Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review March 2024

Last August, when we looked at whether the mobile shooter market was too crowded, we said that the one subgenre developers should stay clear of on mobile is battle royale. Many months later, the mobile iteration of Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is proving our point. Despite ruling the download charts, the FPS battle royale has been descending the top-grossing ranks since its launch on 21 March in favor of its franchise competitor, Call of Duty Mobile – we explore why. 

Meanwhile, in more positive news for IP adaptations, Farlight Games has landed itself a breakout hit with the sequel-slash-spin-off to AFK Arena, AFK Journey, fueled by an innovative character upgrade system and an extensive launch campaign that pushed it high up both the grossing and download ranks on the US iOS market. Within just seven days of launch, the game reportedly earned over $2.5 million in sales.

But March wasn’t just a notable month for new releases; there were also some standout collaboration events, including a mega-crossover between Angry Birds and Sonic the Hedgehog spanning five different games—marking Sega’s first major flex since its acquisition of Rovio. We can’t forget the prominence of social features either, with two highly successful games from tactical midcore genres incorporating social hangout areas for the first time. 

Read on for the full lowdown on all the biggest mobile game updates, developments, and game launches from March. 

March’s casual mobile game updates

Royal Match likes to keep things fresh with new minigame types, and last month saw the arrival of yet another exciting addition. Duke’s Fortune is a slot machine-themed minigame that puts a new spin on the core gameplay loop. 

During the event, players earn tokens for completing core match3 levels, which can be used to spin the Duke’s Fortune Slot Machine. If their spin lands on a row of matching icons, they’ll earn Golden Bones (event progression points). Various rewards, such as coins and boosters, are unlocked as players build up their collection of Golden Bones. Players can adjust the amount of tokens they put into the machine to increase their chances of a match. 

Duke’s Fortune first appeared on 22 March as a three-day-long event and has since come back every weekend to entice players. It seems to have replaced one of Royal Match’s previous minigames, Magic Cauldron, likely in an effort to increase the variety of gameplay, tap into new motivations, and capture a broader array of players.

When news first spread that Rovio and its Angry Birds were making their nest in the home of gaming’s most iconic spiky speedster, SEGA, we all knew it was only a matter of time before a mega collaboration event. On 14 March, that finally took flight with a five-game crossover that included Sonic Forces, Sonic Dash, Angry Birds 2, Angry Birds Friends, and Angry Birds Dream Blast.

Angry Birds 2 had the most success out of the five titles, with daily iOS revenue in the US spiking by more than 150%. Angry Bird’s 2 Sonic crossover revolved around Sonic Friends Hats, which opened up access to a limited-time PVE mode. The hats could only be acquired through IAP or a gacha called the Tower of Fortune (which only granted one free draw a day), meaning most players likely had to pay to access the new content. All players could also use Sonic’s iconic spin ability once a day while playing through the main campaign levels. 

The rest of the titles in this multi-game collaboration event saw only a minor impact on their performance, although the updates themselves added some exciting additions. For example, Angry Birds Dream Blast replaced its classic race mode, Chuck’s Flash Race, with Sonic’s Flash Race, a one-day race event where players are matched into a group of seven players. Here, the players raced to complete 15 levels as quickly as possible, with the three fastest players getting in-game rewards.

Collaborations in hybrid-casual games are relatively uncommon on mobile, so it was a surprise to see Mob Control (which consistently ranked within the top GR 200 last year) launch a large crossover with Hasbro’s Transformers franchise last month. 

The collaboration was split into two parts. The first half was the Transformers Season Battle Pass, which came with a free and premium reward track. Both reward tracks featured the same prizes, including blueprints based on Bumblebee (one of Transformer’s most iconic characters), but the premium track awarded currency, XP, and other resources in much larger quantities. Buying the premium pass also removed all forced ads during the season. 

The second half was a solo mission event called Echoes From Cybertron, where players progressed through a six-part storyline showcasing Bumblebee’s heroics. But to access the missions, players required Energon, a unique event currency that could only be collected by sending the player mobs through special Energon structures during normal gameplay. To speed up the process, players could buy the Energon Booster pack, which multiplied all Energon gathered by two.

Stumble Guys revamped its Battle Pass, ditching the traditional free and premium double track combo to a single reward track that allows players to choose the order in which they unlock rewards using a dedicated currency. While this is fairly unique to mobile, many titles on PC and console, including the likes of Fortnite and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, use a similar mechanic for their battle passes. You can find more information about this in our Live Events Tracker, which now includes data on a selection of PC and console titles. 

As has become the norm for Stumble Guys, a new battle pass also meant yet another collaboration event. This time, the crossover was with the popular tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), which saw players running and climbing away from an approaching trap wall to avoid being eliminated from the competition. There were also various D&D-themed items up for grabs, such as a D20 Emote, as battle pass rewards and through IAP bundles.

Additional casual game highlights and other news

• Matching Story, a hybrid match3 and merge game from JoyCastle, hit the top 200 grossing scaling during March.

March’s midcore game updates

One of the most notable trends in the midcore market last month was the rise of social hangout areas, particularly in less traditional genres. A case in point is the 4X strategy game State of Survival, which introduced an “Alliance Hall” for its guild system.

