Monetizing

Mobile Gamers
Identify the Best Target Markets for
Your Games
 
Monetizing Mobile Gamers: Identify the Best Target Markets for Your Games 
 

Table of Contents 
Report Highlights 

Introduction 

Countries 

ARPU Varies Signi cantly Among Countries 

ARPU Trends Upward Among Top Games 
 

Categories 

Country Zoom: Categories in the United States 

 

Conclusion 

The Technology Behind the Report 

About App Annie 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Monetizing Mobile Gamers: Identify the Best Target Markets for Your Games 
 

Report Highlights 
● Average revenue per user (ARPU) for iPhone games (hereby referenced as 
"games" throughout this report, unless otherwise noted) varies widely across 
countries. Japan leads the way, where the top 30 games by revenue averaged over 
twice the ARPU of those in China, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the 
United States.  
 
● Over the past few years, China has seen phenomenal growth in the average ARPU 
of its top 30 games by revenue. Since early Q1 2014, monthly ARPU has increased 
nearly 10x. 
 
● Category matters for ARPU. In the United States, core games drove the Role 
Playing and Strategy categories to lead in ARPU. 
 
 

   

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Monetizing Mobile Gamers: Identify the Best Target Markets for Your Games 
 

Introduction 
Average revenue per user (ARPU) is one of the most important metrics that mobile game 
publishers use to understand their games’ performance and the state of the app market. 
ARPU makes up one half of the usage equation (the other half being user retention) that 
determines how well a game is performing. In order to learn from the success and failure 
of your competitors, it is vital to benchmark your ARPU performance. The alternative 
measure of average revenue per download (ARPD) may sound like a su cient substitute, 
but it is an imperfect proxy at best. In the case of more mature games for which 
downloads have slowed down, ARPD may overstate the amount that users are spending. 
 
ARPU is also vital to planning your portfolio. For instance, the decision to expand into or 
focus on a certain country will largely come down to how well the average user in that 
market can be expected to monetize. This isn’t simple, however. How can you predict 
what ARPU will be in a country or category that you are unfamiliar with? 
 
We tackled these questions (and more) by combining revenue data from App Annie Store 
Intelligence and usage data — namely monthly active users (MAU) — from App Annie 
Usage Intelligence. We chose ve key countries to highlight in the analysis: China, Japan, 
South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. 
 
Learn how to perform analyses like this and deepen your understanding of the app 
market. Request a free demo of App Annie Intelligence. 
 

   

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Monetizing Mobile Gamers: Identify the Best Target Markets for Your Games 
 

Countries 
ARPU Varies Signi cantly Across Countries 

For the period of Q2 2016, we observed considerable variation in average monthly ARPU, 
both between and within countries. Japan led the pack thanks to role-playing games 
(RPGs), while China came in at #2 with massively multiplayer online role-playing games 
(MMORPGs) making up some of the highest ARPU titles. With regard to speci c titles, 
Game of War - Fire Age was the most consistent performer, with a #1 spot in the US and 
UK and a #5 spot in Japan.  
 

 
Japan was the clear standout, where the ARPU of the top 30 revenue-generating games 
averaged over twice that of the other four countries. Within Japan, card-based RPG 
Sengoku Enbu KIZNA was a leading performer, with an ARPU considerably above the 
country’s average. In Q2 2016, the game managed to rank in the top 10 games in Japan 

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Monetizing Mobile Gamers: Identify the Best Target Markets for Your Games 
 

by overall revenue despite having a relatively small number of monthly active users. 
However, this app should not distract from the broader pattern of high ARPU that exists 
throughout the rest of Japan’s top 30 games by revenue. We have written extensively 
about the success of Japan’s mobile gaming market (check out our report, Understanding 
the Mobile Games Market in Japan, for a close look at the market’s uniqueness), which 
highlights the strong monetization of gamers in the country. 
 
Looking at the games which make up the top 30 by revenue in Japan, the most striking 
pattern is the dominance of RPGs. Twenty-two of the top 30 games by revenue were 
categorized in the Role Playing iOS Games subcategory, the most of any of the ve 
countries. Another common feature among the top revenue-generating games in Japan 
was the popular gacha mechanic, in which users spend for the chance of acquiring a high 
value in-game item. For many of the top games in Japan, these in-game items were 
collectible cards. Games which use some kind of collectible card battling mechanic were 
well-represented in the top games in Japan. Examples include Sengoku Enbu KIZNA, 
Fate/Grand Order and The World of Mystic Wiz. 
 
