Stay Informed
Get Industry News In Your Inbox…
Sign Up Today
Happy New Year! 2024 is officially over, so to help catch you up to speed as we begin another new year in mobile games, we’ve curated the biggest stories you need to know from the festive period.
1) The top grossing mobile games of 2024
2024 marked another challenging year for the mobile games industry, but the platform’s top contenders continued to make billions in revenue over the year. Among them, the top-grossing game of 2024 was Tencent’s Honor of Kings at $2.6 billion, holding its position for three years running.
Scopely’s Monopoly Go ranked second in 2024 with $2.2 billion, according to AppMagic estimates, also winning Game of the Year and Best Publisher at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2024. Royal Match, PUBG Mobile and Roblox rounded out the top five.
Among brand-new 2024 releases, Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile took the crown with $1.1 billion in China.
2) The most downloaded mobile games of 2024
Roblox wasn’t only a top five revenue generator in 2024, but also topped mobile game download charts in 2024, with over 210 million installs during the course of the year. According to AppMagic data, the UGC title also topped 2023 download charts, making this its second consecutive year on top.
Hungry Studio’s Block Blast ranked second with 205.9 million downloads, followed by Subway Surfers, Pizza Ready and Ludo King in third, fourth and fifth.
3) Sega mulls games subscription service
After delisting Sega Mega Drive, Dreamcast Classics and more from storefronts, Sega wrapped up 2024 by considering a possible subscription service in its future.
Sega America and Europe president and CEO Shuji Utsumi told the BBC that he finds subscription services “very interesting” and revealed that the company is “evaluating some opportunities”, but “cannot disclose” exactly what it has in mind.
4) Scopely acquires Perfect World’s Chengfeng Studio in $34.5m deal
Scopely acquired Perfect World’s Chengfeng Studio in a $34.5 million deal, with certain Codename PIE assets to be transferred to Scopely through the deal.
Most of Chengfeng Studio’s employees, including its core team, will be departing to set up their own company in China. Scopely will hold a minority stake in this new studio.
5) Roblox Studio chief on how AI will revolutionise UGC
PocketGamer.biz ended the year by speaking with Roblox Studio head Stefano Corazza about how Roblox integrates AI tools to assist and speed up creation across its platform.
“We believe that AI will mean that success for all creators is based on the originality and quality of their ideas rather than the ceiling of their technical skills,” he said.
