on-year growth, the racing genre proved to be the second-fastest-growing category having earned $110.3 million. Meanwhile, casino came in at No.3 with $2.1 billion, or rather an increase of 46.4 per cent year-over-year. At the bottom of the chart sits hypercasual, which saw a decrease of 6.6 per cent year-on-year.

Downloads rising

However, in terms of downloads, the casino genre demonstrated the most growth with a rise of 39.1 per cent year-on-year, with the top 100 games accumulating 89.4 million installs. Slots proved to be the most-popular sub-genre at 44 million downloads, or rather an increase of 14 per cent year-over-year.

Meanwhile, racing came in at No.2 yet again with 75.6 million installs due to a 33.3 per cent year-on-year rise. Moreover, the shooter genre made its mark in third place, garnering 85.5 million downloads, with a growth of 33 per cent year-on-year. However, at the other end of the spectrum, the arcade genre lost seven per cent year-on-year.

Although it only saw an increase of 2.5 per cent, the hypercasual category experienced the most downloads in H1 2020. Overall, the top 100 games brought in 508.3 million installs. In second place, puzzle's top games accumulated 262.2 million installs. Finally, with the third-highest number of downloads, Arcade games saw 167.8 million.

Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.