72 percent of mobile revenue in Q4 came from North America and Europe
February, 26: MY.GAMES has announced a year-on-year revenue increase of 23% to RUB 30 669m ($474m) in 2019. Growth of the gaming business has outperformed predicted performance of the global games market by 15.8 percentage points and the global mobile market by 10 points[1]. Overall audience also increased by 26% in 2019, reaching 605 million registered players across the globe.
Growth continues to be driven by strong performances from mobile titles, generating 61% of total revenue in Q4. Leading mobile title, Hustle Castle, posted increased revenue by 36% YoY in 2019, being downloaded 55 million times in the two years since release, while War Robots continues to grow and has been downloaded 150 million times since launch. In 2019, Hustle Castle set a new daily revenue record for MY.GAMES when the game earned 100m RUB ($1.6m) in one day.
93% of all mobile revenue in Q4 was generated outside Russia, with 72% coming from North America and Europe. The top three mobile revenue-generating territories in Europe in descending order are Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. In 2019, international revenue accounted for 68% versus 63% a year earlier.
“Q4 and 2019 as a whole has been a step in the right direction for MY.GAMES,” commented Vasiliy Maguryan, CEO MY.GAMES “Our lineup of mobile titles performed at a high level, and we are particularly pleased with the performance on international markets. This will be a continued focus in 2020.”
Warface, MY.GAMES top-performing PC and console franchise, continues to operate at a high level. Seven years after launch, Warface is the third-highest revenue-generating game in the MY.GAMES portfolio. The game has 85 million registered users worldwide, with the audience expanding as the title ventures onto new platforms: Warface was successfully released for the Nintendo Switch to become the first CryEngine game on the platform and Warface: Global Operations was released on mobile. MY.GAMES will continue to invest in the franchise in 2020, with the launch of a new console project within the Warface franchise tailored for US and European markets.
Other titles launched in 2019 performed well, including American Dad! Apocalypse Soon, developed in partnership with FOX Next, and narrative-driven mobile game, Love Sick: Interactive Stories, which gained 3.6 million and 4 million downloads respectively throughout the year.
At the end of 2019, MRGV, the investment arm of the overall group, had invested in 22 studios. This investment will continue as the company increases its international expansion, with a slate of new releases scheduled in 2020, focused on global markets.
“We have a full pipeline of releases for the year ahead that will appeal to the European and US video game markets,” added Maguryan. “This will include a new console gaming project from the Warface franchise launching Q2 2020, as well as one brand-new mobile title from Pixonic. We’ll continue to develop our international gaming platform, MY.GAMES Store, which launched in open beta at the end of 2019.”
“Our primary focus areas for 2020 will remain international expansion and growth in the mobile space, which offers a potential $150 billion in global revenue opportunity. In the longer term, we remain committed to our goal of becoming one of the top 25 games companies worldwide.”
[1] Notes to Editors: Newzoo, 2019 Global Market Report: 7.2% YoY global games growth, including 9.7% YoY for mobile