Worldwide mobile game revenue from iOS and Google Play stores grew 53 percent to $11.9 billion, according to a report today from measurement firm Sensor Tower Store Intelligence. But Google Play revenues are growing at a much faster rate than Apple’s, at 83 percent versus 35 percent.
Apple app store revenue grew 35 percent to $6.6 billion from $4.9 billion in the first quarter, compared to the same period a year earlier. Google Play revenue grew 83 percent in Q1 to $5.3 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier, according to Ruika Lin, mobile insights analyst at Sensor Tower.
Mobile game installs on both stores were at 8.8 billion in Q1, up 15 percent from 7.6 billion in the first quarter of 2017.
During the first quarter, Kiloo’s Subway Surfers was the world’s most downloaded mobile game. Mixi’s Monster Strike continued to dominate the revenue chart as Q1’s top earner. And Tencent’s King of Glory gained momentum in Q1 and ranked within the top 10 for downloads and revenue, despite being absent from both lists in the fourth quarter of 2016.
But last year’s viral launches Pokémon Go and Super Mario Run both showed signs of decline in Q1 in terms of downloads and revenue rankings.
A year ago, mobile game revenue was $7.8 billion in the first quarter of 2016. Mobile games continued to be the dominant category for all apps worldwide in terms of monetization, accounting for close to 80 percent of the gross revenue generated by Apple’s App Store and more than 91 percent of Google Play revenue in the first quarter.
Image Credit: Sensor Tower
Kiloo’s Subway Surfers topped the overall downloads chart in the first quarter. Nintendo’s Super Mario Run’s…