News

June’s three most lucrative mobile games all came from China

Sensor Tower reports on the 10 biggest revenue generators worldwide

June’s three most lucrative mobile games all came from China

As we enter the second half of the year, various mobile gaming results from the first half are coming in; and of course, with the conclusion of H1 come its final month's statistics. Thus, Sensor Tower’s new report focuses on the performance of mobile games in the month of June, outlining the 10 most successful mobile games worldwide and their revenues for the period.

China dominates

At the top of the list, to little surprise, is Tencent’s Honour of Kings. Across the App Store and Google Play Store, the game earned its spot with a total $213 million in revenue in June alone. Its position was only strengthened by its latest version update on 27 June, at which time new seasons, heroes, and systems were added. The title also recently became Brazil’s most successful free mobile game.

Another title out of China, miHoYo’s Honkai: Star Rail steamed its way into second place this June. Of its total revenue, 39.7 percent came from the Chinese iOS market, followed by 27.7 percent from Japan and 11.4 percent from the US.

Like Honor of Kings, so too did Honkai: Star Rail release an update last month, with new characters, scenes and plots. For seven consecutive days, the game ranked among the top five best-sellers on Chinese iOS. It has in fact been smashing records since its release, starting with a major 20 million downloads on its launch day back in April.

Chinese companies continued to dominate the list with the third highest-grossing game being another Tencent title: PUBG Mobile made $122 million in June with 54.2 percent of revenue coming from China on iOS, miles ahead of the US market’s 9 percent and the Indian market’s 7.5 percent. The future of mobile gaming is suddenly looking tenuous in India, with plans to slap a 28 percent tax levy on online games in the country.

Worldwide mentions

Continuing down the list, King’s Candy Crush cracked into fourth for June, breaking the Chinese convention. Roblox rounded out the top five and was followed by Royal Match and Coin Master. Then, returning again to a Chinese company, miHoYo’s flagship Genshin Impact ranked eighth, earning them another stellar spot on the list. Gardenscapes and Pokémon Go finished off the top 10.

Sensor Tower also reported on the 10 most successful growers in revenue, with Royal Match making another appearance – coming in third. Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Champions is also noteworthy for making it to sixth place in what was its first month.

The full report includes further details on games like Dragon Quest Champions that are currently climbing the rankings.

Many of the games in the list are owned by June's most profitable publishers too, a number of whom appeared in our Top 50 Game Makers 2022 list.

News Editor

Aaron is the News Editor at PG.biz and has an honours degree in Creative Writing.
Having spent far too many hours playing Pokémon, he's now on a quest to be the very best like no one ever was...at putting words in the right order.