The total quarterly downloads of mobile games increased by over 27.6% year-on-year

According to DianDian data statistics, in the first quarter of 2026, the total download volume of mobile games in China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan increased by over 2.61% month on month, while revenue slightly decreased by 0.17% month on month. From the perspective of regional contribution proportion, Hong Kong, China has shown a more prominent growth in the download end; On the income side, on the contrary, in the context of a small decline in overall income, Taiwan, China, China, which has contributed more than 70% of its annual income, has bucked the trend of growth, showing a steady market resilience, and the mobile game consumption capacity of local users remains solid.

Compared with the annual data, the number of mobile game downloads in this region has increased by more than 27.6% year on year. As the preferred and core segment of manufacturers in Chinese Mainland, innovative models such as game integration and cross end collaboration have become new growth points. On the contrary, the revenue data decreased by 1.5% year-on-year, and under macroeconomic pressure, as the competition in the first tier market intensifies, the driving efficiency of traffic dividends seems to be gradually declining.

In terms of platform composition, the App Store accounts for a large proportion of game application download revenue on both ends, especially with revenue data accounting for nearly 70%. From the trend of data changes in the past year, the dual end data of Google Play platform has maintained a stable increase, but the data growth of App Store platform, which accounts for a heavier proportion, still plays a dominant role in the overall regional data changes.

In terms of category composition, the top three categories of download data are leisure, puzzle, and simulation; On the income side, there are role-playing, strategy, and leisure activities, among which the categories of action and casino games are experiencing rapid growth.

Zero pressure experience is popular, and the AR game "Walking and Planting Grass" has become popular

During the statistical period, Pikmin Bloom, an AR mobile game jointly developed and released by Niantic and Nintendo in 2021, topped the mobile game download and promotion charts in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan with over 2.01 million downloads and 1.62 million downloads. In addition, the game also ranked in the top ten of the regional mobile game revenue promotion charts with an estimated revenue of 4.63 million US dollars, achieving a phenomenal outbreak in the Chinese Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan markets in the first quarter. Looking at its lifecycle data, it has also walked out of a rare "low opening high going" curve.

The gameplay of Pikmin Bloom is similar to its famous predecessor Pok é mon GO, but it did not achieve the same success as the latter at the beginning of its release in 2021. The key to achieving counter cyclical growth now lies in the changes in the macro market environment. The charm of this work lies in its "zero pressure" core, which places the core gameplay on the walk itself of "planting flowers while walking". With the recent trend of players leaning towards fragmented entertainment experiences, this design concept perfectly fits the current trend of "casual lightweight" mobile games, thus accumulating the potential for popularity.

The key catalyst for its local popularity in the first quarter was a series of cross-border cooperation activities focusing on Taiwan, China, China. In addition to actively promoting the connection between games and offline commercial scenes, the official also set up a special offline location at the Taipei Game Show at the end of January to attract players to complete tasks and earn rewards; Starting from the end of March, multiple special locations will be added in Hong Kong to provide exclusive golden flower seedlings. With the synchronous promotion of online activities such as "Community Day" and "Color Festival", the topic heat of the product has gradually been ignited.

The popularity of Pikmin Bloom in this region and even globally once again confirms our previous assessment of the trend towards lightweight mobile gaming. In addition, the popularity of products centered around outdoor activities such as walking reflects the awakening and enhancement of health awareness among users in relevant regions after experiencing the epidemic. At the same time, its performance on the income side also validates the feasibility of the business model of encouraging users to voluntarily pay for "virtual partners" through a healthy and active lifestyle.

The new "RO" work has landed at the top, and the regional consumption potential remains strong

During the statistical period, after "Douluo Continent: Soul Hunting World", another independently developed big world MMORPG by Sanqi Interactive Entertainment, "RO Wonderland Legend: World Tour", which was launched in mid January, earned an estimated revenue of over 45.42 million US dollars (approximately RMB 309 million) in the first quarter of its release, firmly topping the first quarter mobile game revenue and rising chart in China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

On the one hand, the outbreak of RO Fairyland Legend: A World Tour stems from the strong influence of IP in the region. Its end game was the first game in Taiwan, China, China with more than 200000 online players. Fans are now the main force of market consumption. The nostalgic and load reducing route chosen in the gameplay content of this game perfectly meets the experience needs of these core players and satisfies the fundamental purpose of gameplay.

