U.S. Mobile Strategy Game Spending Increases by 24% Year-Over-Year to $4.2 Billion

Player spending in mobile Strategy games in the United States rose by 23.5 percent to $4.2 billion during the past 12 months, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates show.

Utilizing Sensor Tower’s Game Taxonomy and Game Intelligence tools, which segments games into relevant genres and subgenres to support publishers in efficiently identifying key trends, we analyzed the Strategy genre to see how it has performed over the last year and gain insights into which of its seven subcategories have proven the most lucrative and installed.

Top Titles by Revenue and Downloads

The top Strategy genre game by player spending in the U.S. between November 1, 2020 and October 31, 2021 was Lords Mobile from IGG, which is part of the 4X Strategy subgenre and generated $330.3 million. The No. 2 grossing Strategy title was Clash of Clans from Supercell, part of the Build & Battle subgenre, followed by State of Survival from FunPlus, part of the 4X Strategy subgenre.

When it comes to downloads, Strategy games picked up 145.4 million installs during the past year, an increase of 3.6 percent. The top title for installs was Pokémon Unite from The Pokémon Company, part of the MOBA subgenre, accumulating 8.3 million downloads. The No. 2 Strategy title for U.S. downloads over the past year was Top War from Topwar Studio, while State of Survival ranked No. 3.

State of Strategy

The 4X Strategy subgenre was the clear No. 1 revenue generator of the seven Strategy subcategories during the period, with player spending increasing by 32.5 percent year-over-year to $2.9 billion. The fastest-growing subgenre by revenue was MOBA, with player spending rising by more than 50 percent Y/Y to $168.4 million. It should be noted, however, that each subgenre consists of a different number of titles.

4X Strategy was also the No. 1 subgenre for downloads, accumulating 53.3 million installs. The fastest-growing subcategory for downloads, meanwhile, was MOBA, with installs rising by 133.3 percent Y/Y to 19.4 million.

Analyzing revenue per download, 4X Strategy is once again the leader, generating approximately $54 per download during the last year. Build & Battle ranked No. 2, while Empire Simulation ranked No. 3. It should be noted, of course, that this metric does not take into consideration lifetime RPD, and so historical downloads are not used.

Key Drivers

Strategy was the No. 3 revenue generating mobile game genre in the U.S. across the App Store and Google Play over the past year, behind Puzzle at No. 1 and Casino at No. 2. 4X Strategy is the clear driving force behind the genre’s success, accumulating more than two-thirds of all player spending, while also picking up the most downloads.

However, growth in the MOBA subgenre has been the catalyst for download growth for the entire category, thanks in particular to the high-profile launches such as Pokémon Unite and League of Legends: Wild Rift from Riot Games during the past year. Most other categories, except for Empire Simulation, which saw approximately 42 percent growth Y/Y, saw declines in yearly installs, in part due to the surge in downloads across all categories during the first wave of lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.