Global Mobile Games in July 2022: Stumble Guys Tops the Download Chart

With the aid of its App Intelligence and other modules, SocialPeta sorted out the top 20 global mobile games by revenue, downloads, and advertising in July 2022, aiming to help mobile game professionals understand changing trends in the global mobile market.

The overall performance of global mobile games in July included several notable movements:

• The Japanese and South Korean versions of Uma Musume Pretty Derby generated outstanding revenue, with both appearing among the top games by revenue.
• Through frequent collaborations with EVA and One Piece, Knives Out reached a new revenue peak.
• Stumble Guys' downloads surged by 52.6%, putting the game at the top of the download chart.
• Boosted by the release of the Minions movie, Minion Rush returned to the App Store download chart.
• New puzzle and casino games dominated the advertising rankings, while the top advertised games on both Google Play and the App Store were new to their respective charts.

Uma Musume Pretty Derby Performs Strongly in Japan and South Korea

First, let's look at global mobile game revenue in July. The Japanese and South Korean versions of Uma Musume Pretty Derby were among the leading games by revenue on Google Play.

With the powerful Kitasan Black support card available in the game, Uma Musume Pretty Derby replaced the Lineage series at the top of Google Play's revenue chart in South Korea.

In addition to the strong performance of its South Korean version, the Japanese version of Uma Musume Pretty Derby also ran multiple events. These included its collaboration with Sega's horse racing arcade game StarHorse 4 on July 20, followed roughly a week later by a preview of its collaboration with The Idolmaster.

These collaborations with highly relevant and popular game franchises helped Uma Musume Pretty Derby improve its monetization performance. Its App Store revenue increased 57.5% month over month, moving the game 11 positions higher on the revenue chart.

Knives Out Revenue Rebounds Through Major IP Collaborations

Knives Out also ran frequent collaborations during the summer, working with internationally recognized Japanese IPs including One Piece, EVA, and Sword Art Online in July.

Supported by those three collaborations, Knives Out's July revenue rebounded toward its earlier level after declining since January 2022. App Store revenue increased 68.1% month over month.

Anniversary Events Lift Other Top-Grossing Games

Several other games also recorded notable revenue performance. Ahead of its seventh anniversary in August, Fate/Grand Order began its anniversary countdown event on July 21.

Two days after the event update, Fate/Grand Order jumped from around No. 400 to No. 84 on the iOS free chart. Its Google Play revenue also reached its highest level since September 2021.

Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle, Bandai Namco Entertainment's card game based on the Dragon Ball anime franchise, also ranked among the Google Play revenue Top 20, supported by its seventh-anniversary events.

Japanese baseball simulation game プ口野球スピリッッA, published by Konami, offered Qixi Festival gift packs in July. Its App Store revenue increased 50% month over month, moving it four positions higher on the revenue chart.

Stumble Guys Takes the App Store Download Lead

Turning to global mobile game downloads, party knockout game Stumble Guys replaced Subway Surfers as the most downloaded game on the App Store.

Stumble Guys received 8.7 million downloads, up 52.6% month over month. The United States accounted for 27.6% of its downloads, the largest share among individual markets.

Minion Rush Returns Alongside the Minions Movie

Minion Rush, a parkour mobile game based on Minions and launched by Gameloft in 2013, regained popularity when the Minions movie was released on July 1.

The day after the movie's release, the game reached No. 9 on the iOS free games chart and recorded 1.9 million downloads.

New Casual Games Enter the Download Rankings

While established games reached new download highs amid intense competition, a number of newer simulation and arcade casual games also entered the rankings.

Airport Master!, developed by Panteon and released in April 2022, attracted players with its airport-management setting, simple 3D characters, and accessible management activities.

Airport Master! recorded 1.7 million App Store downloads in July, an increase of 419.9% month over month.

During the summer, snowball battle game Snow Race!! was released in July by Japanese company GOODROID and subsequently ranked among the Top 20 most downloaded games on Google Play.

The July advertising rankings changed substantially. The leading games on both the Google Play and App Store advertising charts were new entries to their respective rankings.

Daily Themed Crossword Leads iOS Advertising

PlaySimple Games' puzzle game Daily Themed Crossword significantly increased its advertising activity in July.

The game recorded approximately 5,200 deduplicated creatives across Google Play and the App Store combined, up 477.8% month over month, and replaced Word Trip as No. 1 on the iOS advertising chart.

Word Trip recorded approximately 5,100 deduplicated creatives across Google Play and the App Store combined in July, down 53.2% month over month.

Casino Games Remain Highly Active on Android

Scatter Slots, a casino mobile game developed by Murka Games, ranked among the leading games on the Android advertising chart.

Scatter Slots recorded more than 37,600 deduplicated creatives in July.

Casino games had already dominated the Android advertising ranking in June. In July, three casino titles were new entries in the Top 20, including JinJinJin, which recorded more than 5,600 deduplicated creatives across Google Play and the App Store combined.

JinJinJin began releasing advertising creatives as early as September 2, 2021, with its strongest advertising activity concentrated in the United States, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Strategy Games Compete for iOS Advertising Share

Competition between new and established strategy games was also intense on iOS.

Strategy mobile game Three Kingdoms Origin began advertising as early as May 25 and recorded approximately 2,100 deduplicated creatives in July, an increase of 5% month over month.

SLG title The Ants recorded approximately 2,300 deduplicated creatives in July and moved three positions higher on the advertising chart.