This article is part of an ongoing series of data-driven articles from PocketGamer.biz and App Annie highlighting trends in the global mobile games sector using App Annie’s Game IQ analytics.
This enables mobile game developers to dig deeper into the data and discover not only which games are performing best but what characteristics they have.
This week we’re looking at the top grossing puzzle games in the key South Korean market.
As is often the case in this market, the chart is dominated by domestic companies, with the likes of Netmarble, Kakao and SundayToz taking seven of the available ten spots.
But highlighting its global rise over the past years, Russian developer Playrix is sitting pretty in the top two positions, with its builder/match-3 mash-ups Gardenscapes and Homescapes.
Oft-copied, it is significant just how strong these games remain; both have generated more than $1 billion in lifetime revenue.
Less surprising is the presence of King’s Candy Crush Saga; another billion-dollar game that inspired a category.
As for the remainder of the chart, it’s local in terms of themes and content.
It is particularly interesting to note four games from SundayToz (owned by SmileGate), which isn’t particularly well known internationally but even since the launch of the original Anipang game in 2012 has been a staple of the Korean industry.
Seven years on, Everybody’s Marble - based on a Korean version of Monopoly and the game that launched Netmarble as a key mobile player - remains a remarkable strong performer at #3.
The ability of the Kakao social network to drive downloads and revenue has declined since its high point in 2014 however.
The presence of three games - including the dedicated release Anipang3 for Kakao - shows it still had juice in the tank though.
Game IQ is a vertically tailored analytics product, developed by App Annie, that provides insight into dimensions such as class, genre, subgenre and tags. Games can now be analyzed by broad category class (tuning), genre, subgenre, and tags (modifiers) such as IP, art style, settings, monetization mechanic, and more.
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