AppMagic: the most downloaded and highest-grossing mobile games of October 2020

The main thing:

• Among Us generates 100 million downloads per month on mobile platforms;
• the month turned out to be not rich in hyper-casual games that were successful in terms of downloads;
• PUBG Mobile is much inferior to Garena Free Fire in terms of downloads;
• Genshin Impact is the highest—grossing game of the month, but next month its box office may drop more than twice;
• Moonlight Blade Mobile is the second most important mobile release of the month for the Chinese market.

Now in order.

The most downloaded games of the month

Against the background of the crazy success of Among Us, which for the second month in a row collects more than 100 million installations (!), and excellent loading indicators of Genshin Impact, last month only three hyper-casual novelties were able to get into the top ten downloads.

Stair Run

Another Voodoo runner. Its mechanics are based on collecting parts on the track. Details are needed to build ladders with which the player bypasses obstacles.

At the end of the month:

• ranked 6th in downloads on both platforms — 18.2 million;
• ranked 5th in downloads on Google Play — 14.4 million;
• ranked 5th in iOS downloads — 3.9 million .

Papers Grade, Please

Almost a quiz from Lion Games. In the project, the player assumes the role of a teacher. His task is to give grades to students for answers at school. They should get twos for incorrect answers, and fives for correct answers. That’s just the teacher himself can be wrong. The amount of virtual currency earned directly depends on the correctness of the estimates made. Disciplines are very different — from geography to mathematics.

At the end of the month:

• ranked 10th in downloads on both platforms — 14.3 million .

Chat Master

A Supersonic Studios game that relies heavily on humor and is very close to interactive novels. Chat Master is a messenger simulator. Within each level, the player is tasked with convincing the virtual interlocutor of something with the right replicas. For example, to explain to the boss why he did not come to work.

At the end of the month:

• ranked 4th in terms of downloads on iOS — 4.3 million .

***

Based on the results of the last two releases, it’s probably not worth making any large-scale conclusions, but I really want to say that conceptually hyper-casual games are becoming bolder. From the fun with physics and polishing, they continue to go down the road of simulating an increasing number of areas of everyday life. At the same time, hyper-casual games with complex meta still rarely “shoot”.

Speaking of downloads in general, it is worth noting the ongoing strengthening of Garena Free Fire (which, by the way, we have already written about today). Against the background of the departure from iOS and Android blockbuster Fortnite and banu PUBG in India, the development of Garena International is now the main battle royale in mobile in terms of downloads.

Dynamics of PUBG Mobile and Garena Free Fire downloads (AppMagic)

The highest-grossing games of the month

It is important to note two points here.

Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact, an open-world role-playing sandbox, became the highest-grossing mobile game by the end of October, earning $277 million from October 1 to October 31, 2020 (this is without taking into account the share that went to the sites and without taking into account earnings from Chinese Android stores).

Now the main question is how long the game will be able to hold this lead. Its closest neighbors in the box office top have been earning $ 100-150 million a month for years (among them there was a place for PUBG, from which the already mentioned Garena Free Fire title lagged very far behind in monetization terms until this fall, now, by the way, the situation is being adjusted).

Recent data show that Genshin Impact may well remain in the top ten, but without significant updates next month, its box office may drop to $90 million.

Dynamics of daily sales of Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile and Garena Free Fire (AppMagic)

Moonlight Blade Mobile

A slightly less important event is the release of a new major role—playing MMO from Tencent. We are talking about Moonlight Blade Mobile, the mobile version of the desktop game of the same name. The novelty has so far been released only in China. Despite the exclusively regional release, Moonlight Blade Mobile managed to immediately raise $54 million.

In the home market, the game will still be able to increase sales, but it is hardly worth waiting for its large-scale launch in the rest of the world. The project is designed exclusively for a local audience. The Western audience for the most part is not ready to play in the setting of the Chinese Middle Ages.

Also on the topic:

• AppMagic: the most downloaded and highest-grossing mobile games of August 2020
• AppMagic: the most downloaded and highest-grossing mobile games of July 2020
• AppMagic: the most downloaded and highest-grossing mobile games of June 2020