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STORE INTELLIGENCE · RANDY NELSON · NOVEMBER 2018

Black Friday Was the Biggest Day Ever for U.S. Mobile Game Revenue at Nearly $60 Million

U.S. consumers spent $55.8 million in mobile games on the App Store and Google play on Black Friday, up 23.8% over 2017 according to Sensor Tower estimates.

U.S. Mobile Game Revenue for Black Friday 2018

An estimated $55.8 million was spent in mobile games on the U.S. App Store and Google Play on November 23, making Black Friday 2018 the single largest day for the category in history. Combined gaming revenue across both stores grew 23.8 percent year-over-year last Friday, compared to the 23.4 percent it grew between 2016 and 2017, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data confirms.

Record Revenue for Black Friday—or Any Other Day

U.S. player spending on Apple's App Store accounted for the majority of revenue on Black Friday, reaching an estimated $35.2 million or 63 percent of the total. On Google Play, players spent approximately $20.6 million, or 37 percent of all gross revenue for the day.

Historical Black Friday Revenue on the U.S. App Store and Google Play

Mobile game revenue on the App Store grew 23.3 percent year-over-year according to our data, while on Google Play it was up 24.7 percent over Black Friday 2017. In terms of the percentage of total revenue on both stores games contributed last Friday, they made up about 68 percent of spending on the App Store compared to 86 percent on Google Play.

Top Grossing Mobile Games on Black Friday

Supercell had two of the top 10 grossing mobile games across both stores for the day, including Clash of Clans at No. 1 with an estimated $2.1 million and Clash Royale at No 5. with approximately $920,000 spent by its players.

Top Grossing Mobile Games on Black Friday 2018

Fortnite from Epic Games was a standout at No. 4 due to the fact that it placed so highly based entirely on App Store revenue, which totaled an estimated $1.2 million. This figure was 86 percent higher than the $646,000 we estimate the game grossed on the preceding Friday.

Most of these games—and indeed many others on both stores—benefitted from special deals on IAP and limited-time bundles for Black Friday that drove players to buy into them with record results.


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Randy Nelson

Written by: Randy Nelson, Head of Mobile Insights

Date: November 2018