In 2023, mobile gaming revenue will amount to $92.6 billion worldwide or a 49 percent share of total revenue with video games, triple that of PC games and almost double that of console titles, according to a Newzoo forecast from August 2023. While even people unfamiliar with the games industry know of heavy hitters like Fortnite, Super Mario, Zelda or Call of Duty either due to the cultural clout of said franchises or their financial success, many mobile games tend to fly under the radar, even if they are lucrative for their creators. The highest-grossing mobile game across the Google Play, iPhone and iPad app stores, for example, might not ring a bell for anyone except for its players and industry pundits.
With revenues of $1.58 billion in 2023, Honor of Kings is the most successful game available for smartphones and tablets, according to AppMagic data, followed by PUBG Mobile with $1.17 billion and Genshin Impact with 960 million. Names more known to a general Western audience also appear in the top 8, with mainstay Candy Crush and the widely-covered game-making toolkit Roblox in third and fifth place, respectively.
Unsurprisingly, many of the highest-earning games were developed in China, where mobile gaming is far more widespread than playing on a PC or console. Tencent, the entertainment conglomerate behind the "everything app" WeChat and the aforementioned Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile, made almost $25 billion with its games alone in 2023. Still, mobile games, especially those highly reliant on in-game purchases, are not without scrutiny. Some experts liken them more to gambling than gaming, citing addictive gameplay loops and, in some cases, the necessity to purchase in-game currency to gain an edge over other players as risk factors, especially for younger audiences.
