August
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Documents about August
Les Français et le Jeu Vidéo 2022
The 2022 study on French gaming habits, conducted by Médiamétrie for the Syndicat des Éditeurs de Logiciels de Loisirs (SELL), establishes video games as a pervasive, intergenerational, and social leisure activity in France.
- Video games are a mainstream activity in France, with 37 million people (7 out of 10 individuals) playing at least occasionally and 53% playing on a weekly basis.
- The French gaming demographic is mature and broad, with an average player age of 39 and significant participation from older cohorts, including 44% of people over age 60.
- Gaming is primarily a social experience, as 69% of players cite conviviality as a key motivation and 60% participate in multiplayer gameplay.
Global Mobile Games in September 2022
The September 2022 snapshot of the global mobile gaming market highlights a mix of established franchises and fresh releases driving revenue, downloads, and advertising activity.
- Survivor.io became the top-grossing mobile title in September 2022, generating over $30 million by pairing casual roguelike mechanics with a heavy top-up system and 163 daily ad creatives.
- Advertising volume reached significant scale, with Android leader 英雄戰紀 deploying 7,400 creatives and iOS leader 1945-Airplane Shooting Games utilizing 2,500 deduplicated creatives.
- New releases and spin-offs demonstrated strong market entry, such as the Ragnarok Online spin-off 愛如初見, which earned over $16 million on iOS following a celebrity-backed launch.
Tower of Fantasy: Is the Game Really a Genshin Impact With a Social Twist?
Tower of Fantasy, an MMORPG developed by Hotta Studio and published by Perfect World and Level Infinite, is analyzed to determine if its gameplay experience successfully differentiates it from the action RPG Genshin Impact.
- Tower of Fantasy differentiates itself from Genshin Impact by utilizing an MMORPG framework rather than an action RPG model, focusing on shared open-world experiences and social interaction.
- Unlike Genshin Impact, which requires players to invite friends to private worlds, Tower of Fantasy features a persistent shared world where players can intuitively interact and team up with strangers for combat and exploration.
- Tower of Fantasy incorporates dedicated social and competitive systems absent in Genshin Impact, including a guild (Crew) system for rewards and an Apex League PvP mode.
Genshin Impact Continues to Dominate Mobile RPG Market
Genshin Impact maintains a dominant position within the global mobile RPG market, consistently ranking among the top five highest-grossing mobile titles worldwide.
- Genshin Impact generated over $3.6 billion in lifetime mobile player spending between its September 2020 launch and August 2022.
- The title maintains a consistent revenue pace of approximately $1 billion every six months, supported by an annual live-service development and support budget of $200 million.
- China is the leading market for the game, accounting for 32% of total revenue and 21.4% of total installs.
Global Mobile Games in August 2022
The August 2022 global mobile-game landscape was dominated by a mix of long-standing titles and new viral hits.
- Fate/Grand Order revenue surged 150% month-on-month to nearly $70 million in August 2022, driven by its 7th-anniversary event and consistent content updates.
- Call of Duty: Mobile saw a 38.3% month-on-month revenue increase to $15 million on the App Store following the launch of the 'New Vision City' map, while PUBG Mobile generated over $40 million in combined revenue through a Blackpink collaboration.
- Classic parkour games experienced a resurgence in downloads, with Subway Surfers reaching 19 million Google Play downloads and Temple Run growing 30.4% month-on-month to 10.3 million downloads, the latter fueled by TikTok-influenced content.
Diablo Immortal Enters Top 10 Highest-Grossing Mobile Games in August
Diablo Immortal achieved significant financial success in August 2022, securing a position among the top ten highest-grossing mobile games globally.
- Diablo Immortal generated $97 million in global revenue during August 2022, marking a 42% month-over-month increase and securing a spot in the top 10 highest-grossing mobile games.
- The Chinese market was the primary driver of growth, accounting for 61% of total player spending following the game's late-July launch in the region, while the U.S. contributed 16%.
- Despite significant public backlash and industry criticism regarding aggressive pay-to-win mechanics—with some estimates placing full character upgrade costs over $500,000—the title achieved strong commercial performance.
Mobile Game Market Review: August 2022
The mobile gaming market in August 2022 was characterized by a strong emphasis on cross-industry collaborations and the integration of social mechanics.
- The mobile market saw a significant trend of music-industry integration in August 2022, highlighted by Justin Bieber’s in-game concert in Garena Free Fire and Eminem’s PvP event in Beatstar.
- Guild mechanics are expanding into new genres, with titles like Words with Friends 2 and Episode – Choose Your Story adding social features to increase player engagement.
- Tower of Fantasy demonstrated strong global performance, reaching the top 13 grossing in the US and the top 3 in Japan shortly after its launch.
US Gaming Market: August 2022
The United States video game market experienced a 5% year-on-year revenue decline in August 2022, totaling $4.10 billion.
- The US gaming market experienced a 5% year-on-year decline in August 2022, reaching $4.10 billion in total spending, despite new releases like Madden NFL 23 and Saints Row.
- Hardware sales were the only category to see growth, increasing by 14% to $375 million in August 2022, driven by improved supply of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
- Software spending decreased by 6% year-on-year to $3.6 billion in August 2022, with mobile game spending falling 10% (Google Play down 22%, iOS down 1.2%).
Plus: Super-Dynamic Steam Charts
This analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the global video game market during late August 2022, focusing on sales performance, player engagement, and upcoming release trends across Steam, consoles, and mobile platforms.
- Destiny 2’s premium expansion packs maintained revenue dominance during late August 2022, while Hogwarts Legacy and F1 Manager 2022 generated significant pre-order momentum.
- SD Gundam Battle Alliance achieved a successful $60 debut on Steam, reaching a peak concurrent user (CCU) count of 21.9k.
- Madden NFL 23 and the Saints Row reboot served as the primary volume drivers for the PlayStation and Xbox platforms during August.
Two & a Half Gamers Session #29: Scaling Mobile Games, CPI vs LTV, and Amazon Gamescom Rumours
This podcast episode serves as a professional discussion among industry experts regarding the core mechanics of mobile game growth, user acquisition (UA), and monetization strategies.
- Sustainable mobile game growth requires a strict balance between cost-per-install (CPI) and lifetime value (LTV) to ensure viable payback periods.
- Optimizing ad monetization is a mandatory prerequisite for developers aiming to achieve significant scale in the current mobile market.
- Recent technical shifts in Google’s ecosystem, specifically updates to iOS tROAS bidding and Google AdMob, necessitate a strategic re-evaluation of UA diversification.
Universal Overhead
The August 2022 announcement of a global price increase for the PlayStation 5 console serves as the focal point for this analysis, which critiques Sony’s decision to pass inflationary costs onto consumers.
- Sony announced a price increase for the PlayStation 5 in all major territories except the US, citing global inflation, currency fluctuations, and supply chain issues.
- The price hike adds £30 to the cost of consoles in the UK and €50 across Europe.
- Despite the gaming division's 26% profit decline to under $400 million in the previous quarter, Sony reported $2.3 billion in total profit for the same period.
Two & a Half Gamers Session #28: AdMob Bidder Uplift and Hypercasual Monetization
This podcast episode provides an industry-focused analysis of current monetization strategies and advertising trends within the mobile gaming sector.
- AdMob bidding updates serve as a primary mechanism for optimizing monetization workflows and increasing revenue uplift for mobile game developers.
- Hypercasual developers must implement precise ad network campaign structures to maintain profitability within the increasingly competitive mobile advertising ecosystem.
- Effective monetization in the current market requires a technical integration of user acquisition strategies with granular ad revenue management.