Monthly Game Industry Report: October 2022

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Mobile game player spending declined year-over-year in both Q1 and Q2 2022, with Q2 falling 6.9% to $20.1 billion according to Sensor Tower.See it on page 35
02
Mid-core games generated about 60% of global mobile game player spending in H1 2022, with role-playing games at 27%.See it on page 36
03
Honor of Kings generated over $222 million in August 2022 and topped the overall revenue chart, with about 94% of its income from China.See it on page 6
04
GlobalData projects the game industry will grow to $470 billion by 2030, from $197 billion in 2021, with mobile generating over half.See it on page 30
05
Hardcore mobile gaming in Western Europe grew 27% year-over-year per CyberMedia Research, while hyper-casual gamer numbers fell 32%.See it on page 27
06
Tenjin reported Day one retention of 51% on iOS and 42% on Android for games in the top 2%, with Android ad spend share reaching 57%.See it on page 24

Summary

This October 2022 monthly mobile game industry report compiles data and articles from multiple sources, including Sensor Tower, SocialPeta, Tenjin, Unity, data.ai, GlobalData, Appodeal, CyberMedia Research and CTA. It covers top-grossing and most-downloaded mobile games for August 2022, Q2 2022 consumer spending, hyper-casual benchmarks, market forecasts, and Nexters' H1 2022 financial results. Sensor Tower and SocialPeta download and revenue rankings reflect App Store and Google Play data only, excluding third-party Android stores.

In August 2022, Tencent's Honor of Kings generated over $222 million and topped the overall revenue chart, with about 94% of its income coming from China. Diablo Immortal earned $97 million, a 42% month-over-month increase. Subway Surfers led downloads with over 33.5 million installs in August 2022.

Sensor Tower reported that global player spending on mobile games declined year-over-year in Q1 and Q2 2022, with Q2 2022 falling 6.9% to $20.1 billion. Sensor Tower forecasts App Store user spending to reach $53 billion in 2022, while Google Play is expected to dip to $33 billion. GlobalData projects the industry will reach $470 billion by 2030, up from $197 billion in 2021.

Nexters reported first-half 2022 revenue of $252 million, a 28% year-on-year increase. CyberMedia Research found hardcore mobile gaming in Western Europe grew 27% year-over-year, while hyper-casual gamer numbers fell 32%.