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Eight of the top ten mobile publishers in 2017 were game-related

Mixi's Monster Strike top grossing mobile app for third consecutive year

Out of the top ten most grossing mobile publishers in 2017, eight were game-related according to a report from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

Chinese firm NetEase and South Korean search engine Naver were the only non-game companies to break the top ten highest earning mobile publishers.

In a report on the mobile market in 2017, Sensor Tower found that Mixi's Monster Strike was the highest grossing mobile app for the third consecutive year. Tecent's Honor of Kings was a close second, generating the most revenue in the App Store but falling short due to Google Play's unavailability in China.

Many of the games occupying the top ten best performing apps predate 2017, the report notes. Both Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans make an appearance at fifth and ninth respectively, despite first launching in 2012.

Lineage 2 Revolution, from South Korean developer Netmarble, was the only game launched in 2017 to appear in the overall grossing charts, placing eighth.

Despite Pokémon Go still being unable to recapture the lightening of its first summer, it has maintained a solid performance breaking into the ninth slot on Google Play, but failed to materialise in the App Store or overall charts.

Although the most downloaded game in 2017 was Kiloo and SYBO Games' Subway Surfer, Tencent enjoyed the third spot, still taking the crown for most revenue generated by both game and non-game apps, thanks primarily to the popularity of Tencent Video and Honor of Kings.

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Ivy Taylor

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Ivy joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2017 having previously worked as a regional journalist, and a political campaigns manager before that. They are also one of the UK's foremost Sonic the Hedgehog apologists.