GameRefinery has shared its October report on the mobile game market. The report highlights the effects of the Halloween season on the US, China, and Japan markets.
While games such as Mario Kart Tour, Brawl Stars, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, Last Fortress: Underground, Clash of Clans, State of Survival, and Gran Saga (グランサガ) got Halloween-themed makeovers, Diablo Immortal added a new event called Hallow’s Wake.
Related: GameRefinery shares Mobile Game Market Review for September
The most extensive Halloween event, however, belongs to Cookie Run: Kingdom, with its impressive collaboration with the beloved Korean boy band, BTS. The event will run for 100 days, and it will introduce new gameplay modes, characters, narrative elements, leaderboard competitions, and chances to win BTS tickets through a raffle system.
In the US
Two games removed a gacha mechanic from their games. Mario Kart Tour’s gacha removal has not noticeably affected revenue. In a similar move, Brawl Stars revamped its Gears, instead of requiring to play gachas to unlock, they can be freely unlocked with coins earned in-game. Opposite to those two games, with League of Legends: Wild Rift’s new event called Supreme Cells, limited-time gachas were made globally available in the game for the first time.
Game of Thrones: Conquest celebrated its 5th anniversary with a new event arc, called the Book of Conquest. It introduced a selection of events and a 3D overhaul of the UI for the main city. Clash of Clans also received a major update, bringing new defense buildings, troops, siege machines, pets, and a new Town Hall. This caused a 500% jump in daily revenue on iOS.
Garena Free Fire added a collectibles album called Trend+ and is now turning collectibles into fashion brands in-game.
For Halloween, Diablo Immortal introduced Death’s Bargain, a limited-time offer menu. The offer included a progression bar for limited-time items that filled up with each purchase made and refunded a random player once it was filled. NetEase has also made it easier to earn 5-star legendary gems. Cookie Run: Kingdom’s collaboration with BTS includes many new game modes, as well as a chance to earn BTS tickets.
Some interesting games have entered the top 200 grossing games list. Path to Nowhere, a Tower Defence RPG peaked at 160, Wolf Game: The Wild Kingdom, Legend of Slime, and MementoMori: AFKRPG entered the list as well. Undecember, which is an action RPG much like Diablo Immortal peaked at 165, while Marvel Snap rose to the top 50 after its launch.
In China
Harry Potter: Magic Awakened (哈利波特：魔法觉醒) received an October update, introducing an event area with multiple game modes. The franchise is still popular and well-liked in the region.
Be the King (叫我官老爷) added a barracks mode to allow players to upgrade their characters. They can now recruit, and send characters through the barracks to receive soldiers after five minutes.
China doesn’t celebrate Halloween, but it does have a national holiday known as Golden Week. Three Kingdoms Fantasy Land (三国志幻想大陆 – 国创加强版) introduced seasonal events for Golden Week, while Westward Journey Online (大话西游) celebrated its seventh anniversary with an anniversary gacha and 2022 autumn tournament. Live Football’s (实况足球) UI was refreshed and a gacha pool was added for its fourth anniversary. Ninja Must Die 3’s (忍者必须死3) fourth anniversary was celebrated with an update that included story progression, related to the release of the new movie, Tiered Forest (Ceng Lin Jian Ran).
Dynasty Legends 2 (极无双2) ranked in top 20 in the top 200 top grossing list, along with Sky Fortress (空之要塞：启航). Another Eden (另一个伊甸) had a Chrono Cross collaboration which had the game reach the top 110 mark. Leaper (跃迁旅人) reached top 60. Oddly, Subway Surfers has remained in the Chinese top 150 grossing since August.
In Japan
Re:Zero-Starting Life in Another World Infinity (Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 INFINITY) reached top 20 grossing shortly after its release. MementoMori:AFKRPG has been in the top 5 in Japan since its launch. Echocalypse (Echocalypse -緋紅の神約-) has also been in the top 20, along with ドルフィンウェーブ.
Marvel Snap also made it to the top 200 list, and Lonely Survivor peaked in top 145.NEKO GOLF -Anime GOLF- has been ranking first in downloads, and in the top 50 grossing.
You can read the GameRefinery report here.
