SensorTower: Number of new mobile games launched on China’s App Store in 2018, downloads and revenue

The latest data from the Sensor Tower platform shows a comparison of the number of new mobile games launched on the Chinese Apple Store between 2017 and 2018.

Note: This report only counts new mobile games that were launched on the Chinese App Store and downloaded more than 1,000 times between 2017 and 2018.

During 2018, the Sensor Tower platform recorded a total of 13,077 new games that received more than 1,000 downloads on the Chinese Apple Store, a decrease of 59% from 31,840 in 2017.

Looking at the data in the above chart, the number of new games launched online was lower than that in 2017 throughout 2018. Starting from March, the number of new games launched online was only 39% of the same period in 2017. Influenced by the summer vacation, the number of new games launched in July and August rebounded slightly, reaching 52% of the same period in 2017. Although the fourth quarter of each year is the off-season for new games to be launched, the number of new games in the fourth quarter of 2018 fell more significantly, only 28% of the same period in 2017.

Affected by the sharp decline in the number of new games, the total number of mobile game downloads on the Chinese App Store began to lag behind the same period in 2017 starting in May 2018. This situation worsened in the second half of the year, with the total number of mobile game downloads in the third quarter of 2018 accounting for 80.9% of the same period in 2017, and only 67.5% in the fourth quarter. Overall, the number of mobile game downloads on the Chinese App Store in 2018 was 2.26 billion times, a decrease of 11.2% from 2017.

Despite this, the revenue of mobile games on the Chinese App Store in 2018 still increased compared to 2017. As can be seen from the above figure, the revenue in February and March last year increased significantly compared to 2017, and then began to slow down in April. Only the revenue in September and October was lower than the same period in 2017. The full-year revenue reached US$11 billion, up 6.4% from 2017.