Players are free to explore this area as an avatar based on one of the game’s heroes. They can hang out with other players and interact with them through various emotes and set phrases, and also participate in minigames in the bar-themed space. Completing these minigames will earn materials, which can also be pooled with other members of the alliance to purchase decorations to further customize the Alliance Hall.

Another title to join the party was the auto-battle RPG CookieRun: Kingdom, which launched a hangout area called the Town Square. While in the square, players can chat with each other, showcase their preferred character and skin, clear simple tasks and events, and obtain boosts based on how long they hang around. There are also recurring task events taking place every two hours, where players must work together to complete a simple objective.

It wasn’t just within these hangout areas where we encountered innovative new social features. Last month, many titles also began incorporating community-building aspects into their monetization offers. 

For example, in PUBG Mobile, players could pay a small premium currency fee to form a group to get a special discount on the Yoga Bunny Set. Up to ten players could join the group, and the discount increased based on the number of members. Joining or creating a group also unlocked the limited-time Dark Bunny set as an additional bonus, so there was plenty of encouragement for players to team up. 

State of Survival used a similar concept for its Alliance Top-Up offer. While this was active, alliance (or guild) members could purchase special top-up bundles that generated top-up points for the entire community. If the guild managed to accumulate enough points within the allotted time, every member received a special set of rewards (which included upgrade items and cosmetic crates).

Meanwhile, War Robots launched an innovative puzzle event that required players to step outside the confines of the game world. Echoes of the Past: Chasing Anomalies featured a detective-themed augmented reality game (ARG) that tasked players with solving puzzles and deciphering passwords in the real world. In doing so, players were rewarded with clues needed to complete missions in Echoes of the Past.

Completing these missions, in turn, unlocked more clues for the ARG – meaning players were moving back and forth between the two systems. Chasing Anomalies is just one part of the ongoing Echoes of the Past event series, which also has its own dedicated event gacha, battle pass, IAP offers, and more. 

Additional midcore gaming highlights

Farlight and Lilith Games’ AFK Journey, a sequel slash spin-off of AFK Arena, has been performing exceptionally well since it launched last month, peaking at grossing 15 in April and number two in downloads on the US iOS market. Much of this success was due to an extensive marketing campaign that included mobile ads, a fan art contest with real-life prizes, pre-commissioned artworks by various artists, and even a theme song released to streaming services.

Farlight and Lillith Games’ have also built up a solid reputation among players, with their past tiles AFK Arena and Dislyte offering a strong LiveOps cadence, varied gameplay, and a distinct lack of in-game ads. That user-centric approach likely encouraged many players to try out this new title before it even released, similar to how games from established studios like Supercell and MiHoYo build up hype purely due to brand recognition.

The title itself is an Idle RPG with an auto-battle core and features crossplay with PC (where players can also access an external webstore). While AFK Journey has a large number of heroes for players to choose from, users only need to level up five characters to progress. Any remaining heroes automatically catch up to the fifth strongest character, making it easy to switch out your team and mix up the gameplay. 

AFK Journey also offers players a lot of variety, with expansive areas to explore, engaging puzzles, and strategic battles, which aids retention as it means there’s always something new to see and do. Its presentation is also exceptionally high-quality, with a unique hand-drawn art style and fully voiced cutscenes. In terms of monetization, AFK Journey targets high spenders by tying upgrade materials to the “AFK level,” incentivizing early investment. 

Call of Duty: Warzone finally launched on mobile last month on 21 March and continues to hold the number one spot in downloads. The shooter peaked at grossing 30 in the US iOS market, but revenues have been declining since launch. The game is still holding in the top 100 grossing but has fallen far below Call of Duty: Mobile, which has sat comfortably in the top ten since its launch five years ago. 

It’s worth noting that (at least, for now) Call of Duty: Mobile has a much larger content cadence and event framework than Warzone Mobile. The two titles also use wildly different monetization models, with COD Mobile focusing on limited-time gachas, while Warzone Mobile follows the PC and console model with direct purchase bundles (although has just introduced its first gacha). That, mixed with its established player base, might explain why Warzone is struggling to take off in the same way. The shooter genre, and particularly the battle royale subgenre, is also especially competitive – which can make it challenging for new titles to break through.  

In terms of features, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile has all the marks of the blockbuster FPS franchise, including tight controls and explosive firefights. This mobile iteration brings back the much-loved Verdansk map, which the console and PC version of the game originally launched with. Warzone Mobile shares its Battle Pass plan, player progression (player and weapon ranks), and cosmetics with the PC and console versions.

The launch of Warzone Mobile was promoted with the Operation: Day Zero event, during which PC and console players were encouraged to download the mobile iteration for exclusive rewards across all versions. For a full breakdown of Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile’s live events calendar, head to our Live Events Tracker.

Last, but not least, it’s been an exceptionally busy time for Seasonal Events, with many games taking advantage of Easter, Ramadan, International Women’s Day, and even April Fool’s Day. Highlights included:

• Stumble Guys’ Girl Power Event, which included a selection of randomized levels “voted on by ladies.”
• Gardenscapes’ Fuzzy Season Golden Ticket, a Battle Pass rewarding an assortment of Easter and rabbit-themed cosmetic items.

CookieRun Kingdom’s G1ng3rbr4v3(?) ‘s OpurraSHun OvnBrk, an April Fool’s event where players had to tap sides of the screen to balance the cookie character and keep them from falling.