Eight mobile games surpass $1B in player spending in 2021

According to Sensor Tower, eight different mobile games have generated over $1 billion globally across the App Store and Google Play so far in 2021.

The titles that generated more than $1 billion in player spending include: 

1. PUBG Mobile 

2. Honor of Kings 

3. Genshin Impact 

4. Roblox 

5. Coin Master

6. Pokémon Go 

7. Candy Crush Saga

8. Garena Free Fire 

PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings are ranked #1 and #2 revenue generating mobile games worldwide in 2021, each accumulating $2.8 billion, up 9% and 14.7% YoY, respectively.

PUBG Mobile has already surpassed $7 billion in lifetime player spending worldwide, generating $8.1 million a day on average so far in 2021. 

It is noted that there could yet be a ninth mobile title to cross the $1 billion milestone in 2021, with Uma Musume Pretty Derby from Cygames closing in on the landmark at close to $965 million for the year, despite launching in February this year and only being available in Japan.

Sensor Tower said the eight mobile titles to have already crossed $1 billion is up on the five games that hit the figure in 2020, and marks a significant increase from the three that achieved unicorn status in both 2019 and 2018.

The company forecasts that global consumer spending on mobile games will reach $89.6 billion in 2021 across the App Store and Google Play, up 12.6% year-over-year from $79.6 billion in 2020. It represents 67.4% of all in-app spending in 2021, down 6.7% from 74.1 percent in 2019. Despite this, mobile games still account for the majority of spend in both markets, representing 61.5% of revenue for iOS and 78% of revenue for Google Play.