Mobile data analytics firm App Annie has unveiled its Top Publisher Awards winners for 2021.
For the fourth year running, Chinese tech giants Tencent and NetEase have hung on to the No.1 and No.2 spots, respectively.
The success of Game For Peace - Known as PUBG Mobile out of China - has been cited as a major factor in Tencent's success. Last year proved to be huge for the battle royale as it topped $3.5 billion in lifetime revenue and 600 million downloads.
Meanwhile, Knives Out aided NetEase in maintaining its position as a top company in the mobile games space.
"Through passion, we unite - through connection, we thrive! First and foremost, we offer our most sincere gratitude to our players and App Annie," said NetEase Games senior global publishing and marketing director Matt Liu.
NetEase Games will continue our endeavours to create innovative games and provide the most satisfying gaming experience to gamers worldwide."
Top five
After climbing four places, Playrix came in at No.3, having experienced a great year thanks to titles such as Gardenscapes - New Acres and Fishdom: Deep Dive.
"It is a privilege to be awarded by our trusted partner App Annie this year," said Playrix senior business development director Maxim Kirilenko.
The Playrix team is happy that our games have brought a lot of joy to our customers around the globe during the pandemic. And this year we will focus on bringing even more through our new games."
For revenue, the top five mobile publishers were closed out by Activision Blizzard and Zynga in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
"We're honoured to be recognized with the Top Publisher award and truly see this as a celebration of our players," said Activision Blizzard COO and president Daniel Alegre.
"We have the best player communities across our Activision, Blizzard, and King games, who inspire our teams throughout the year. We look forward to bringing more content and experiences to our fans this year."
Moving up
However, this year, several companies have seen impressive growth as Lilith, Roblox, Moon Active and Scopely all climbed more than 10 places in the top publisher's list.
Naturally, their success comes down to top-performing games such as Rise of Kingdoms, Roblox, Coin Master and Marvel Strike Force.
Moreover, of the top 52 publishers by revenue, 31 are headquartered in the Asia Pacific region, while the US and China boast 16 and 15, respectively.
"We congratulate these exceptional leaders from across the world," said App Annie CEO Theodore Krantz.
"With mobile accelerating at an even faster rate than anticipated, publishers must engage with this audience to stay relevant."
