May was another bustling month for the mobile market, marked by a wave of blockbuster new titles that shot up the ranks worldwide. One of the biggest launches to make a splash was Kuro Games’ Wuthering Waves, which sailed to the top 10 download ranks in the US and Japan. It didn’t quite have what it takes to break into the top spot, though, which instead went to Supercell’s highly-anticipated Squad Busters. Meanwhile, in China, attention was focused on Dungeon Fighter Mobile, a pocket-sized take on one of the highest-grossing online games ever made.
But it wasn’t just game launches that impressed last month; there were also some significant updates to existing titles. Both AFK Journey and Last War: Survival debuted their inaugural Season, with the latter’s Crimson Plague sparking a gradual surge in downloads that peaked at an astonishing increase of over 400%. Over in the world of battle royale, Free Fire pitted gangsters against agents in a new Outlaw mode that appeared to take heavy inspiration from Roblox’s Jailbreak.
There were some notable collaboration events, too. LEGO Fortnite celebrated Star Wars Day by launching an expansive new map area for players to explore, complete with its first-ever battle pass. Clash of Clans meanwhile joined forces with the Norwegian football star Erling Haaland, kicking off its latest season with a range of football-themed challenges, rewards, and other exciting additions.
Keep reading to learn more about the biggest updates, developments, and hottest new titles that were launched across the mobile market last month.
May’s casual mobile game updates
Matchington Mansion looked to Playrix’s Scapes series for its next match-up, introducing a merge2 minigame called Picnic Potluck that works almost exactly the same as a similar event type added to Homescapes in late 2022.
Picnic Potluck revolves around a closed, merge2 board where players must strategically combine different items to fulfill food orders and collect Merge Tokens – which move the player through a reward ladder that unlocks various goodies, including exclusive Delicious Dessert furniture decorations.
The mode features several mechanics that will be familiar to most merge game fans, such as the ability to use Merge Energy (which replenishes over time but can also be earned through regular gameplay or acquired through IAP) to generate more merge pieces for the board by tapping on Item Generators. There are also different merge chains, bubble piece offers, skipping timers, and a dedicated shop offering a variety of useful merge items.
While merge2 events like this are commonly encountered in more complex match3 games (especially those with a story-based meta), it’s rare to see them in heavy hitters like Royal Match, Candy Crush, and Toon Blast. These more popular titles typically target casual players, meaning they lean towards straightforward gameplay and simple, easy-to-understand event mechanics that don’t require a significant amount of resources to develop.
Meanwhile, Triple Match 3D added a new permanent win-streak system. Beating five main levels one after the other now activates a Meteor Strike that automatically destroys 21 junk items at the start of each new level. Once activated, the strikes continue until the player fails a level, encouraging them to invest in IAP – which includes continues and extra moves that help to ensure a streak lasts for as long as possible.
This loss aversion-based win streak system bears a similar logic to Royal Match’s Super Lightball, which resulted in a moderate uptick in revenues. Matchington Mansion Picnic Potluck Event
Merge Mansion’s Secret Supply minigame event swapped out the game’s usual merge grid for an arcade machine that combines elements of the casino and merge genres. Pulling the arcade machine causes one of several items to drop: when two or more matching items align, they merge and reward the player with points. Some items are worth more than others, so players must hope they’ll be lucky enough to get a valuable match.
Players are limited as to how much they can use the arcade machine. After so much use, the machine “overheats” and requires a Mystery Token to be reactivated. These tokens regenerate automatically after a certain period, although players can speed up the process through IAP.
While Secret Supply may motivate players who enjoy the thrill of chance and fast-paced action, it’s arguably less appealing to Merge Mansion’s core puzzle-solving audience.
As we touched on in our last bulletin, sticker collection events are appearing across more and more casual games following the success of Monopoly GO!. That trend seems set to continue, with Royal Match being the latest title to get stuck in.
