This article is part of an ongoing series of data-driven articles from PocketGamer.biz and data.ai (formerly App Annie) highlighting trends in the global mobile games sector using data.ai’s Game IQ analytics.

In data.ai’s recent Q2 2022 Regional Pulse Index report, the ongoing popularity - and longevity - of key mobile titles was highlighted, along with the ongoing - if more ephemeral - success of hypercasual games.

Across multiple markets around the world, the top two titles were Free Fire (Sea/Garena) and Subway Surfers (Miniclip/Sybo). While Free Fire was initially released in 2017, making it five years old, Subway Surfers originally hit the market in 2012, giving it a full decade on the market and the honour of being one of the most downloaded mobile games in the world.

Across the rest of the top 10 charts, hypercasual games continue to attract large audiences, with new entrants including Tall Man Run and Fill The Fridge. The latter game - in which the mechanics are exactly what the name suggests, rose an incredible 85 places through the charts to grab the number 10 by downloads slot.

The other breakout success story of the quarter was the impact that Diablo Immortal achieved. Released in June 2022, having only a single month within the quarter, managed to top the charts for growth in spend, downloads and active users.

The first Diablo was initially released in 1996 for PC (take that Subway Surfers). Diablo Immortal is the franchise's first mobile title and the response shows both the popularity of massively-multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) on mobile and the ability to attract a larger, more diverse audience.

While the game received criticism from some quarters for its use of free-to-play mechanics, the game encouraged its audience to spend very successfully, with a 3.2 times greater spend than similar games.

Diablo Immortal ranked in the top nine breakout games by consumer spend in nine key markets including:

• US (#1)
• Germany (#3)
• South Korea (#3)
• France (#4)
• Australia (#5)
• UK (#5)
• Brazil (#5)
• Worldwide (#7)
• Mexico (#7)

Diablo Immortal also ranked in the top 10 for breakout downloads in South Korea, Germany, US and Japan. It also reached the top 10 for breakout monthly average users (MAU) for Australia, Mexico, South Korea, Turkey, Germany, the US and Worldwide.

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DATA.AI’s Q2 2022 Mobile Market Pulse Top Apps and Games offers even greater insight into the global mobile markets and the performance of the leading apps and games in key regions around the world. The report is available for free and can be downloaded here.

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