China’s top games also performed strongly, coming in ahead of the US in terms of 
average ARPU. Two games in China achieved particularly impressive ARPU: Westward 
Journey Online and Fantasy Westward Journey, both of which are MMORPGs published 
by NetEase. In fact, four of the top ve games by ARPU in China were MMORPGs, the 
other two of the four being The Legend of Mir 2 and MU: Origin (which also topped 
South Korea in ARPU). Interestingly, all four of these games are based on PC MMORPG 
franchises that had large followings in China before mobile gaming took o in the 
country. Some of these games, such as The Legend of Mir 2, are more or less direct ports 
of the old PC versions with new added content. These games monetize primarily through 
purchases of in-game currency which players can use to buy items for their characters. 
 
We asked Derek Wei, a developer on The Legend of Mir 2, how Tencent benchmarks a 
game’s ARPU. “For mobile games that are adapted from PC online games, we can refer to 
the ARPU of their counterparts on the PC. In addition, we can compare with mobile 
games in the same genre. Of course, The Legend of Mir 2’s ARPU is also a benchmark 

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Monetizing Mobile Gamers: Identify the Best Target Markets for Your Games 
 

itself. For di erent markets, we usually look at the local GDP and the performance of 
similar games to see if we met the expectations set by local games.” 
 
While the success of these games is largely owed to brand recognition and nostalgia 
from the internet cafe era, we expect that there is space for newcomer MMO franchises 
in the app market. Ubisoft is betting on this with a new Assassin’s Creed mobile MMO set 
to launch in China. The game will be developed by Chinese publisher Ourpalm in a 
partnership that could serve as a model for future Western MMO entries into China.   
In both the US and UK, Game of War - Fire Age led in average monthly ARPU among the 
top 30 games by revenue. The game’s impressive monetization has attracted signi cant 
attention, with observers emphasizing the game’s seemingly limitless progression (a 
player would need to spend over $100,000 to buy everything the game has to o er) and 
highly engaging resource management mechanics. MZ’s (previously known as Machine 
Zone) other hit strategy game, Mobile Strike, also achieved impressive ARPU values, 
reaching #3 and #2 in the US and UK, respectively. The success of these games wasn’t 
limited to the West, however. Both games performed well in Japan, with Game of War - 
Fire Age reaching #5 by ARPU. This suggests that despite the general dominance of local 
games in Japan, international publishers can cash in on the country’s enviable ARPU 
levels. 
  

ARPU Trends Upward Among Top Games 

All ve countries we analyzed for this report experienced solid growth from Q2 2014 to 
Q2 2016 in the average monthly ARPU of their top 30 games by revenue. Since games 
continually enter and exit the top 30 in each country, this growth largely re ects change 
in the composition of the highest-revenue games. Speci cally, games with high ARPU are 
becoming more prominent among the top revenue-generators.  
 

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Monetizing Mobile Gamers: Identify the Best Target Markets for Your Games 
 

 
 
The three APAC countries we examined are the standouts in recent ARPU growth among 
the top 30 by revenue. The trend in China is extremely impressive, with an increase of 
over 10x since Q2 2014, which is around the time that smartphone penetration — 
especially iPhones — began to take o in China. A considerable amount of this growth 
occurred since the last quarter of 2015, thanks to the rise of lucrative MMORPGs.  

Categories 
Country Zoom: Top Categories in the United States 

Strategy reached the highest average ARPU in the US among the categories that we 
looked at. This category is home to many core games which boast enthusiastic and 
engaged fan bases, such as Clash Royale, Summoners War and Game of War - Fire Age 
whose performance is discussed above. The only category to come close to Strategy was 
Role Playing (not pictured), which shares many of the same games as Strategy. This is 
possible because games in the iOS App Store can be listed under up to two categories. 
 

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Monetizing Mobile Gamers: Identify the Best Target Markets for Your Games 
 

 
 
Casino came in behind Strategy and Role Playing. In these games, players wager virtual 
chips on popular casino games like slots, roulette, blackjack and poker. They o er in-app 
purchases that allow users to buy more chips for themselves or gift to others, as well as 
multipliers and virtual items like drinks and pets. Big Fish Casino boasted both the 
highest ARPU and the highest overall revenue in this category. 

Conclusion 
The di erences in ARPU between countries, categories, and demographics outlined 
above re ect the diversity of the mobile games market. High ARPU is not necessarily a 
prerequisite for success. As casual game hits have shown, even games with relatively low 
ARPU can become high-grossing titles. However, this does not detract from the metric’s 
importance. Any publisher whose game monetizes through the app stores should keep a 
close eye on their ARPU and that of their competitors’, both in familiar markets and in 
potential future markets. 
 

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Monetizing Mobile Gamers: Identify the Best Target Markets for Your Games 
 

About App Annie 

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Report methodology and updates are available here. 

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