According to recent Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data, US consumer spending on money- and treasure-themed mobile games became the US’ highest-grossing games theme in 2021, with $4.4 billion in revenue.
The success of money and treasure-themed games was followed by empire-building and tabletop games, respectively, which were second and third in terms of revenue.
Data offered further knowledge about growth and revenue in the mobile game industry.
The Animal–Insect theme had the fastest revenue growth of all themes, with almost 10 times increased player spending than 2020 with $26.5 million. The revenue for the Animal-Insect theme was pioneered by The Ants: Underground Kingdom from ChengDu Starunion Interactive, which was solely responsible for 89.6 percent of player spending. Fashion/Aesthetics/Hair theme became the second fastest-growing theme in revenue, with a 3.7 times increase in player spending, generating $307 million. Sports – Shooting/Hunting was the third with roughly 3.3 times earnings increase year to year to $18.5 million.
The fastest-growing game setting in 2021 was the Historical. Led by titles such as Rise of Kingdoms from Lilith Games and Royal Match from Dream Games, the revenue increase was 32 percent year-over-year to $1.4 billion. High Fantasy, which saw player spending increase by 16.6 percent to $5.4 billion, and Sci-Fi with revenue increase by 6.6 percent year to year to $2.4 billion, followed the Historical.
Modern had the most consumer spending, making $6.3 billion in 2021. High Fantasy ranked No. 2 for revenue, and Cartoon Fantasy followed the two.
Neon had the fastest growth in player spending with $20 million— a 114 percent increase when it comes to the art style. This increase, however, didn’t mean an increase in revenue; Neon generated the most negligible income among other art styles. With consumer spending rising 70.4 percent to $46.5 million, the hyper-casual art style was ranked second. 3D anime followed hyper-casual with a 58 percent increase to $906 million.
The most profitable art style in 2021 was 2D Cartoon generating $12 billion in total. Titles like Candy Crush Saga from King and Coin Master have this art style. 2D Realistic and 3D Realistic tailed the 2D Cartoon.
Compared to 2020, third-person point of view games ranked first by revenue increase, generating $2.1 billion with a 23.8 percent increase in customer spending. Top-Down was the second, and Side was the third fastest-growing camera POV with revenue increases of roughly 19 percent year to year to $3.8 billion and 13.2 percent to $7.2 billion, respectively.
However, the money was in Isometric; the POV led in total revenue. Side and Top-Down were the other two POVs in the first three.
