App Annie: Mobile Game Index May 2014: New Games Shake Up the iOS Charts

App Annie's Game Index provides information on the most popular games on the iOS store and Google Play. For more categories of apps, see App Annie's Internet Retail Index, App Annie's App Index for May 2014, and the General & Business News Index.

Table of contents

1. Technology behind the index

2. Gaming Superstar of the Month

·The latest games are popular on iOS

Tencent's two new games entered the top ten

BLADE for Kakao ranked 4th in the global list

Comedy-style games are popular on iOS

3. More impactful games

1. Technology behind the index

The information contained in this report comes from App Annie Intelligence, the leading market data solution for the app store economy. To learn how our industry-leading app store download and revenue estimates can guide your critical business decisions, browse or request a demo today.

To view the complete list of apps and publishers , go to the App Annie Index page (no registration required)

2. Gaming Superstar of the Month

The latest games are taking iOS by storm

According to the download statistics in May, 7 newly released games entered the top 10 iOS games list. 2048 and Don't Step on the White Tiles are the only two games that have been in the list since April; Candy Crush Saga also returned to the top 10.

New to the list is 100 Balls, a timed puzzle game where players strategically throw balls from a distance. The game has been particularly successful in the US and UK.

"Shadow Fight 2" is the sequel to the Facebook platform action role-playing game "Shadow Fight", which optimizes the touch screen attack technology. Due to the outstanding download volume of the game, it was listed on the iOS application recommendation homepage in early May. Nekki introduced to App Annie how word of mouth contributed to its success:

“ Shadow Fight started out as a game on social networks , but because of how innovative and interesting the project was — ancient Asian warriors, keyboard controls, novel game scenarios, etc. — we had millions of users without any marketing .

Despite the fierce competition in the mobile space, Shadow Fight 2 for Android and iOS is our company's most successful and fastest growing game . To this day, we still believe that 'unique scene design and simple operation are more important than a huge marketing budget', and let surprised players help us spread the word and introduce their friends and family to join. This viral spread has made our game on the charts. Now, Shadow Fight 2 has more than 20 million downloads worldwide, and this is just the beginning! ! " - Sergei Babaev , Director of Business Development at Nekki

Nekki 's role-playing Shadow Fight 2 is one of the newest and most successful fighting games of May .

No One Dies is also the latest game released in May. This game adds a new twist to the traditional parkour game, allowing players to control multiple characters at the same time. This innovative attempt on traditional games has attracted many Chinese users.

Tencent's two games entered the top ten

Tencent has been ranked number one among iOS game publishers by downloads for three consecutive months (including May), and the release of the new version of Tian Tian Xuan Dou at the end of April has strengthened Tencent's position in the publisher's download and revenue rankings. Tian Tian Xuan Dou is a 2D flat role-playing game with fighting elements, released on the WeChat platform. New versions of the game continue to successfully increase downloads and help monetize Tencent.

Blade for Kakao ranks 4th in the global list

BLADE for Kakao is the latest title from publisher Four Thirty Three on Google Play, which ranked No. 4 on the global charts in May, despite only being available in South Korea. This action-based role-playing game features excellent graphics and an emphasis on real-time player-versus-player matches.

Four Thirty Three 's role-playing game Blade uses competition between players

Blade for Kakao quickly became the top grossing app in South Korea after its launch in late April and continued to rank at the top in May. This success was also the main driver of Four Thirty Three's revenue growth from April to May. The strong start also bodes well for Blade for Kakao's potential for long-term success.

Blade for Kakao's revenue on Google Play in Korea has increased rapidly since its release . Link

Comedy-style games are popular on iOS

Toilet Time is centered around mini-games around toilets, helping users pass the time on the toilet, including washing hands, rolling toilet paper, and preventing objects from falling into the toilet. The game has been gaining popularity since its release in late April. Tapps Games told App Annie:

“We’ve been through a lot with over 100 independent games released. It’s a different experience when our name suddenly appears on the most downloaded and played charts in the world. It’s exciting and encouraging for our entire team to reach millions of people in a short period of time and excel.

Toilet Time wasn’t our favorite. In fact , last year we weren’t sure whether to continue with the idea or move on to the next one. Thank goodness we went ahead! This is another example of how things can change in the app stores, and how virality can play a huge role. — Felipe Watanabe , Marketing Coordinator at Tapps Games

Toilet Time finds wealth in users ' free time Link

Make It Rain: Love of Money takes the desire to throw money around and directs it in a more environmentally sensible direction. Players simply swipe down on the screen to control the money. Instead of losing money, throwing money in the game actually makes users earn money. The money earned can not only be used to stimulate financial and political investments, but also to prevent assets from being seized. Following the success of recent hit games such as Flappy Bird , publisher Space Inch has achieved great success without any advertising.

