The following analysis of mobile games marketing trends for September 2024 is based on advertising data from AppGrowing across 50 countries and regions, and 28 global media platforms.
In the rankings of mobile game advertising share by category this month, Casual, Puzzle, and Casino games secured the top three spots.
Casino games continue to dominate in new ad placements, accounting for 36.55%, although this marks a decline from the 40.75%share observed last month.
In terms of total ad volume, Puzzle and Casual games rank first and second, while Simulation games surpassed Role-Playing games to take third place.
Video remains the primary creative format for global mobile game advertising, but its share has declined from 80.07% last month to 74.35% this month. The most common video duration continues to fall within the 16-60 second range.
01.Top Mobile Game Developers & Mobile Games
According to AppGrowing, the Top 30 mobile game developers by ad spending list saw last month’s leader, Century Games, drop to 10th place, while SayGames reclaimed the top spot. The top five positions this month are dominated by publishers focused on casual games, including two Chinese companies.
In the Top 30 product ad rankings list, Whiteout Survival dropped to second place, with a 52.8% month-over-month decrease, while ad-heavy MONOPOLY GO! returned to the top spot, albeit with a modest 1.61% month-over-month growth. Notably, the Mahjong-themed match-3 game Vita Mahjong saw a 29.28% increase in ad volume, climbing steadily to third place on the list.
Habby’s Capybara Go! remains in the Top 30 for advertising but has entered a stabilization phase since its launch, resulting in an 11% month-over-month decrease in ad volume.
02.Top Download & Pre-registering Games
On the November Google Play Downloads chart, lightweight and mid-core genres continue to dominate. The newly launched Pokémon TCG Pocket swept multiple global markets, amassing 16.57 million downloads and securing fourth place on the chart. According to third-party data, the title has generated over $200 million in revenue within its first month of launch.
Based on month-over-month download growth, the global version of 白荆回廊, published by NEOCRAFT LIMITED, ranked third, while NetEase’s Justice Online Mobile secured the 14th spot.
In the pre-registration rankings, Archero 2, the sequel to the globally popular Archero, launched a large-scale pre-registration campaign. It secured third place on the App Store pre-registration chart and fourth on Google Play. The game has already launched in several regions, including Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and South Korea, where it has entered the top of the iOS game grossing charts.
Infinity Nikki, the highly anticipated open-world dress-up game by Papergames, ranked ninth on the App Store pre-registration chart and eighth on Google Play. According to official reports, global pre-registrations for the game have exceeded 30 million, with over 5 million followers across its official social media channels. The game launched globally on December 5th.
03.Habby Global Advertising Layout
Habby has been active recently. In October, it launched the MUD Roguelike Capybara Go! globally, while also rolling out Archero 2 in multiple regions. The latter was released in Hong Kong, Macau, and South Korea on November 19th.
According to the “Top Publishers” feature from AppGrowing, Habby’s Top 7 ad regions in November were Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Macau, the U.S., Singapore, and France.
Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Japan-Korea markets have consistently been key for Habby. Third-party data reveals that nearly 80% of revenue(excluding mainland China) for Capybara Go! comes from Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Similarly, Archero 2 derives 70% of its revenue from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea.
In terms of ad spend, Capybara Go! remains Habby’s top priority. As a recently launched game, it is still in its growth phase. Meanwhile, Archero 2 has not yet launched globally, so promotional resources are predominantly allocated to Capybara Go!.
However, Archero 2 has already surpassed Capybara Go! on iOS grossing charts in Hong Kong, Macau, and South Korea.
AppGrowing analyzed Archero 2’s advertising strategy and creatives in the Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan regions. During the pre-registration phase, the game only saw limited ad placements.
However, leading up to the launch, it collaborated with multiple KOLs for live streams to build hype. On launch day, Habby significantly increased ad spending, with daily ad volumes peaking at nearly 2,000 placements in the following days.
Creatives for Archero 2 focus on gameplay demonstrations, highlighting the thrill of mowing down enemies and the enjoyment of Roguelike progression.
For instance, The ad opens with a high-level character effortlessly clearing waves of enemies, delivering a sense of satisfying dominance. It then shifts to a low-level character progressing by defeating enemies, emphasizing the joy of growth. The roguelike card selection during upgrades highlights the diversity of progression paths. Finally, the ad returns to the high-level character dominating enemies, amplifying the thrill of power progression and enticing players to download.
