April 2024 saw Brawl Stars continue its rise up the charts while Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile struggled to maintain its launch momentum, according to the latest mobile games charts.
Each month we analyse the mobile market to uncover the top grossing games, most downloaded titles and top publishers, with data provided by AppMagic.
Below you can see the latest top games and companies, as well as the big stories and trends from the last month.
Top grossing mobile games
The big story: Brawl Stars’ astronomical rise
Supercell’s Brawl Stars is back! The title broke right back into the top 10 for the first time since February 2019 - just shortly after its December 12th 2018 global launch.
As we’ve analysed previously, player spending in the title has surged over the last few months following the introduction of features such as Starr Drops and Hypercharges. Gradient Universe founder Oxana Fomina delved into the reasons behind Brawl Stars' growth in an article for PocketGamer.biz here.
Such is Brawl Stars’ growth, Brawl Stars has already generated more revenue so far in 2024 than the entirety of 2023. In April alone, the title accumulated $84.3m in revenue - up 810.6% Y/Y and 25.9% M/M - placing it firmly above Clash of Clans as Supercell’s most successful title right now.
Supercell will hope for similar success when it launches its sixth global title Squad Busters on May 29th.
Top grossing mobile games for April 2024
Tencent’s smash hit MOBA Honor of Kings once again ranked as the No. 1 top grossing mobile game in the world, generating an estimated $174.6 million - though that marked a 5.4% decline Y/Y and an 8.4% drop from March.
Another Tencent title, PUBG Mobile, picked up $147.7m in April. The title also saw player spending decline 3.1% Y/Y and 12.1% Y/Y.
Monopoly GO! ranked No. 3 with $146.5m, up 1,170% Y/Y, but down 9.2% M/M. The title has firmly become one of the most successful mobile games in the world, already passing $2 billion in revenue, according to Scopely itself.
Only three top 10 titles saw revenue growth in March: Brawl Stars, FirstFun’s Last War: Survival Game (11.9%) , and Genshin Impact (59.3%). The latter continued its dance with another HoYoVerse title, Honkai: Star Rail, with the two regularly cannibalising each others’ revenue.
Overall, the mobile games market generated close to $6.2 billion in April 2024, down 5.3% Y/Y and 6.3% M/M.
Most downloaded mobile games
The big story: Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile’s decline
March’s big mobile game launch was Activision’s Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile. Backed by an enormous gaming IP and a large marketing budget, the title shot to 20.5 million downloads that month, making it the most downloaded mobile game worldwide.
But that launch momentum didn’t last, in April it ranked No. 51 with 6.4m installs. Player spending is up though, rising from $3.1m in gross revenue in March to nearly $5m in April - though it should be noted that Warzone officially launched on March 21st, with daily revenue showing declines since then.
In the meantime, while Call of Duty: Mobile, launched back in October 2019, didn’t beat Warzone Mobile’s downloads, April saw the title reverse three months of revenue decline with $32.2 million for the month.
In its early launch period, Activision’s solo attempt to find success for Call of Duty on mobile has failed in comparison to its predecessor, developed in partnership with Tencent’s TiMi Studio.
Most downloaded mobile games for April 2024
Topping the month in April was Supercent’s arcade idle title Pizza Ready!, which has steadily picked up steam over the past six months. Downloads hit 26.4m in April, up 72.5% from 15.3m in March.
Roblox ranked No. 2 with 17.9m downloads, maintaining its ranking position from March, when it picked up 18.3m installs.
Another new entrant to the top rankings was Digital Melody Games’ Supermarket Manager Simulator at No.3, picking up 17.6m installs. The 3D title has players manage all parts of running a store - from ordering products and putting them on shelves, to serving customers, creating promotions and even renovating the store itself.
Overall, the global mobile games market generated nearly five billion downloads in April, a rise of 6.2% Y/Y, and a decline of 5% from March.
Top performing mobile games publishers
The big story: Supercell fires up to world’s No. 6 top grossing mobile games publisher
Supercell’s resurgence into a top 10 publisher again has clearly been powered by Brawl Stars’ astronomical rise. But as we noted in our analysis of the company’s portfolio, that’s not the full story.
Clash of Clans revenue rose 10% Y/Y in Q1 2024, while Clash Royale saw a huge surge in player spending of 92% Y/Y during the same quarter. According to AppMagic data, Supercell revenue in April hit $168m - almost double what it generated in April 2023.
Supercell’s rise isn’t just built on Brawl Stars - the company-wide restructure and challenge of its own ethos has seen revenue rise across its other titles, too. Check out our big analysis of Supercell's portfolio here.
If the rise continues - revenue grew 8.8% M/M - Supercell could find itself moving further up the rankings. And as we noted earlier, this month also sees the launch of Squad Busters, another likely revenue driver.
The top grossing mobile game publishers for April 2024
Tencent ranked as the No. 1 top grossing games publisher worldwide in April 2024, picking up $587.4m. HoYoverse pipped NetEase to the No. 2 spot, generating $205.4m. Netease accumulated $195.4m.
Scopely revenue rose by 168.3% Y/Y, thanks in large part to Monopoly GO!, while Royal Match developer Dream Games also saw revenue up 33.4% Y/Y. Zynga-owned Peak Games saw revenue rise by 83.7% Y/Y as the company steadily builds up what could be its latest hit in match-3D title Match Factory.
Top mobile games publishers for downloaded in April 2024
When it comes to downloads, the top six publishers remained the same from March. Azur Games took top spot with 144.7m, Supersonic Studios ranked No. 2 with 102.6m installs, and SayGames took the No. 3 spot with 94.4m downloads.
