Over the past 12 months, consumer spending on mobile strategy games has seen a significant increase in the US.

According to Sensor Tower, from November 1st 2020 to October 31st 2021, player spending on mobile strategy games reached $4.2 billion, an increase of 24 per cent year-over-year.

The top game in the genre was the 4X strategy game Lords Mobile from IGG, which generated $330 million.

In second place was Clash of Clans from Supercell, part of the build and battle genre, followed by State of Survival from FunPlus, another 4X title.

Solo strategists

The 4X genre was the leading revenue generator for the period, with player spending reaching $2.9 billion, a 33 per cent increase year-over-year

The fastest growing strategy subgenre by revenue was MOBA, with player spending rising to $168.4 million, an increase of over 50 per cent year-over-year.

The 4X subgenre was also the most installed strategy genre, accumulating 53.5 million downloads.

MOBA was also the fastest growing subgenre by downloads, increasing by 133 per cent to 19.4 million.

The growth in the MOBA genre can be attributed to the recently launched Pokémon Unite and League of Legends: Wild Rift.

For the period, Strategy was the third highest revenue generating mobile genre, following Puzzle in first place, followed by Casino in second.

Outside of the US, worldwide monthly player spending on MOBAs has grown by 14 per cent, reaching an average of $300 million per month, spearheaded by Tencent’s Honor of Kings.