GameRefinery has shared a new report that analysis the state of the US, China, and Japan’s key mobile game markets in February 2023.
Related: Hidden gems in the 2022 mobile gaming market
The company began the analysis by mentioning many popular titles that had significant updates. Marvel Snap, X-Hero, QQ Speed, and Harry Potter: Magic Awakened all implemented a variety of new mechanics during February, including PvP battles, roguelite elements, home features, and minigames.
US Market Overview
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang collaborated with the popular Japanese manga and anime series Jutjusu Kaisen, which introduced a task-based Jujutsu Training event with a progressive reward ladder and limited-time gacha featuring new collaboration-themed hero skins and other cosmetic items.
To draw the gacha, players could use premium currency or gacha currency (which could be obtained from other collaboration-related events). In terms of revenue, the collaboration propelled MLBB to its highest-ever grossing rank in the US market.
Marvel Snap finally introduced PvP with its new Battle Mode, which enables players to take on one of their friends in a no-stakes multi-round battle. Both players start with ten lives, and the one who manages first to deal ten damage to their opponent wins. Damage is dealt by winning a round, with the amount of damage being equal to the number of cubes stacked for that match. Even though there is currently only a Friendly Battle option, we’re expecting to see some serious expansion of this new mode in the near future.
February also saw the start of Marvel Snap’s new season, Into the Quantum Realm, which coincides with the theatrical release of the new film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Players were keen to pick up the new Battle Pass, as daily revenue spiked by almost 600%.
Gardenscapes added a Secret Ingredient event with merge2 mechanics, following in the footsteps of Homescapes, which introduced an almost identical event in November 2022. Playrix seems to now be actively pushing merge events in their games.
China Market Overview
QQ Speed has continued its history of branching out from its main forte of kart racing by adding a synch PvP to its recently-added card battler mode.
In the PvE version of its card battler mode, players progress through a linear pipeline taking on various enemies as they go. Certain designated stages also let players strengthen their deck by acquiring new cards or upgrading existing ones. This same deck is also employed in the new PvP-mode, with special rewards up-for-grabs for players that can win a certain amount of matches alongside a leaderboard system.
Harry Potter: Magic Awakened introduced a new desert-themed map area that intertwined roguelite mechanics with two new home systems.
The ‘Secret Room’ home system lets players personalize their space and access additional menus via certain decorative buildings to check various inventories, such as their wand collection. These decorative buildings can be crafted with material items found within the other home system, which allows players to decorate the area and interact with their Magical Beasts (pets). The items can also be acquired by playing the desert area’s new roguelite game mode, which works similarly to the existing Forbidden Forest mode.
Japan Market Overview
Puzzle & Dragons launched its latest collaboration with the multimedia Japanese mecha-anime franchise, Gundam, which introduced several new characters who can uniquely have a third element attribute.
For example, one of the characters added with the event, Gundam Exia, can morph into its second form mid-battle and gain Fire Attribute, in addition to its existing Wood and Water Attributes, making the character even more versatile as a damage dealer. Adding characters like these will likely boost the popularity of multi-attribute teams in the future.
The full report can be viewed on GameRefinery’s website.