Royal Match’s limited-time collection event is remarkably similar to Monopoly GO!’s implementation, with players collecting cards from packs earned from other events and chests awarded after completing meta-renovation areas. Each event iteration consists of multiple albums to complete (each requiring specific cards), with players unlocking an in-game reward for completing each album. Those who acquire every album also get a unique Royal Badge next to their name to show their achievement.
Interestingly, this isn’t Royal Match’s first experience with collection mechanics. This limited-time event actually replaces a previously permanent collection mechanic that had been in place for some time. In the old event, albums were simply unlocked after reaching specific levels in the main progression and weren’t time-limited, so there was less incentive to rush. The newer version also introduces the ability to donate cards to your friends, encouraging players to trade to complete their collections.
Additional casual game highlights and other news
Gakuen Idolmaster (学園アイドルマスター ) danced its way into the top-grossing 10 in Japan, peaking at the top spot for multiple days. In the game, players manage and train their own group of idols, building personal connections with each character through a story-driven experience built around high-quality visuals and cinematic concerts. It’s based on the popular Idolmaster multimedia franchise, renowned for its rhythm games and anime series.
Gakuen Idolmaster shares many similarities with Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (ウマ娘 プリティーダービー). Uma Musume dominated as the top-grossing game in Japan between 2021 to 2022 and continues to maintain a strong, sustained ranking around 15th place.
Another game that got Japan moving to the beat last month was Break My Case (ブレイクマイケース), which spent most of the month in the top-grossing 100 (peaking at 32). In this musical match3 game, matched icons disappear only when a line that’s synchronized to the beat passes through them. Each match also produces sounds that harmonize with the stage’s soundtrack. The game’s meta focuses on collecting and upgrading a roster of attractive male characters.
May’s midcore game updates
The 4X strategy game Last War: Survival launched its first-ever in-game season, The Crimson Plague, which will last approximately eight weeks. Each week reveals new world dynamics and milestones that reward all server players upon completion. All players and their allies were also randomly relocated to the edge of the world map at the start of the season.
One of the most interesting additions to these seasons is the Professional Hall, where players can view and study different professions and skills. For example, the Engineer can optimize production to boost resource efficiency and strengthen allies, while the War Leader can enhance troop combat effectiveness. Players need Professional EXP to level up their profession, earned by killing monsters, capturing cities, and upgrading buildings.
This first season also introduced several new approaches to in-game monetization, including a purchasable weekly subscription (including daily gifts and seasonal gameplay boosts) and two different task-based seasonal battle passes. This update, largely considered the biggest in the game’s history, caused a notable uptick in performance. Most notably, daily downloads began to spike on 23 May, peaking at a 400+% increase on 27 May.
But Last War wasn’t the only prominent mobile title to embrace Seasons in May. AFK Journey also launched its inaugural limited-time Season, Song of Strife, which will run until September. Similar to 4X strategy games, progress will be reset at the end of the season.
The season is only available to players who have maxed out their characters to level 240 and completed the main story, as well as all AFK Stages. It comes with seasonal upgrade mechanics, a new storyline, battle mechanics, tasks, and in-game purchases – including a battle pass, gachas, and a paid progression plan.
We’ve gotten used to heading to a galaxy far, far away each May, with numerous games launching collaboration events every year to celebrate Star Wars Day (4 May). This year’s intergalactic standout had to be LEGO Fortnite’s Rebel Adventure (playable through the main Fortnite App on all available platforms), which introduced an expansive new map area for players to explore based on the Star Wars universe.
In the new area, players are tasked with helping the Rebels settle in the world of LEGO Fortnite by collecting resources, building an Outpost, and defeating enemies found in “Imperial Bunkers.” The event added various new items, including building blueprints and iconic weapons (such as lightsabers and Stormtrooper’s blaster rifles). Many of these items are expected to remain available long after the event concludes.
