After downloads declined across the board in August, the global mobile-game market recovered in September. Global downloads rebounded by more than 4.35% month on month, driven by continued growth on Google Play. On the revenue side, long-running products still occupied the top positions. Mature titles such as Pokémon GO and Roblox continued to reactivate existing users through anniversary celebrations and major version events, stabilizing the market base while generating concentrated revenue spikes.

The key takeaways from this ranking are that download growth was concentrated in lightweight puzzles, open-world, racing and driving, and hyper-casual products, while revenue growth was mainly contributed by anniversary products, established IPs, and new MMORPGs. Chinese products released overseas performed particularly well on the revenue side. Overall, the growth logic on the download and revenue sides continued to diverge clearly.

Below are Diandian Data’s Top 20 rankings for global mobile-game downloads, revenue, and growth in September 2026, together with an interpretation of key products and industry trends.

Recovery in Leading Markets Drives a Rebound in Global Game Downloads

According to Diandian Data, total global mobile-game downloads in September 2026 rebounded by more than 4.35% month on month, while year-on-year growth returned to double digits. By platform, continued growth on Google Play was the main reason for the recovery in the total figure. Its share of global mobile-game downloads rose further to 68.9% this month. Notably, data from domestic Android platforms still declined slightly, with growth mainly driven by the overseas Android ecosystem and leading markets.

By region, India (11.1%), Brazil (6%), and the United States (5.7%) contributed the largest shares of downloads. Brazil recorded particularly clear growth, rising more than 15.3% month on month. The recovery in leading markets represented by these three regions was the main reason for the rebound in total downloads.

The casual category continued to lead, contributing more than 41.8% of the total. Alongside casual games, leading categories including puzzle, simulation, and strategy also recorded clear download growth, becoming important drivers of the overall recovery. At the product level, long-running titles with mature publishing systems and stable user bases continued to occupy the top of the download ranking, forming the foundation of the global mobile-download market.

Global Mobile Game Downloads and Rising Top 20

According to Diandian Data, Garena’s battle-royale title Free Fire once again topped the global mobile-download ranking in September, with more than 33.98 million downloads. Anniversary activities and tournament content in its major user-source markets continued to exert an impact, helping the game maintain relatively stable user reactivation and community discussion.

Bus Fever Party was the standout performer in September’s global mobile-download market. Its incremental downloads exceeded 16.08 million, up more than 349.3% month on month, putting it at the top of the rising-download ranking. Traffic management and color-matching gameplay have been validated by the market over time and have a relatively stable user base. At the same time, the product’s simple and intuitive gameplay is highly readable as short-video advertising material and converts well into downloads, as the similar title Bus Traffic Fever had already demonstrated the previous month.

Real Gangster also benefited from continued interest in the popular themes of open worlds and criminal cities. The game centers on Miami, driving, gunfights, and urban missions, closely matching the search and click demand previously stimulated among target users by the GTA 6 gameplay-reveal event. Together with fellow ranking title Gangster Game 3D, it represents the breakout of open-world, criminal-city, and GTA-like products, enabling rapid scale-up in a short period. In September, the game added approximately 5.66 million downloads, up more than 4,472.2% month on month, ranking second on the rising-download list.

Against the backdrop of a broad recovery in global downloads, hyper-casual products naturally also performed strongly. Keyboard Escape and Bulldozer Master, which entered the top five of the rising list, are representative examples; their downloads rose more than 766.8% and 318.5% month on month, respectively. The former combines keyboards, puzzles, and escape elements, while the latter uses a construction site as its setting and integrates bulldozing and clearing into its levels. Together with the category’s low barriers, easy onboarding, and immediate feedback, these features enabled both products to scale quickly through short-video creatives on Google Play.

Racing and driving are classic genres with strong global appeal. They do not depend on complex text or localized narratives, so related products remain active in download rankings for long periods. Combined with the aforementioned interest in open-world and criminal-city themes, Moto Wheelie, Car Driving Traffic Race, and Car Evolve all achieved clear growth in this month’s rising-download ranking.

Among new releases, Studio Sirenia’s character-creation title MiniMuse entered the upper ranks of September’s global rising-download list with approximately 4.58 million incremental downloads. It is not a conventional level-based game, but revolves around avatar creation, outfit changes, scene building, and story creation. It offers more than 1,500 clothing, hairstyle, facial-feature, accessory, and background assets, while supporting layer adjustments, multiplayer co-presence, and the import of external assets. Its highly customizable avatars and rich assets meet the needs of anime-oriented communities to design original characters, create comic storyboards, and share fan content, enabling rapid growth through user sharing and UGC.

Also among the new releases, Rotate Rings and Honor of Kings: Chess both achieved clear growth in September, adding more than 2.88 million and 4.07 million downloads, respectively. The former revived the classic ring-rotation unlocking mechanic, while the latter leveraged the influence of the Honor of Kings IP in China to attract more than 70 million reservations and quickly acquire users at launch through accumulated traffic.

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Total Revenue Continues to Decline, While Mature Markets and Leading Categories Show Resilience

According to Diandian Data, estimated total global mobile-game revenue fell approximately 4.16% month on month in September 2026, but still grew more than 3.73% from September last year, keeping overall revenue at a relatively high level. By platform, revenue declined on both the App Store and Google Play, with little difference in the magnitude of the declines. As a result, the App Store’s share rose further to 61.1%, maintaining its lead in data contribution. By contrast, Google Play revenue declined again both month on month and year on year, bringing the platform’s overall revenue back to a near one-year low.

