GameRefinery has released its latest report on RPG mobile games. The study looks at the genre in the US iOS market, including market share, player motivations and shifts in genre trends.

Key Points

  • Currently, RPGs are the 4th largest genre in the US iOS market, contributing about 14% of the market’s revenues.
  • There’s been a significant change from Turn-based RPGs to action RPGs, thanks to titles like Genshin Impact and MHA: The Strongest Hero, both of which are open-world titles with a strong focus on single-player experience and story elements along with their high production.
    values. “We’re starting to see a shift where Action RPGs are starting to gain FINALLY more ground on the western markets also,” said Erno Kiiski, Chief Game Analyst, US.
  • The most successful RPG updates naturally revolve around live events where new characters are added to the games, engaging new audiences and driving revenue. The report looks at several Collaboration events successfully utilized in various games (e.g., The Seven Deadly Sins and Stranger Things).
  • Interestingly, all the three latest hit RPGs (Genshin Impact, MHA: The Strongest Hero, The Seven Deadly Sins) have an anime art style. Could this be a trend alert?
  • Zooming in on individual titles, Genshin Impact dominated the charts this quarter with 10% of RPG market share, making it the only top 5 RPG game to grow both in revenue (+11.39%) and downloads (21.72%)

The full report can be found here.


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