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Sensor Tower Released Top Mobile Publishers Worldwide, by Revenue for October 2021, 36 Chinese Publishers Made the List.

By Isabella Jiangcheng
Nov. 6, 2021 updated 09:58

According to Sensor Tower store intelligence, 36 Chinese publishers were included in the top mobile publishers worldwide by revenue for October 2021. The Chinese publishers earned a total of 2.38 billion USD, accounting for 40% of the revenue of all publishers on the list.

 

Tencent was ranked top with a record-breaking 32% month-over-month (MoM) growth and a 23.3% year-over-year (YoY) growth. This performance can be attributed in large part to the launch of League of Legends: Wild Rift in the Chinese market and the 6th anniversary of Honor of Kings.

Lingxi Games has seen an exceptional performance from the Three Kingdoms Strategy Edition in both domestic and international markets. Revenues from the overseas markets accounted for 35.5% of the publisher’s revenue in October. In the end, the company reached a 16% MoM growth.

Leiting introduced its latest title, Dungeon Survivor 3, this October 20th. The game soon got itself onto the Top-Grossing Game chart in the Chinese iOS store, bringing the publisher a 44% growth from the previous month. The growth brought Leiting back onto the top 10 of Chinese publishers. Dungeon Survivor 3 is also the third hit-game Leiting introduced this 2021, after Yi Nian Xiao Yao and Mole’s World.

Moonton introduced the idle RPG <Mobile Legends: Adventure> (심포니 오브 에픽) to the South Korean market this October. The game reached the top 5 of the top-grossing games chart in South Korea with a 15% growth from September, making October the second-highest earning month of 2021. The top month was June when Moonton introduced the same title into the Japanese Market.

October also saw major updates to several games published by Yostar in Japan, including a limited-time promotion for Azur Lane and special events for Arknights and Blue Archive. With the success of these anime games, Yostar’s revenue increased 80% in October, raising Yostar’s ranking from 23th to 16th place.

Besides the aforementioned successful titles, several Simulation Games (SLGs), from the Chinese publishers aim to hit the overseas market soon. Apocalypse-themed SLG Last Fortress from Long Tech, civilization-themed SLG Infinity Kingdom from YOOZOO, and empire simulation game King’s Choice from ONEMT. 

JJ World, Tuyoo Games, XD Network, Chuang Cool Entertainment, Mechanist Games, and Hero Entertainment have all also made it into the top publisher ranking.

Sensor Tower has predicted the top 20 Chinese mobile games by revenue this October. They have predicted that Honor of Kings would earn 320 million USD in the Chinese iOS store due to its 6th anniversary. This number could well set a new record and bring the title to the Top-Grossing Game chart worldwide.

The highly anticipated title League of Legends: Wild Rift was launched in China on October 8th, and immediately topped the Chinese iOS game chart by downloads, and ranked among the top three of the Chinese iOS top-grossing game chart. Although League of Legends: Wild Rift was launched in overseas markets more than a year ago, Chinese players have contributed more than the total accumulated global revenue (53% of the global revenue) in less than one month. The estimated global revenue of League of Legends: Wild Rift would have reached 108 million USD in October, 17 times more than September's revenue. Possibly ranking it at the very top of the top-grossing games chart worldwide for the first time.