By region, the United States (26.8%), China (18.8%), and Japan (16.2%) remained the largest contributors, together accounting for more than 60% and continuing to form the core sources of the global mobile-game revenue market. In comparison, mature leading markets saw relatively smaller declines and more stable overall performance.

The role-playing category continued to lead, contributing more than 28.4% of the total. Alongside strategy and action, other leading categories showed relatively limited fluctuation, and overall revenue remained resilient. Notably, adventure-game revenue grew more than 3.23% against the trend, becoming one of the few major categories to achieve revenue growth this month. This may have been related to concentrated spending generated by version updates, limited events, and new launches from some leading products.

Global Mobile Game Revenue and Rising Top 20

In September’s global mobile-game revenue ranking, Tencent’s Honor of Kings remained at No. 1 with estimated revenue of nearly $145 million, down a modest 3.1% from the previous month. Whiteout Survival and Game for Peace ranked second and third, with estimated revenue exceeding $111 million and $89.31 million, respectively.

Roblox topped September’s global rising-revenue ranking, adding more than $37.92 million in estimated revenue, up over 76.9% month on month. Its Showdown-themed event, launched at the beginning of the month, quickly gained momentum in major markets including the United States, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, driving a rapid revenue breakout. The Hunt: Roblox 20, a 20th-anniversary event launched around mid-month, further carried forward the event momentum and user traffic. As a platform product, the anniversary event covered multiple classic experiences and UGC content, using rewards, missions, and an event hub to guide users back into different game scenarios. This further reactivated lapsed users and raised overall platform activity, helping estimated daily revenue remain above $3 million.

Another top-ranking product driven by anniversary activities was Pokémon GO, a classic Pokémon IP title. Estimated September revenue exceeded $88.92 million, up approximately 36% month on month, representing an incremental increase of about $23.52 million. This month, the game launched a series of limited-time activities around Go Fest 2026. Popular Pokémon including Mega Mewtwo and Armored Mewtwo returned, while the limit on remote raids was also raised, expanding the spending opportunities for paid items such as Remote Raid Passes. Limited Pokémon and raid activities extended the anniversary momentum and drove concentrated revenue release in core markets including the United States and Japan.

DRAGON BALL Z also achieved a revenue breakout through its established IP and limited summons, entering the top three of the global rising-revenue ranking. Estimated incremental revenue exceeded $27.48 million in September. Its global celebration event, which began in late August, rolled out login rewards, limited missions, new story stages, and multiple rounds of summons in phases throughout September, extending the event’s momentum and users’ payment cycles. The Dokkan Festival and Legendary Summon Carnival dual banners launched on September 13 directly stimulated core players to spend on draws, pushing estimated global daily revenue above $3.71 million at its peak and ultimately driving strong monthly growth.

Looking at publisher distribution among the rising titles, Chinese companies were particularly active this month. Tencent’s Delta Force and TFT: Magic & Mayhem both entered the top 10 of the rising-revenue ranking, growing 42.2% and 81.8% month on month, with incremental revenue exceeding $20.03 million and $19.73 million, respectively. Delta Force created multiple consecutive payment moments around its second-anniversary content, War Week supplies, and end-of-season events. Mainland China contributed more than 95.6% of its revenue, forming the absolute pillar of its monthly growth. TFT: Magic & Mayhem built on the momentum of its fifth-anniversary activities and introduced content such as Dragon Egg upgrades and the Hextech Codex: Good Fortune throughout September. Limited cosmetics, Mythic Little Legends, and special items continued to drive acquisition and spending, producing rapid revenue growth.

The new title Honor of Kings: Chess also performed strongly, entering the rising-revenue ranking in its launch month and generating more than $10.84 million in estimated first-month revenue. The Honor of Kings IP has a deep user base in China, providing the product with more than 70 million reservations while also lowering users’ comprehension costs through familiar heroes, skill systems, and worldbuilding. At the same time, affinity inheritance, friend teams, and AI-assisted play further reduced the barriers to transferring social relationships and learning auto-chess gameplay, helping the product efficiently convert IP traffic into activity and spending.

Smilegate’s new MMORPG Eclipse: The Awakening also entered the ranking immediately. It had accumulated more than one million reservations before launch, and all 24 servers opened during pre-creation filled within approximately 25 minutes, laying an early foundation for user import and launch competition. On this basis, the game created a differentiated “MMO Lite” positioning through offline progression, AI-assisted auto-play, and a lower daily burden. These features helped it quickly top the grossing charts on both Korean platforms during the initial launch period, generating more than $18.78 million in incremental estimated revenue in its first full operating month and entering the top 10.

In addition, two other new releases, World of Water and Lumi Master, entered September’s global rising-revenue ranking with incremental estimated revenue of approximately $5.24 million and $4.19 million, respectively. Both benefited from concentrated exposure, accumulated reservations, and launch operations during the early release period. By combining fresh themes with low user-comprehension barriers, they achieved rapid user reach and revenue conversion. Their success shows that release cadence, thematic appeal, and launch-operational efficiency remain important factors in achieving rapid monetization.