August 2024 Mobile Game Advertising Review: Lilith's AFK Journey Tops Bestseller Charts in Several Asian Markets

The following analysis of mobile games marketing trends for August 2024 is based on advertising data from AppGrowing across 50 countries and regions, and 28 global media platforms.

In August 2024, the top three categories for mobile game advertising remained consistent: Casual, Casino, and Puzzle.

Casino saw continued growth in new launches, with its share of new apps nearly reaching 40%, making it the highest-ranking category for the month.

The top three categories in terms of ad volume were Casual, Puzzle, and RPG, reflecting a stable market structure similar to July.However, ad spend across all categories saw a month-on-month decline in August.

In terms of creative content, video remained the dominant format, though its share slightly decreased to 79.11%.

Most of the videos were within the 16-60 second range, with over 40% of the content falling into this duration category.

According to AppGrowing, 10 Chinese developers made it into the top 30 ad spenders for mobile game advertising in August.

Guru, specializing in casual games, and IGG, which focuses on mid-core to hard-core games, ranked third and fifth, respectively.

Overall, the top 30 advertisers were mainly composed of developers focusing on light-to-mid-core categories.

MONOPOLY GO! maintained its lead at the top of the chart, though its ad volume decreased by 9.19% compared to July.

IGG's Lords Mobile saw its ad volume rise by 20.56%, securing fifth place and making it the only hard-core game in the top five.

Additionally, two new MMORPGs from SP-Games entered the top 30.

最後的道長, a folklore-inspired RPG, ranked 13th and is currently available for pre-registration in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Singapore/Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Arcadia: Breath of the Land, an anime-style game that launched in multiple Western markets in August, ranked 14th.

Lilith Games' AFK Journey also saw a significant boost.

After its initial launch in Western markets earlier this year, the game expanded to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand in August, leading to a 126.2% increase in ad spend.

For the Google Play downloads in August, light-to-mid-core games dominated the rankings.

Only three hard-core games — Free Fire, PUBG MOBILE, and Football League 2024 — made it into the top 15.

鈴蘭の剣 from XD Inc. and Fishing Master from Tuyoo Games also saw massive growth in downloads, with their numbers increasing by 60,470% and 17,847.23%, respectively.

For pre-registrations, the August mobile game Store rankings were once again filled with anime-style games, such as Cardcaptor Sakura: Memory Key, 交錯戰線, and 異世界的魔王大人.

On Google Play, pre-registrations were mostly concentrated in Asian markets.

最後的道長 topped both the App Store and Google Play pre-registration charts, with Fishing Master from Tuyoo Games closely following, targeting the South Korean market.

Founded in 2013, Lilith Games began expanding internationally as early as 2015.

According to founder Wang Xinwen, after a U.S. company decompiled one of their games and found success in the U.S. market, Lilith realized that Chinese-designed games could succeed overseas, prompting them to pursue global expansion.

Using the AppGrowing " Top Publishers" tool, we see that Lilith continues to focus on Western markets while also paying increasing attention to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia.

Lilith's highlight product this year is the AFK Journey, a new IP under the AFK Arena brand.

Earlier this year, the game made headlines by topping the iOS free charts in 10 different regions across Western countries.

In August, AFK Journey launched in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand, quickly securing the top spot in South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau's bestseller charts, and breaking into the top 15 in Japan.

According to AppGrowing, Lilith began pre-registration in these regions as early as May, with ad spending ramping up as the game approached its launch in early August, peaking at over 2,000 ads per day.

AFK Journey distinguishes itself from AFK Arena by moving from 2D to 3D graphics while maintaining a stylistic and elegant art direction.

The game blends numerical card gameplay with vertical-world exploration, adding rich scene details and interactive elements to enhance the player experience.

In its advertising materials, AFK Journey emphasizes its stylistic art direction.

For example, one ad opens with cinematic camera movements to enhance narrative immersion, featuring the classic scene of a character walking away from an explosion, creating a "blockbuster" feel.

The ad then zooms in on multiple angles of the character to highlight the game's high-quality graphics. Finally, a dialogue between the characters invites players to download the game, building a personal connection.