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Scopely's Marvel Strike Force leads the way in US RPG boom

Generated $144 million from January to August 2020

Scopely's Marvel Strike Force leads the way in US RPG boom

Mobile RPGs have seen a surge in player spending in the US as the sector hit $2 billion in the first eight months of 2020.

That's a 33 per cent year-on-year increase according to Sensor Tower. The most lucrative title proved to be Scopely's squad RPG Marvel Strike Force – which the US firm acquired earlier this year – that generated around $144 million.

Meanwhile, Bandai Namco's Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle and RAID: Shadow Legends by Playrium came in at second and third respectively. In terms of downloads, the RPG genre racked up 115 million between January and August. This represented an increase of two per cent year-on-year.

Based on the number of installs, RAID: Shadow Legends arrived with 4.6 million downloads. This was followed by Netmarble's The Seven Deadly Sins and Seriously's Best Fiends in second and third, respectively.

Better in a team

When it comes to sub-genres, the squad RPGs accumulated the most downloads with almost 32 million, of which the most was generated by Playrium's title at 4.6 million installs.

The sub-genre also saw the most growth, having increased install numbers by 37 per cent year-on-year. However, on average, a game in the fighter sub-category brings in more downloads at around 427,000 apiece.

Much like with downloads, squad RPGs placed first for revenue. The sub-genre saw an increase of 67 per cent year-on-year as it generated around $850 million.

Survival and idle RPGs experienced the most growth, however, bringing in $58 million and $132 million respectively. The two were up by 88 per cent year-over-year.

Meanwhile, the puzzle sub-category reigned supreme for revenue generated per install, earning $47 per install.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.