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App Annie: Tencent retains spot as top revenue-earning publisher for third year

NetEase takes second once more, Activision Blizzard rises to No. 3

App Annie has published its list of the top 52 mobile publishers by total revenue for 2018, putting Tencent back at the top for the third year in a row and seeing Activision Blizzard rise to No.3, just under NetEase.

The list takes into account annual revenue for all of 2018 across both the App Store and Google Play, including revenue from paid downloads and in-app purchases but not from in-app advertising or subscriptions outside the app store.

The top ten publishers of 2018 changed very little from last year, though there was some small movement. Aside from Activision Blizzard moving up a single place to No.3, Bandai Namco jumped to No.4 from its No.7 spot last year. Playrix is the only top-ten company this year that was not in the top-ten last year.

The following are the top 10 publishers of 2018 according to App Annie. The full list of 52 is available on their website.

Rank Publisher HQ Country
1 Tencent China
2 NetEase China
3 Activision Blizzard United States
4 Bandai Namco Japan
5 Netmarble South Korea
6 Sony Japan
7 Supercell Finland
8 mixi Japan
9 Playrix Ireland
10 Line Japan
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Rebekah Valentine

Senior Staff Writer

Rebekah arrived at GamesIndustry in 2018 after four years of freelance writing and editing across multiple gaming and tech sites. When she's not recreating video game foods in a real life kitchen, she's happily imagining herself as an Animal Crossing character.