3. More impactful games

Riptide 3D achieves cross-border success

Since its release in late April, Doodle Mobile's water racing game Riptide 3D has been a hit on Google Play, including in Russia, Brazil and India. Speedboat captains can earn coins to upgrade their boats and race against up to four opponents simultaneously in multiplayer mode.

GAMEVIL two heroes go hand in hand

GAMEBIL's MLB: Perfect Start released in May helped the publisher break into the top 10 of Google Play downloads. The game was a hit in the United States and South Korea, which was also in the midst of baseball season in both countries. The MLB-licensed game offers a mobile-centric approach that allows users to choose any of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball.

"Spirit Stone Legend", a puzzle role-playing game in the style of "Dragon Clan", also contributed significantly to GAMEVIL's growth. The game launched new quests around the time of the update at the end of April. It is featured prominently on the homepage of Google Play and is also very popular in Russia.

Don't Step on the White Blocks is Unstoppable

Umoni Studio's hit arcade game Don't Step on the White Tile saw a significant increase in downloads on the Google Play Store in April and May, as the game continued to grow on the US iOS store. Continued strong performance on iOS. Released a few days earlier on Google Play than on iOS, but took a little longer to get on the charts. Even so, its Google Play downloads continued to grow in May, driven by the US, UK and South Korea markets.

To learn more about app charts beyond games, check out the App Index for May 2014. To keep up with app and publisher charts, check out the full App Annie Index table.

Notes :

• The company and app ranking data in this App Annie report is based on download and revenue forecasts provided by App Annie Intelligence . The daily historical ranking table and app data on the homepage are available to all users through App Annie's app tracking solution Store Stats .
• Since the Game Index contains information about games, the App Index tracks information about all non-game software. The rankings in the Game Index are based solely on the publisher's game downloads and revenue data, while the rankings in the App Index are based on the company's non-game downloads and revenue data.
• Similar versions of the same app with different names (e.g., The New York Times and The New York Times iPad Edition) have been ranked separately in the rankings since September 2013. For the purposes of data validity in October, similar versions of the same app with different names will be unified (e.g., The New York Times and The New York Times iPad Edition are now ranked together as a single app).
• Company and combined app rankings in the App Annie Games Index and Apps Index are based on apps in the top 1,000 lists.
• In the first month after an app is merged, its change in ranking in the index will be compared to the merged app in that month and the highest-ranked individual app before the merge in the previous month. Therefore, the change in ranking for the new unified app may exaggerate the increase in ranking from April 2014 to May 2014.
• In the iOS App Store, an app can be categorized in a primary category, or in an optional secondary category. If an app has a primary category of Entertainment and a secondary category of Games, it is a candidate for inclusion in this index of apps. If the app's primary category is Games and its secondary category is Entertainment, it will not be included in this index of apps; it is a candidate for the Games index.
• It is important to note that the ranking methodology used by the App Annie Index is different from that used in the iOS App Store. In the latter, the ranking of apps for a specific category will include all apps in the primary or secondary categories that match that specific category. Therefore, an app can appear in multiple categories in the iOS App Store or in the App Annie Store Stats rankings.
• In Google Play, an app can only be in one category, so there is no double classification.
• Sometimes, publishers decide to move an existing app from one category to another. In these cases, the App Annie index will be based on how it is categorized in the following month. Given that there is a Games report and an Apps report in the App Annie index, the above situation means that when an app is moved from the Games category to the Non-Games category, the app will be recategorized in the other index report, and vice versa.
• In the App Annie index, all apps and publishers are reported under their parent company when possible. For example, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is listed under its parent company Electronic Arts, not its direct publisher PopCap. Note that if you view the Electronic Arts parent company page in Store Stats, you will see Electronic Arts, including PopCap. Plants vs. Zombies 2 will be listed under PopCap's publisher page.
• Company and app rankings are based on App Annie DNA relationships at the time of publication. App Annie DNA relationships are subject to change at any time.
• The App Annie Index revenue rankings are based on paid download revenue and in-app purchases on the iOS App Store and Google Play. In-app advertising revenue is not included.