The most popular mobile games in 2021 according to Uptodown research

The independent app store Uptodownpresents its annual Android video game download report that highlights global trends in mobile games. The international platform, based in Malaga, collates the operational data from its 130 million active users worldwide accessing the more than 3.8 million Apps from its catalogue.

The Uptodown analysis analyzes the data obtained between January 1 and December 1 of this year, examining the more than 2,500 million downloads (2,505,132,846 specifically) made from this independent market within this period: one in four of these downloads correspond to a video game for Android.

The report shows how PUBG Mobile, Free Fire and Fortnite, all part of the Battle Royal genre are the most popular games in the world on Android devices. The most played, PUBG Mobile, has up to six different versions, depending on the regional origin and the requirement in terms of technical specifications of the device on which it is played, directly impacting its worldwide expansion. This game gives us a precise clue about two key aspects for success when it comes to mobile games:

The most popular and demanded games in the world are free-to-play, nevertheless, not only is their initial cost vital concerning their success whereas in countries of emerging technological growth, for instance, affordable technical specifications of games adapted to low-mid-range mobiles are also essential for its success.

PUBG Mobile, the king of the games on Android

The different versions of Tencent’s multiplayer shooter add up to 150 million downloads on Uptodown in 2021 alone (150,529,944). The accumulated download history on Uptodown for the different versions of PUBG Mobile now totals more than 500 million. One of the principal reasons for the game multiplicity of versions is due to regional adaptations and a variety of specifications that allow it to adapt to different device ranges. China is currently the top global market for PUBG Mobile, followed by the United States and Japan.

The Battle Royale genre triumphs over the rest

Free Fire is the second most popular title whose traffic is currently tipping towards Free Fire Max, the latest version of the same game with better graphics (both versions add up to 43.6 million downloads on Uptodown in 2021) and is followed by the Fortnite version for Android, launched by Epic Games with just over 16 million downloads.

The vitality of long-lived games

The following names from the list of the most downloaded games are from a more varied theme, coinciding with titles that have been on the market for several years.

Thus, Gacha life, a “casual” role-playing game aimed at a more childlike audience in which users create anime-type characters to interact within different settings and minigames, has almost 14 and a half million downloads. The title has been available since 2018.

From the same year, the next most played game with almost 12 million downloads worldwide: Brawl Stars, a freemium online multiplayer developed by Supercell.

Subway Surfers with 10.8 million downloads, maintains its appeal and download rate. The mobile platform video game co-developed by Kiloo, a private company based in Denmark and SYBO Games in which the protagonist must escape from the Underground Inspector is a classic whose first version dates back to 2012.

Clash of Clans also known as CoC is another Supercell hit. This online village building and strategy title, also released in 2012, has had almost 9 million downloads on Uptodown this year.

Also, Among Us is an online multiplayer and party genre video game developed by the American company InnerSloth which was released back in 2018; having been downloaded almost 8 million times on Uptodown this year.

New entries coming in hot

The Uptodown monograph also identifies high-potential launches. In this sense, the success story of the regional launch of Supercell’s strategy game, Clash Mini, which began its beta on November 9, stands out above all. With 1.8 million downloads in its barely two months since release has positioned itself as the 6th most downloaded game in the monthly rankings at the end of the year.

Tencent and Supercell, the kings of Android developers

The data from Uptodown shows that in the development of games for mobile devices, the throne is split between the Chinese corporation Tencent (with 6 titles in the top 30 of annual downloads) and the Finnish Supercell, with 4. Garena -thanks to the success of Free Fire- and Epic Games -with Fortnite- are the two firms that are runners-up in the volume of mobile game downloads, according to this study.

Favourite genres

Action-adventure titles which include the Battle Royal subgenre hold enormous interest for the public (half of the games downloaded worldwide can be classed in this genre with 318 million downloads in Uptodown specifically) and are by far the most popular genre on Android. Casual games (more than 56 million downloads worldwide), arcade (with more than 42 million downloads in 2021) round out the list of favourite genres in the world, closely followed by strategy and sports titles (both genres with about 34, 7 million downloads each)

Most downloaded titles by continent

Territorial preferences remain in a line very similar to that of 2020. In Europe, the Fortnite battle royale ranks highest whereas, in North America, Tencent is the firm that occupies the first place with PUBG Mobile Lite, a preferred title also in Asia and Africa for its versatility and adaptation to very diverse devices.

However, in LATAM the throne is given to Free Fire, a position which Gacha Life occupies in Australia.

About Uptodown

Uptodown is an international platform for the digital distribution of applications specialized for Android, founded in 2002. Alternative and totally independent, this app store is based on the principle of respecting the privacy of the user, not being required to register and allowing software to be downloaded both from its own official app and through the web. It has a catalogue of more than 3.8 million apps, divided into thematic categories and hosted on its own servers, offering for each one an information sheet prepared by its team of editors and supplemented with the opinions of its users. Available in fifteen languages, it currently has 132 million active users worldwide, and facilitates more than 450 million downloads every month.