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Honor of Kings Expands Globally with Strong Launch

Jul 26, 2024·3 min read

Summary

In June 2024, Honor of Kings by Tencent surged to #2 in worldwide downloads growth thanks to its global launch on June 22, gaining 21 million downloads outside China. Manage Supermarket Simulator by Zego Studio topped breakout downloads with 28.6 million total downloads. Free Fire remained #1 in absolute downloads.

On the revenue side, Dungeon & Fighter Mobile led breakout and absolute revenue growth, generating $251 million in China alone. 三国:谋定天下 ranked #2 in revenue growth. Honkai: Star Rail had top in-app events.

The MOBA subgenre generated $1.2 billion in Q2 2024, showing strong market performance.

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