October 2023: Console Hits Mortal Kombat Debuted on Mobile, While Sequel of Popular Anime Simulator “Gacha Life” Drew New and Existing Fans

Each month, the data.ai mobile gaming pulse highlights the top-performing games for the iOS App Store and Google Play. Our analysis covers trends and movement in the top charts among the leading games across countries. It is the industry standard for professionals looking to compare the latest market shifts of leading games and publishers and prepare for the months ahead. 

October 2023 kicked off Q4 with a bang featuring notable new releases, sequels of popular franchises, console to mobile adaptations and RPG fandom driving seasonal demand. Country-specific preferences emerged with significant shuffles in the breakout downloads and spend charts. Let’s dive in. 

Please note, to bring you the latest data with a true ‘apples-to-apples’ comparison period, we’ll be analyzing the monthly pulse in 4 week segments. 

Top Games by Downloads in October 2023: Which Mobile Games Topped Downloads Charts and Which Games Were the Breakout Stars of the Month? 

We took a look at which games saw the greatest growth in October in our Breakout Games by Downloads charts. 

• Gacha Life 2: Gacha Life 2 burst onto the scene in October, debuting at the #1 spot for top breakout games by worldwide downloads. Gacha Life 2 is an eagerly anticipated sequel to the beloved dress-up Simulation game that has captured the hearts of anime enthusiasts worldwide. Within its first 4 weeks, the game has been downloaded 65 million times globally. Downloads covered a vast global footprint including the United States, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and the United Kingdom. In fact, during this period it topped download charts in 10 markets ( United States, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, France). 
• Mortal Kombat: Onslaught: The iconic gaming title has unlocked a new audience on mobile. Mortal Kombat: Onslaught took the #3 spot for top breakout games by worldwide downloads in October 2023 and has been downloaded over 10 million times globally.  An RPG > Team Battle subgenre according to data.ai’s Game IQ Taxonomy, the longstanding favorite in the gaming community has broad appeal in Western markets including the US, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, and Colombia. Mortal Kombat: Onslaught is the latest PC title to migrate to mobile, the world’s most popular form of gaming.  

Most Popular Mobile Games by Downloads in October 2023

While the rising stars offer the best view into high growth sectors, top charts showcase current consumer demand.

In October 2023, we see some of the rising stars appear alongside longstanding favorites. Free Fire ranked #3 globally — raking over 1.42 billion downloads and counting since 2017. Real Car Driving: Race City 3D was another standout at #5 by global downloads. The Simulation Racing game topped downloads charts in 10 markets across 3 different continents including Egypt, Colombia, Algeria, South Africa, Venezuela, and Romania, among others. Block Blast Adventure Master a Puzzle > Tile-Matching game, launched in March 2022 — has done particularly well in India, United States, Brazil and Indonesia.

Top Games by App Store Consumer Spend in October 2023: Which Mobile Games Topped Spend Charts and Which Games Were the Breakout Stars of Month?

Similarly to downloads, we took a look at which games saw the greatest growth in October. How did successful launches, monetization mechanics and timely re-engagement campaigns shape our Breakout Games by Consumer Spend charts? 

• Reverse: 1999: Reverse: 1999 catapulted up the charts to the #5 spot for top breakout games by global consumer spend in October 2023, up 452 places from prior period. Time-travel and turn of the century setting takes center stage in a character-driven cinematic experience by Bluepoch Games. In this setting, Team Battle RPG game, Reverse: 1999, takes gamers on a journey through time in an anime art style. The game invested heavily into paid user acquisition with nearly 7 of every 10 downloads coming from paid sources. The savvy UA proved fruitful as Reverse: 1999 ranked #1 by consumer spend among its peers. While the game has been available in some markets since May 2023, its official worldwide release was October 25, 2023 in English and in September 2023 for Korean and Japanese. During this time, the title has been downloaded nearly 20 million times globally with large concentrations in the US, Taiwan, South Korea, China, and Japan and has already raked in nearly $32 million. China occupied the lions’ share of spending to date at 78% of all spend in the game, followed by Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the US and Hong Kong respectively. In the US, a $99.99 in-app purchase of Crystal Drops drove nearly 20% of all revenue. Reverse: 1999 shows how core gameplay mechanics and character-driven narratives can provide a lucrative backdrop for monetization. 

 

• 巔峰極速: High spenders in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau rallied behind newly released racing Competitive Racing game, 巔峰極速 this October. 巔峰極速 was published by LongE, headquartered in Taiwan, and took the #6 spot for top breakout games by worldwide consumer spend in October 2023. Since its launch on iOS on Oct 17, 2023, the game has only been downloaded around 1 million times globally, yet surpassed an impressive $11 million, translating to a spend per download of $11 with 95% of spend coming from iPhone devices. 巔峰極速 is an impressive case study in the power of tailoring a game to lucrative markets and reaching phenomenal success globally. 

Most Popular Mobile Games by App Store Consumer Spend in September 2023

The top charts for consumer spend are more stable than breakout charts with player loyalty playing a huge role in the staying power of top games. We see fewer breakout stars cracking the top 10, but can expect to see them climb the ranks with successful monetization and engagement hooks down the line.

Royal Match and Monopoly GO: Family Board Game retained the #1 and #2 rank for consumer spend respectively — driven by engaging gameplay and popularity of the board game IP. 

Honkai: Star Rail saw a boost in spend in October — climbing 5 ranks to #6 driven by new events, storylines and character releases. On October 10, 2023 they released version 1.4 “Jolted Awake From a Winter Dream: which introduced new characters Jingliu (Destruction: Ice), Topaz & Numby (The Hunt: Fire), Guinaifen (Nihility: Fire), new maps, light cones and new stories. Two weeks later, they also announced new events for volume 2 of the 1.4 version. Honkai: Star Rail has surpassed $750 million in spend to date, and is well on its way to joining the coveted Billion Dollar Club.

data.ai’s timeline feature shows app updates, new screenshots, descriptions and features included in the updates, such as the new release of ‘Jolted Awake from a Winter Dream’ on Honkai: Star Rail.

Monster Strike, another longtime standing member in the top grossing games, took the #7 spot for top games by global consumer spend in October 2023, up 5 places from the prior period. Monster Strike is nearly entirely driven by spend in Japan, surpassing $10.5 billion to date, making it the #1 game by spending of all time. 

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