Among Us becomes world's most downloaded mobile game in 2020 so far, PUBG Mobile out of top 5 post India ban

The coronavirus pandemic has narrowed down the possible ways to stay entertained. While sitting at home, the internet is one of the only mediums of entertainment for most people worldwide. Many are turning to mobile games like PUBG Mobile to keep themselves engaged.

PUBG Mobile suffers post ban

However, these smartphone gamers received a jolt on 2nd September when the Indian government banned PUBG Mobile, PUBG Mobile Lite, and 116 other apps under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

This ban's after-effects are showing, as PUBG Mobile has slipped seven places to the tenth spot in Q3 this year in terms of overall game downloads compared to the previous quarter.

Sensor Tower had earlier reported that India constitutes 185.5 million, or 24%, of PUBG Mobile's total downloads, the highest in the world.

Global downloads of mobile gaming surged

According to Sensor Tower, installs of mobile games grew nearly 28 percent year on year last quarter to 14.2 billion in Q3 across both the app stores. The majority of installs came from Google Play Store, which grew 36.8 percent from 8.7 billion in the third quarter of 2019 to 11.9 billion this Q3.

The App Store saw game installs decline slightly year on year, decreasing 4.2 percent from 2.4 billion in the previous year to 2.3 billion in the third quarter of 2020. This decline came from China, as in the rest of the world, installs grew slightly.

Sensor Tower also reported that the viral online multiplayer game, Among Us, by Innersloth, has topped the charts in downloads for the third quarter. The title, which has taken the gaming industry by storm recently, saw installs that were more than 13 times what it experienced in the third quarter of the previous year.

The title has recorded over 85 million downloads in the August-September period on mobile devices. Among Us is leading in both the stores, i.e., Google Play Store and Apple's App Store.

Scribble Rider from Voodoo and My Talking Tom Friends by Outfit 7 Limited, both launched earlier this year, took the No 2 and 3 spots, respectively, for overall downloads.

Garena's Free Fire is the only battle royale game that made it to the top five list, but its installs declined five percent year on year.