SocialPeta sorted out the top 20 global mobile games by advertising, revenue, and download in September 2024, hoping to be of assistance to more people in the mobile app industry who are trying to understand the changing trends of the global mobile market.
The overall performance of global mobile games in September:
- Mihoyo’s two titles see renewed popularity, with 【Honkai: Star Rail】 setting a new first-day revenue record for character banners.
- ZLongGame launched pre-marketing for 【鋼嵐】 aggressively promoting over 6,000 ads featuring mechas and strategy gameplay.
- Magic Tavern effectively targeted female audiences with its buying strategy, leveraging short drama ads about divorce combined with cute pets.
- Aging demographics in puzzle games are evident, as 【CodyCross】 aims at players aged 40 and above.
Top 20 Mobile Games by Advertising
1. In collaboration with EVA, 【鋼嵐】 launches in the Japanese market.
Following the overseas release of 【龙之国物语】 ZLongGame’ sci-fi mecha strategy mobile game 【鋼嵐】 is scheduled to launch in the Japanese market on October 23. From its theme alone, 【鋼嵐】 combines sci-fi mecha, strategy gameplay, and anime-style characters—a risky yet potentially rewarding combination. While there have been no recent original hits with a mecha setting, classic titles like Gundam and EVA continue to draw significant attention. Additionally, ZLongGame’s hardcore strategy gameplay has already gained recognition among Japanese players, with the previous title 【Langrisser】 still consistently achieving at least ten million yen in monthly revenue in Japan, demonstrating strong player loyalty.
After discussing the market fundamentals, let’s take a closer look at the actual marketing efforts of 【鋼嵐】. According to data from SocialPeta’s Advertiser Module, 【鋼嵐】 accumulated approximately 6,000 deduplicated ad placements for pre-registration creatives in September, with ads running for a total of 24 days. The specific iOS advertising data is as follows:
- In the past 30 days, video ads accounted for about 58.6% of total creatives, with 45.6% of these videos exceeding 30 seconds in length.
- Most of the video ads were in vertical format (720×1280), accounting for approximately 30.6%.
- Image ads made up around 40.39% of total creatives in the past 30 days.
- The majority of the image ads were in horizontal format (1200×628), accounting for approximately 28.54%.
- The ad copy mainly focused on keywords such as ‘SRPG,’ ‘anime girls,’ and ‘mecha.‘
Based on the advertising creatives for user acquisition, 【鋼嵐】 presents a classic, hardcore image, with ad copy focusing predominantly on themes such as mechas, Gundam, robots, and slogans like ‘mechas are a man’s romance,’ occasionally balancing the user profile with mentions of anime girl pilots. The 30-second video ads are entirely dedicated to showcasing mecha appearances, special armor, and custom assembly of exclusive mechas, clearly emphasizing mechas as the core of the promotion. This forms a sharp contrast with ZLongGame’s other strategy game,【Archeland】.
In addition to showcasing the mechas, 【鋼嵐】 also drew inspiration from tokusatsu and disaster films, producing numerous short narrative clips featuring scenes such as monster attacks, highway chase sequences, and dramatic mecha battles. The classic style evokes associations with 【Detective Conan】 and 【Ultraman】. Considering the collaboration with EVA in the domestic market, similar collaboration content is likely to be launched in the Japanese market soon.
2. New User Acquisition Strategy for Female-Targeted Match-3 Game Giant: The Dramatic Life of a Divorced Woman
Magic Tavern, a leading player in the female-targeted match-3 segment, has been active throughout the year. In March, they launched 【Modern Community】, a new match-3 renovation game that had been in development for three years. Additionally, their seven-year-old game【Matchington Mansion】 has seen increased advertising investment, surpassing many new releases to secure a top position on the user acquisition leaderboard for September.
【Matchington Mansion】 needs little introduction. Not only is it a quintessential blend of female-targeted storytelling, match-3 gameplay, and home renovation, but it is also one of Magic Tavern’s two major cash cows. Beyond its impressive revenue, 【Matchington Mansion】 along with its sister title 【Project Makeover】 has once led the trend in user acquisition for female-focused simulation mobile games.
