GameRefinery has released a controversial report about mobile role-playing games. Counting errors (UPDATED)

The main conclusions of the study itself are as follows:

• In January-March, role-playing games earned 12% of all App Store revenue in the USA;
• within the RPG niche, turn-based role-playing games are earning more and more money;
• competition is growing in the subcategory of turn-based role-playing games;
• battle pass is becoming a new trend in role-playing games;
• In turn-based RPGs, character-related events bring the most money.

We will not challenge all these theses. Just note that these conclusions cannot be taken seriously, since GameRefinery made a number of mistakes and strange decisions during its preparation.

1. In one of the cases, GameRefinery called the game role-playing only because it has the corresponding genre specified in the store

The concept of a role-playing game GameRefinery does not disclose. Unfortunately, this is a common practice. Today in the mobile segment genre frames are very blurred. Therefore, analytical services, as a rule, are based on how the game was characterized by the developers themselves.

Because of this, problems arise. Often, when developers indicate the genre of the game in the store, they pursue marketing objectives. In other words, they can indicate not the actual genre, but the one with which it is easier to get to the top.

For this reason, it is very important to carefully study whether the game corresponds to the chosen genre or not when analyzing the upload. GameRefinery didn’t do that. In other words, it is difficult to explain the hit of the Game of Sultans strategy in the list of “new stars” in the niche of turn-based RPGs.

Matrix with top-of-the-line GameRefinery turn-based role-playing games on the US market
For reference: the game published by the Chinese company Mechanist does not belong to the role-playing niche.

This is a strategic project in the spirit of browser-based Travian. Despite this, in the “genre” column, Game of Sultans indicates “role-playing game”.

Game of SultansUPDATED:

We received a comment from GameRefinery in connection with the inclusion of Game of Sultans in the category of “Role-playing games”. According to them, they included it because the gameplay is more focused on the development of lieutenants. As for the construction of cities and the hiring of armies, these elements are not here, as well as inherent in all 4X strategies for capturing cities.

2. In another case, GameRefinery called the project role-playing for no reason

The concept of a genre can be difficult to formulate. However, it is necessary to explain at least the reasons why certain projects fall into the selection. Otherwise, from the outside, their appearance seems to be a mistake.

For example, it is unclear why GameRefinery attributed survival Last Day on Earth: Survival to the genre of role-playing games. The genre of the game in the App Store is listed as “action”. What prompted GameRefinery to call the project an RPG is unclear. You can call this role-playing game only if acquaintance with it is limited to viewing screenshots.

Last Day on Earth: SurvivalUPDATED:

Appearance Last Day on Earth: Survival in the GameRefinery collection is explained by the gameplay, which, in their opinion, is focused on character development “in the style of RPG”.

3. GameRefinery did not get acquainted with the market leaders from other genres

This is a derivative of the two previously described errors. When analyzing the market, you necessarily encounter a situation when one or another game, officially “belonging” to another genre, fits the niche under study.

This partially happened with Empires & Puzzles: Epic Match 3. It was guessed to be called a role-playing game, but it was not included in the step-by-step category, which looks strange in the framework of the study.

Empires & PuzzlesUPDATED:

The absence of Empires & Puzzles: Epic Match 3 among the turn-based role-playing games GameRefinery is explained by the fact that they have a separate category of RPG puzzles, which in their opinion is a separate role-playing subcategory.

4. GameRefinery undertook to divide the role-playing genre into subgenres, but did not understand them

The report pays special attention to turn-based role-playing games. But GameRefinery itself is constantly confused in them. For example:

• GameRefinery states that Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle does not apply to turn-based role-playing games. However, despite not the most familiar interface, it is. The combat mechanics of the project is based on the principle “the player made an attack — then the enemy attacks”.
• GameRefinery claims that Hero Wars is a turn-based role-playing title. But this is not the case. The fighters of the player and the opponent fight in the game in real time. The player can even activate special abilities of fighters at certain moments.

Hero Wars5. GameRefinery ignored all the top novelties of the genre

On one of the slides, GameRefinery indicates “new stars”, as well as games that “challenge” leaders (mainly talking about young projects).  Let’s ignore the fact that Fire Emblem Heroes, released three years ago, was included in this category, and not in the list of “fading old projects”, where it belongs next to Walking Dead: Road to Survival.

Another thing is upsetting: the absence of more or less recent projects here, also included in the top 10 in terms of sales in the niche. GameRefinery ignores both the AFK Arena, released in January in the USA, and the equally bright and also relatively recently released Dragon Ball Legends.

AFK Arena***

Because of these numerous missed nuances, it is not worth taking seriously the conclusions prepared by GameRefinery. The company called role-playing games those that do not belong to them, constantly confused which subgenre which games belong to, and, in the end, did not take into account new items.

Of course, all these are minor nuances, their detailed discussion seems superfluous. However, when a company that positions itself as a specialist in game mechanics, game analysis, admits a lot of inaccuracies, it makes you think in general about whether it really understands mobile gaming and the market situation.

Also on the topic:

• GameRefinery has published an overview of the mobile RPG market