The collaboration also introduced the first-ever LEGO Fortnite Battle Pass, the Rebel Adventure, which features a Free and Premium tier. Those who opt for the paid upgrade automatically receive a Chewbacca outfit and access to more cosmetic rewards.
Free Fire introduced the Outlaw mode, a limited-time PvP experience in which players must decide whether to be agents or gangsters. Both roles ultimately result in the player earning in-game currency, just in slightly different ways. Agents are tasked with apprehending gangsters, with each successful capture generating a reward, while gangsters aim to steal valuables and cash them in at designated points across the map.
Unlike most modes in Free Fire (and battle royale games generally), Outlaw is a neverending mode with no time limit. Players can leave the mode without penalty whenever they wish (taking any earned cash and unlocked vehicles with them) and jump back in at their leisure. The mode is very similar to one of the most popular Roblox games, Jailbreak.
With the UEFA Euro 2024 Championships on the horizon, Clash of Clans aimed to capitalize on the football fever by launching a major collaboration event with renowned sports star Haaland for its latest seasonal update.
Highlights included Haaland’s Challenge, a month-long event in which a new football-themed challenge map was unlocked every two days. The challenge maps had players engaging in battles to destroy a specially themed base using a pre-selected roster of units, unlocking exclusive football-themed decorations on completion. Challenge attempts were also ranked on competitive leaderboards, with gems (in-game currency) rewarded to the best players.
The collaboration also featured a limited-time battle pass, Clash with Haaland, which ran for 17 days and featured both a free and premium tier. Progression through the pass required Footballs, which could be obtained from a dedicated event building and by raiding players’ bases in multiplayer battles. The reward path contained goodies like limited-time troops (Giant Thrower), a limited-time spell (Yellow Card), currencies, boosts, and more.
It’s worth noting that, despite Haaland’s football fame (he was voted the best player in the world by The Guardian in 2023) and the numerous gameplay additions, the collaboration event didn’t appear to drive more revenue or downloads than past seasonal updates.
Additional midcore gaming highlights
Solo Leveling: Arise, an action RPG based on a popular Korean web novel, debuted in the top 10 in the USA and Japan. It’s since started to fall through the US ranks but continues to perform well in Japan. One of the most intriguing aspects of this game is the unique leveling system for the main character, which allows players to allocate points to desired stats after each level-up. Additionally, the game features two distinct combat modes: one exclusively for the main character and another where only side characters can be used.
There was much anticipation for the launch of Genshin Impact-like Wuthering Waves, and, as expected, it sent ripples throughout the market when it finally launched last month: the game rapidly rose to the top 10 download ranks in the US and Japan.
While the game shares several similarities with MiHoYo’s open-world monolith, it also has some unique mechanics that set it apart. For example, Wuthering Waves has a Pokémon-style monster-collecting feature (which also doubles as the game’s artifact system) where players can capture enemies and use them as skills. The combat also has a lot of depth, with each character offering distinctive gameplay mechanics.
It’s worth noting that many players have voiced concerns about Wuthering Waves’ leveling experience, with developer Kuro Games releasing an apology statement to try to address the situation. Players also received a free 5* character and gacha tokens as part of the apology, which seems to have prevented any detrimental effect on the game’s overall performance.
Squad Busters, Supercell’s latest game, finished its short soft-launch period and entered the global market at the end of May. The game brings together characters from all of Supercell’s titles into a squad-based PvEvP battle arena in which ten players compete to see who can acquire the most gems. It ranked number 1 in downloads and spent the first week in the top-grossing 10, although only time will tell how well the game will perform long-term.
Dungeon Fighter Online is one of the highest-grossing games ever made, generating more than 22 billion in revenue worldwide over its lifetime. So, when Tencent announced that it was working with Nexon to develop a mobile version of the game, expectations were naturally very high. The game finally launched on 21 May in China and features the same 2D side-scrolling action and RPG elements as the PC version. It appears to have hit the mark, currently resting at the top spot in both the grossing and downloads ranks in China.