There’s a bright spot for a gaming industry that has seen lackluster profits.
The world’s five top-grossing mobile games generated $7.2 billion in revenue in 2022, an increase of $400 million from the year prior, according to data analytics firm Sports Lens.
The sales were led by two titles from video game and internet conglomerate Tencent, which posted the strong results despite a crackdown by Chinese regulators on approvals for new video game licenses and the amount of time children can spend on gaming per week.
- “Honor of Kings” posted $2.2 billion in revenue in 2022, up from $1.7 billion in 2021.
- “PUBG Mobile” generated $1.7 billion in 2022, down from over $2 billion the year prior.
- Action role-playing title “Genshin Impact” from miHoYo made $1.5 billion in 2022.
- King.com game “Candy Crush Saga” generated $1 billion in revenue last year.
- Online game creation platform Roblox rounded out the top five at $862 million in 2022.
Mobile is the fastest-growing gaming category, and the market is projected to exceed a valuation of $215 billion by 2028, per SkyQuest Technology Consulting.
Attractive Investment
In 2022, Facebook parent company Meta invested $40 million in Tokyo-based mobile gaming company Playco, per Axios. Playco is aiming to build a game over 1 billion people can play.
Social media giant TikTok has begun pilot-testing mobile games for its app as a way to create an additional revenue stream through advertising. TikTok has partnered with game developers Voodoo, NitroGames, and others to develop a series of “mini-games.”
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