On December 20, Sensor Tower released the top ten global mobile games by revenue in November 2023. Tencent’s “王者荣耀” maintained its position as the top global mobile game, with revenue of $193 million in November. It is worth noting that the data in the list does not include revenue from third-party Android channels.
“原神” returned to the second place in the list. 45.6% of its revenue came from the Chinese iOS market, while 22.4% came from Japan and 10.2% from the United States. In November 8, “原神” released version 4.2, updating the map and introducing new characters and items. These activities led to the game’s revenue rising to second place in the list and topping the list of revenue growth.
Source: Sensor Tower
Top 10 Global Mobile Games by Revenue in November 2023 – Source: Sensor Tower
Previously, “原神” had struggled in late version of Miship and fell out of the top ten global mobile games by revenue in November and December. After the update of version 4.0 in Fengtan and the introduction of new characters, “原神” returned to the top ten in November. In September and October, the game ranked 7th and 8th, respectively.
Notably, “崩坏：星穹铁道” (Star Rail) did not make it to the top ten in November despite winning the 2023 Google Play Best Game of the Year, 2023 Apple App Store iPhone Game of the Year, and 2023 The Game Awards Best Mobile Game award. This is the first time since its public test that the game has not made it to the top ten.
Earlier, there were comments that “原神” was “falling” while “星轨” was “eating well.” Some also noted that “原神” contributed more than 1/3 or even close to half of its revenue to “星轨.”
In contrast, the stream of “星轨” and “原神” have been playing “see-saw.” Compared to the poor performance of “原神” in November, “星轨” experienced significant fluctuations in its revenue. According to Sensor Tower’s store intelligence data, “星轨” saw a 56% decrease in revenue from the App Store channel and a 55% decrease from the Google Play channel in November compared to October. In contrast, “原神” saw a 50% increase in revenue from the App Store channel and a 26% increase from the Google Play channel in November compared to October.
Tencent’s “PUBG Mobile” (including “Peace Elite”) ranked third with revenue of $143 million. 59.4% of its revenue came from the Chinese iOS market, with 8.8% from the United States and 3.1% from Saudi Arabia.
In the top ten global mobile games by revenue, there are also titles from casual games. In the active mobile gaming market, casual games also have considerable competitiveness. The other two games in the top five are “Monopoly GO!” from the US mobile game developer Scopely and “Royal Match” from the Turkish company Dream Games, a match-three game.
“Monopoly GO!” has been a standout in the global mobile gaming market this year. According to Scopely’s official statement, “Monopoly GO!” was the highest download game of 2023 and the largest revenue-generating product of 2023; it is also the fastest-growing casual game to achieve over $100 million in revenue per month, contributing over $200 million to the company’s revenue. It is currently the top mobile tabletop game.
“Royal Match” was released in February 2021, and its revenue exceeded $1 million in May of the same year, with total revenue exceeding $600 million in two years.
In November 2023, global mobile game players spent $6.1 billion on App Store and Google Play, with no significant change compared to the previous year. The United States remains the top market for global mobile game revenue, contributing $1.8 billion, or 30.2% of global total revenue. The Chinese iOS market ranks