Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review April 2021

Key insights

6 slides

New Strategy

Mobile game developers are increasingly using cross-IP collaborations to boost engagement.

Major mobile titles are implementing massive, long-term cross-IP collaborations. These events drive interest and revitalize existing player bases.

Regional Trends

The Chinese market shows a rise in 'Isekai' themed RPGs and personalized 'look back' features.

Chinese market trends indicate a surge in popularity for 'Isekai' (another-world) themed RPGs. Personalized 'look back' features are also used to increase player emotional investment.

China Focus. The Chinese market is seeing growth in 'Isekai' RPGs and personalized player engagement features.

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Summary

April 2021 in mobile gaming was defined by live-ops activity: large IP collaborations, seasonal events, and monetization experiments across the US, China, and Japan. The central message is that publishers are leaning on collaborations, limited-time events, and refreshed progression systems to re-engage players and lift revenue in mature titles.

In the US, Clash of Clans' update introduced Town Hall 14, Hero Pets, and non-monetized Starter Challenges designed to help new players catch up in a years-old game. Major crossovers ran alongside it, including State of Survival x The Walking Dead (roughly 200 days), Seven Deadly Sins x Stranger Things, and real-life-prize events in Cookie Run: Kingdom, which briefly reached the top 200 grossing, and Phase 10. Battle Pass adoption continued spreading to titles such as Lily's Garden and Wild Rift, Earth Day and Easter promotions appeared widely, and Slots games began testing "board game" style events.

China showed strong momentum around anime IP and emerging genres. Princess Connect! Re:Dive x Re:Zero spiked revenue and downloads, while Bytedance's One Piece game reached the top 10 grossing and #1 in downloads. "Immortal" (Xian) games, a Sovereign sub-genre where players run a Daoist sect, began monetizing, with two titles entering the top 200 grossing. Call of Duty Mobile CN added a co-op Zombies mode with a monetized boss retry, and a new Battle Pass season briefly lifted Sky: Children of the Light into the top 10 grossing.

Japan was dominated by IP collaborations such as Octopath Traveler x Bravely Default and NieR Re[in]carnation x NieR Replicant, plus Golden Week events. Puzzle & Dragons introduced its first ad monetization, a rarity among Japan's top grossers, and Valkyrie Connect ran a fan-art UGC campaign. New top-200 entrants included Summoners War: Lost Centuria and Lineage2M.