ReportGameRefinery
Shooter Genre Snapshot: September 2021
1 Sept 202122 pages~28 min full read
The shooter genre on US iOS is highly concentrated, with the 'Big Three'—Garena Free Fire, Call of Duty: Mobile, and PUBG Mobile—collectively generating over 84% of total genre revenue.
Garena Free Fire experienced significant growth in 2021, doubling its iOS revenue and capturing approximately 30% of the market share to rival Call of Duty: Mobile for the top position as of Q2 2021.
The shooter genre accounts for roughly 6% of total US iOS revenue, currently ranking as the platform's 6th largest mobile genre.
The removal of Fortnite from the App Store in August 2020 eliminated a title that previously commanded approximately 30% of the iOS shooter market.
New-entry performance is stagnant, as no new shooter titles launched in the two years prior to September 2021 have cracked the top 200 grossing list.
Market dominance is sustained through a combination of seasonal Battle Pass progression systems, time-limited gacha mechanics, and frequent live events and game modes.
Beyond the top three leaders, the remaining market is highly fragmented, with the 4th through 10th ranked titles each holding less than 4% of the revenue share.
**Shooter Genre Snapshot – September 2021 (GameRefinery)**
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### 1. Market Overview | Metric | Insight | |--------|----------| | **Genre rank (US iOS)** | 6th largest mobile genre, ~6 % of total iOS revenue. | | **Revenue share** | The “Big Three” – **Call of Duty: Mobile**, **PUBG Mobile**, and **Garena Free Fire** – generate > 84 % of shooter revenue. | | **Impact of Fortnite removal** | Apple‑Epic lawsuit (Fortnite removed Aug 2020) erased a game that once held ~30 % of the shooter market on iOS. | | **Growth leader** | Garena Free Fire doubled its iOS revenue in 2021, climbing from ~10 % to ~30 % market share and now rivals CoD Mobile for the top spot (Q2 2021). | | **New‑entry stagnation** | No shooter launched in the last **2 years** cracked the top‑grossing 200; only **Bullet Echo** (May 2020) entered the top‑500. |
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### 2. Top‑Performing Titles (US iOS – Q2 2021)
| Rank | Game | Publisher | Sub‑genre | Share | |------|------|-----------|-----------|-------| | 1 | **Garena Free Fire – 4th Anniversary** | Garena International | Battle‑Royale | **28.56 %** | | 2 | **Call of Duty: Mobile** | Activision | Classic FPS/TPS | **28.17 %** | | 3 | **PUBG Mobile – Ignition** | Tencent | Battle‑Royale | **26.55 %** | | 4 | **War Robots** | Pixonic | Tactical Shooter | 3.5 % | | 5 | **Sniper 3D** | Fun Games | Sniper | 3.5 % | | 6 | **Pixel Gun 3D** | Cubic Games | Classic FPS/TPS | 2.12 % | | 7 | **War Machines: Tank** | Fun Games | Tactical Shooter | 1.9 % | | 8 | **Zooba: Zoo Battle Royale** | Wildlife Studios | Battle‑Royale | 1.88 % | | 9 | **World of Tanks Blitz** | Wargaming | Tactical Shooter | 1.61 % | | 10| **Tacticool** | – | – | ~1 % |
*Key takeaway:* The top three dominate ~83 % of the genre’s revenue; the rest of the field is highly fragmented.
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### 3. Why the “Big Three” Stay on Top
| Driver | How It’s Implemented | |--------|----------------------| | **Battle Pass** | Seasonal “free + paid” tracks that reward playtime, cosmetics, and progression. | | **Limited‑time Gachas** | Time‑bound loot‑box style draws with increasing price/odds, often tied to events or milestones. | | **Live Events & New Modes** | Frequent, high‑visibility updates (e.g
