According to the revenue ranking of Chinese mobile game publishers in the global App Store and Google Play in January 2023 released by SensorTower, a total of 41 Chinese manufacturers were shortlisted in this issue, with a total revenue of nearly 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for the top 100 global mobile game publishers in this issue 40% of the income, as detailed below.
Special Note: This report only counts publisher revenue, and does not include third-party Android channels in China.
Top 30 Chinese mobile game publishers by revenue
During the winter vacation and Spring Festival, the Chinese mobile game market gradually picked up and set a new monthly revenue record in January. The revenue of national mobile game products such as “Honor of Kings” and “Peace Elite” under Tencent Games increased across the board, making publishers’ mobile game revenue increase by 26% month-on-month and 14.8% year-on-year, hitting a record high.
The casual competitive mobile game “Egg Party” with strong social attributes also ushered in substantial growth during the Spring Festival, becoming the highest-grossing product of NetEase mobile games in this period, and brought a 17.5% month-on-month growth to the publisher.
Thanks to the excellent performance of the Japanese versions of “Azure Files” and “Tomorrow’s Ark”, the revenue of Youxing Network increased by 108.3% month-on-month, hitting a record high. In the Japanese market, Yostar Network ranked 7th in the revenue list of mobile game publishers in January, becoming the Chinese mobile game manufacturer with the highest revenue.
Dream Fun’s turn-based monster-hunting mobile game “Chang’an Fantasy” also successfully grabbed the Spring Festival holiday, ranked No. 8 in China’s iOS mobile game revenue list, and drove Dream Fun Games’ airborne publisher revenue to No. 11.
In the past few years, a batch of doomsday-themed SLG mobile games have successfully opened up overseas markets, causing many manufacturers to join this track, and more innovative gameplays have emerged.
IGG’s new post-apocalyptic tower defense game “Doomsday: Last Survivors” has started to increase its revenue in the European and American markets, making the publisher rank 13th.
Diandian Interactive achieved a 7.7% month-on-month growth with its doomsday-themed simulation mobile game “Frozen City” launched in overseas markets at the end of December, ranking 18th.
The strategy card mobile game “Zaizai Westward Journey” landed in the Chinese market at the end of December, bringing an 8.6% month-on-month growth in the revenue of the publisher Youka Network. No. 41 on the business income list.
In addition to the list, the Chinese mobile game publishers shortlisted in the top 100 by global revenue are Haoteng Jiake, Hero Game, Polk City, Youaihuyu, Mattel163, TOEIC, Yale Technology, Youzu Network, and Jingjing World, Friendship Time and Youka Network have a total of 41 manufacturers.
Top 20 mobile game revenues in China’s App Store
In addition to the “Egg Party” and “Chang’an Fantasy” mentioned above, “Cross Fire: The King of Gunfight” and “Tomorrow’s Ark” have achieved substantial growth in revenue in this issue.
With the new year’s Gacha game and the launch of the Chinese New Year version, the revenue of “Cross Fire: Gun Fighter” in January increased by 173% month-on-month, hitting a record high, and entered the list for the first time at No. 4.
Driven by the limited activities during the Spring Festival, the revenue of “Tomorrow’s Ark” increased by 228% month-on-month, making the developer Yingjiao Network return to the 30th place in the revenue list of Chinese mobile game publishers.