On the other hand, the large-scale investment in promotion is also the key to igniting the popularity of its product topics. Starting three months in advance, the material placement will invite well-known live streamers to promote, conduct intensive lottery activities on social media platforms, expose resources, and promote extensively. Local star Ariel Lin will also be invited as the spokesperson for the game. This whole set originated from Sanqi, and even the combination of promotion models commonly used by most domestic manufacturers in the regions of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan in China has contributed to the explosive growth of this work.

From a market perspective, the impressive results of this work once again validate the consumption potential of China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan as the top tier regions for global T1 markets and overseas expansion. According to the "2026 Global Mobile Gaming Industry White Paper" released by DianDian Data, the market size of mobile gaming in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan will reach 36.46 billion yuan by 2025, and the market revenue structure will tend towards a healthy pattern of "stable head and strengthened waist". Therefore, the case of this work being parachuted to the top also sent a clear signal to newcomers: in the Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan markets, as long as the product quality is excellent and the localization strategy is in place, even medium-sized new products still have the opportunity to stand out.

The contribution of data from both ends of the App Store exceeds 70%

In the first quarter, the total download volume of mobile applications in China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan increased by 3.56% month on month, while the total revenue data decreased by 1% month on month. The overall situation is similar to that of the mobile gaming market, but the magnitude of the change is greater. Taiwan, China, China, contributed more than 69.1% of the revenue with 45.3% of downloads, and the consumption level of non travel applications in the region is still outstanding. Hong Kong, China also leads the download growth rate, but the magnitude is slightly smaller than that of the gaming side. From the comparison of annual data, both ends of the download revenue in the first quarter of 2026 experienced varying degrees of growth.

In terms of platform composition, the App Store has contributed a significant proportion on both ends, accounting for over 70%. From the perspective of year-on-year data, the growth of data on the App Store platform has become the key to driving the growth of both ends of regional non gaming app download revenue.

In terms of category composition, the top three categories of download data are tools, life, and entertainment; The income side includes entertainment, social communication, photography, and video recording. Among them, the tools and efficiency applications that concentrate most of the AI related applications have shown significant growth in dual end data, or have become the main factors driving the overall data growth.

AI driven growth of multi track related application data

During the statistical period, the rapid iteration and upgrading of AI models have driven multiple related applications to achieve data growth and make it onto the list. Among them, the official Google application "Google Gemini" topped the first quarter application download list in China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan with over 1.12 million downloads, a month on month increase of over 26.3%. At the same time, native AI applications such as Grok and ChatGPT are also on the list, and the data trend remains stable. In addition, other tracks also benefited from this wave of technological dividends, delivering impressive data growth in the first quarter.

The first and foremost is the short drama that we have mentioned in multiple regions before. As a representative of this round of explosive growth, "NetShort" has also seen rapid growth in the local region, with a download increase of 489000 and an estimated revenue increase of 907000 US dollars, becoming the fastest-growing non gaming application in terms of both downloads and revenue in the first quarter of China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. In addition, applications such as "Red Fruit Short Drama" and "MoboReels" on the list also benefit from the popularity of AI translated dramas and AI animated dramas.

Next is a social app for dating and socializing, represented by Ping. This application, which focuses on "real communities," officially launched its "AI real person authentication system" in the March version update, solving the most hated problem of "fake accounts" for users. The trust endorsement won with technical strength deepens the tone of platform security. And the additional tag helps it stand out from a group of similar applications. Combined with the official ongoing theme activities such as "2026 Vibe" and "Let's Go to Music Festival+Flower Appreciation Together", it has contributed to its rapid growth.

Finally, the direction of benefit also includes AI companion applications, such as "Crush Al" and "Touchie". With the advancement of their large model capabilities, the AI role understanding and communication skills within them have also evolved synchronously, further enhancing the cost-effectiveness of subscription services for such applications.

Exploration smoothly transitions to new entities and promotes globalization strategy

The new application, which was launched on January 3rd, made it onto the list of rising download revenue on both ends in China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan in the first quarter. From the data, it can be seen that it has smoothly taken over the handover baton in this region.

According to official information, "Tantan" has gradually migrated its existing global users to a new international version of the app since July 1, 2025. Although there have been no changes in the core mechanism and matching gameplay, the technology is basically consistent with the domestic version. But this model, which will mature core capabilities such as big data intelligent recommendation algorithms and community operations in the domestic market, and flexibly apply them to overseas markets, has already been preliminarily validated in the Chinese Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan markets.

Although the market performance in other regions still needs to be verified, the launch of the overseas version has provided an important foundation for it, helping it to calmly respond to compliance requirements in different markets, protect user data security, and provide a more localized service experience.