PUBG Mobile emerges as second-highest-grossing mobile game in first half of 2021 after nearly generating $1.5 billion

PUBG Mobile has become an absolute favorite battle royale game in markets like South Asia, SEA, MEA, and China. It was also the highest-earning mobile game of 2020.

According to a recent report published by the data analyst site Sensor Tower, as of the first half of 2021, mobile gamers spent $44.7 billion, an increase of 17.9 percent from the previous year. Apple's App Store in-game purchases reached $26 billion, up 13.5 percent yearly, while Google Play saw a 24.7 percent increase year-over-year to $18.7 billion.

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PUBG Mobile becomes second highest-earning mobile game of H1, 2021

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Sensor Tower noted that in the first half of 2021, PUBG Mobile was the world's second-highest earning mobile game. The Tencent offering earned close to $1.5 billion in revenues and crossed the $5 billion revenue mark in March 2021 (three years after its inception).

Top grossing mobile games in H1, 2021 (Image via Sensor Tower)

Another Tencent title, Honor of Kings, hugely popular in mainland China, picked up over $1.5 billion in player spending, making it the highest-earning game in the first half of 2021. Genshin Impact by MiHoYo took the third rank in the list with over $848 million in revenues.

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Another battle royale game, Garena Free Fire, ranked eighth on the list as it was the second-highest earning game on Google Play.

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Top-grossing mobile games worldwide for the first half of 2021

1. Honor of Kings, Tencent
2. PUBG Mobile, Tencent
3. Genshin Impact, Mihoyo
4. Roblox, Roblox
5. Coin Master, Moon Active
6. Pokemon Go, Niantic
7. Candy Crush Saga, King
8. Free Fire, Garena
9. Rise of Kingdoms, Lilith Games
10. Uma Musume Pretty Derby, CyberAgent

Player spending on mobile games has slowed down this year (in absolute terms) compared to last year. However, it does not show any downturn for the industry. Instead, it's a return to normalization following the surge during the unprecedented lockdown era in 2020.