May has been a landmark month with the release of major mobile titles like the mobile version of Apex Legends, Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds, and Distyle. GameRefinery studied the US, China, and Japan mobile game market and determined the trends for May.
In May, the number of special days that could be celebrated with events was few in the USA. That’s why we didn’t see any major game events. On the other hand, in China, we witnessed various in-game events as part of the May Day celebrations. The same dynamism was seen in the Golden Week celebrations in Japan.
We have been witnessing the rise of 4X strategy games for a while. The rise of this game genre continued throughout May. The rise in The Ants: Underground Kingdom, Red Alert Online, and The Grand Mafia, among the leading examples of the genre, continued.
US Mobile Gaming Market Trends
The USA is one of the critical countries in the mobile game industry. With its strong economy, the USA increases the revenues of foreign games and games produced in the USA and achieves worldwide success.
Alongside major mobile titles in the US market, such as Merge Mansion, Pokémon Unite, and State of Survival, many games brought new features and systems. Merge Mansion added an album collection system to the game to increase retention and it worked. Pokémon Unite added monetization, launching a subscription system called UNITE club. State of Survival added the guild-based PVE mode to the game. Game of Sultans – Royal Pets has enriched its content by introducing mini-games, album collections and a new subscription system.
Among these, the system that came to the forefront by making a significant positive impact on the player retention rate was the collection system. Players create a collection by collecting hero items, heroes, or various cosmetics in this system. It may take time and money to acquire these collectibles. Players care about the things they get for the time and money they spend, thus increasing the retention of the game.
In May, we said that the number of events in the USA was low. Still, as part of the May 4 celebrations, Minecraft, Disney Emoji Blitz, and Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes held Star Wars-themed events to celebrate this day. The Ants: Underground Kingdom held seasonal map events. PUBG MOBILE has reworked the game world’s map in collaboration with the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. In PUBG MOBILE, The 6th Angel invaded Erangel in classic game mode and attacked nearby players.
New games on TOP 200 revenue list in ABD
According to GameRefinery, the top 200 revenue-generating games in the US for the first time in May 2022 are as follows:
- Apex Legends Mobile has made its global launch and is ranked the 23rd highest grossing.
- Netmarble’s MMORPG Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds has been released globally, making it directly into the US’s top 50 grossing mobile games.
- Lilith Game’s hip-hop and street fashion-themed Dislyte was released in May and is among the top 40 grossing games in the US.
- The racing management simulation F1 Clash was the 170th highest-grossing game in May.
- Allstar Renovation is another idle-RPG game in the top 170.
- Age of Origins has been in the top 10 grossing games in the US for the last two months.
- Shooter game T3 Arena ranks 143rd in the top-grossing list of the top 200 games in the USA.
- Turn-based RPG CounterSide ranked 117th in the top 200 for the first time in May.
- Last, MU ORIGIN 3 entered the list at number 169.
China Mobile Game Market Trends
Games in the Chinese market tended to introduce new features based on team play throughout May. Battle of the Golden Spatula has launched a new PVP game mode, in which players in teams of two share the same HP and compete with their opponents cooperatively. The 4X strategy games Red Alert Online, and Fu-sheng wei Qing-ge have developed mission systems that players must do together.
The culture and policies implemented in China focus on improving the ability of players to cooperate. For this reason, many games develop cooperative game models. Thus, the games become team-based and more competitive. On the other hand, China implements strict policies on games. It also seems likely that these team-focused game add-ons are related to these policies.
The most notable event in China was Punishing: Gray Raven’s voting to introduce a new game character. After the event, the game’s revenues increased approximately seven times. In addition, many games held various events to celebrate May 1.
New games on TOP 200 revenue list in China
According to GameRefinery, the top 200 games in China for the first time in May 2022 are as follows:
- ARPG game Dou Gui took its place among the top 150 top-grossing games.
- The roguelike(!) waifu game Girls Frontline: Project Neural Ground is among the top 120 games.
- Chunbai Hexian took its place among the top 100 games of the list.
Interestingly, a significant number of successful games in China contain roguelike elements. It is quite possible to come across games adorned with roguelike elements in which anime girls are the main characters while wandering around the Chinese app markets.
Mobile Game Market Trends in Japan
In May, there were prominent Golden Week events in Japan. Many games have organized login events and handed out various prizes. The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross was the most striking among all these events and games. With the help of its anniversary event, the game managed to become one of the top three revenue-generating games in Japan.
In May, Japan was more active in partnership and cooperation than the other two markets. Monster Strike organized an event in collaboration with Detective Conan. LINE PokoPoko has partnered with Disney to add Mickey Mouse and some other characters to the game.
Animes have become a driving force in the Japanese game market. The characters and stories created by the anime were integrated into the games. On the other hand, there is a wider variety in Japan instead of the Chinese trend towards waifu or roguelike.
New games on TOP 200 revenue list in Japan
According to GameRefinery, the top 200 revenue generating games in Japan in May 2022 are as follows:
- The asymmetric survival game Dead by Daylight Mobile was ranked 110th to 180th in the list of 200 top-grossing games throughout the month.
- NFT game Aglet continued to crawl the top 200 list after seeing the top 25.
- The 4X Strategy game The Grand Mafia, released in April, showed steady growth by entering the top 100 this month.
- Based on the Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Lost Stories mecha IP, the game has been around the top 20 for a long time.
- Apex Legends Mobile is among the top 50 games.
- DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS, which looks like Minecraft’s Dragon Quest branch, has been in the top 100 since its release.
The fierce rivalry between the USA and China continues. Despite all the restrictions and difficulties foreign companies have in operating in the country, China continues to grow. Although Japan has a smaller gaming market compared to the other two, it has never dropped from its top 5 place in the world rankings.
