Krafton's PUBG tops global game revenue with $2.8 bn

 
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile (PUBG Mobile), a mobile game of South Korean gaming company Krafton Inc., topped the global game revenues in 2021. According to US-based mobile app data provider Sensor Tower, PUBG Mobile’s global revenue from January to December 14 of 2021 was $2.8 billion, 9% up year-over-year. This includes the revenue from Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings’ Game for Peace, the official Chinese version of PUBG.

Honor of Kings, a multiplayer online battle arena developed by Tencent’s gaming subsidiary TiMi Studio Group, ranked as the second-top in global revenue reaching $2.8 billion as well, up 14.7% year-over-year. Chinese game developer miHoYo Co.’s Genshin Impact ranked as the world’s third-top, with $1.8 billion in revenue last year. Ranking at No. 4, US gaming company Roblox Corp.’s Roblox posted $1.3 billion in revenue, up 20.3% year-over-year. Tel Aviv-headquartered Moon Active Ltd.’s Coin Master ranked at No. 5 by posting $1.2 billion in revenue, up 13.8% from 2020.

Pokémon GO from US gaming company Niantic Inc., took No.6, with $1.2 billion in revenue in 2021. Candy Crush Saga from Maltese game developer King.com Ltd. posted $1.2 billion in revenue, ranking at No. 7, while Garena Free Fire from Singaporean gaming company Garena generated a $1.1 billion ranking at No. 8.

The number of games surpassing $1 billion in annual revenue increased from five in 2020 to eight in 2021. In 2020, PUBG, Honor of Kings, Pokemon Go, Coin Master and Roblox crossed $1 billion in revenues.  

Sensor Tower estimated the global mobile game market in 2021 reached $89.6 billion, up 12% from 2020 and accounting for 67% of the global entire mobile app market. The app data provider said the revenues from mobile games took 61% and 78% of revenues from the App Store and Google Play, respectively.

Write to Joo-wan Kim at kjwan@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.