According to data from SocialPeta,【Matchington Mansion】 had approximately 8,000 deduplicated ad placements for pre-registration creatives in September, with a cumulative ad placement span of 400 days. The video ads primarily revolved around themes of mothers, children, and pets, frequently employing the following narrative: suffering abuse from the husband → divorcing and leaving home with the child → renovating a new house through match-3 gameplay → ending in failure. Interactive elements such as whether to divorce, whether to restart, and whether to save the protagonist were often inserted to enhance download conversions.
In addition,【Matchington Mansion】 frequently uses storylines involving animals or pets left in care to highlight the greatness of familial love, aiming to evoke emotional resonance among female players.
3. Challenging Puzzle Games Targeting the Senior Market
An examination of the September advertising rankings reveals a significant increase in the frequency of puzzle games, with genres like Mahjong, Sudoku, word puzzles, and jigsaw puzzles maintaining high popularity. For instance,【CodyCross: Crossword Puzzles】which ranked sixth on Android, showed notable activity. According to SocialPeta’s Advertiser Module, 【CodyCross】 accumulated approximately 8,000 deduplicated ad placements for pre-registration creatives in September, with specific Android advertising data as follows:
- In the past 30 days, video ads accounted for approximately 99.14% of total creatives, with 86.3% of the videos exceeding 30 seconds in length.
- Most of the video ads were in vertical format (720×1280), accounting for around 17.44%.
- Image ads made up about 0.48% of total creatives in the past 30 days.
- The majority of the image ads were in horizontal format (512×268), accounting for around 28.57%.
- The ad copy primarily focused on keywords such as ‘word puzzle,’ ‘brain teaser,’ ‘memory,’ and ‘intelligence.’
Based on the creatives,【CodyCross】 featured a wealth of Christmas-themed elements in its video ads over the past 30 days, highlighting its suitability for older adults in both promotional slogans and videos. Messaging such as ‘playing reduces the risk of dementia’ and ‘playing maintains strong memory’ was prominently displayed, positioning the game as a mental wellness product for the middle-aged and elderly.
Top 20 Mobile Games by Revenue
Games with surging revenue on the App Store in September:
HoYoverse’s 【Honkai: Star Rail】 saw a remarkable resurgence in revenue, with the character ‘General Jing Yuan’ gaining immense popularity. The first-day banner revenue set a new record, with approximately $20 million in revenue on a single platform for September, reflecting a month-on-month increase of about 82.6%.
KONAMI’s football simulation mobile game【eFootball™】 generated over $20 million in single-platform revenue in September, reflecting a month-on-month increase of approximately 20.2%.
Games with surging revenue on the Google Play in September:
With the release of Natlan, HoYoverse’s【Genshin Impact】 experienced a revenue rebound, achieving approximately $16 million in single-platform revenue for September, representing a month-on-month increase of about 28.9%.
Supercell’s competitive mobile game【Brawl Stars】 generated approximately $33 million in single-platform revenue for September, reflecting a month-on-month increase of about 12.9%.
Cygames’ anime mobile game ‘Uma Musume 【Pretty Derby】 achieved approximately $13 million in single-platform revenue for September, representing a month-on-month increase of about 33.7%.
Top 20 Mobile Games by Download
Games outstanding with downloads on the App Store in September：
【My Superstore Simulator】 maintained its popularity, with approximately 2.3 million single-platform downloads in September, of which U.S. players contributed 10.5%.
Following 【Supermarket Simulator】, another simulation mobile game boosted by livestreams, 【Shawarma Legend】 achieved approximately 2.7 million single-platform downloads in September, representing a month-on-month increase of about 500%.
Puzzle car-moving game【Bus Mania】 by PalmFun Games gained significant attention, with approximately 1.6 million single-platform downloads in September, of which Indian players contributed 26.2%.
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Games outstanding with downloads on the GooglePlay in September：
Falcon Game’s stress-relief simulation mobile game【Satisroom: Perfectly Organize】 achieved approximately 9.6 million single-platform downloads in September, with Brazilian players contributing 13.5% of the downloads.
TOJGAMES’ racing simulation mobile game 【Traffic Racer Pro:Car Games】 reached approximately 6 million single-platform downloads in September, reflecting a month-on-month increase of about 200%.
The above are insights into global mobile game launches in September 2024, as well as mobile game revenue and download situations across both the App Store and Google Play. For more mobile marketing data, please visit:www.socialpeta.com.
