League of Legends: Wild Rift reaches lofty $1 billion across 111 million downloa | Pocket Gamer.biz

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Achievement Unlocked: League of Legends: Wild Rift Surpasses $1 Billion in Player Spending

Riot Games’ mobile sensation League of Legends: Wild Rift has achieved a monumental milestone, surpassing $1 billion in lifetime player spending. This remarkable achievement comes just three years after the game’s open beta, and less than two years since its full global release on October 8, 2021.

The latest report from data.ai reveals that Wild Rift’s player spending has reached this impressive milestone, taking into account earnings from the App Store and Google Play. This places Wild Rift among other esteemed mobile games, including Minecraft, Hearthstone, King of Avalon, and Pokémon Go, in the Unicorn Club of $1 billion earners.

data.ai’s report also highlights that Wild Rift currently holds the fourth position as the highest-grossing action MOBA game, surpassing competitors such as Onmyoji Arena and West Arena 2. Despite being released around the same time, Wild Rift has outperformed notable brands like Marvel’s Super War, Pokémon, and TiMi Studio’s Unite in terms of revenue generation, despite Unite having more active users in the first half of this year.

A Wild Ride

China has played a significant role in helping Wild Rift achieve its $1 billion milestone. From September 2022 to August 2023, China’s iOS market contributed the highest number of Wild Rift downloads. Vietnam and Brazil followed closely, contributing to a global player base of over 111 million.

In the first half of 2023, Wild Rift secured the third spot for the highest money grossed by an action MOBA, generating over $188 million within six months. Unsurprisingly, China also led in terms of consumer spending during this period, contributing a staggering $141 million. In comparison, the US accounted for only $8.2 million.

According to data.ai, Wild Rift’s success on mobile can be attributed to its platform optimization. The game has effectively adapted its core PC mechanics while incorporating touch-based controls and shorter matches, which are better suited for the portable medium.

Considering the immense growth of mobile gaming, which is projected to reach $108 billion in consumer spending in 2023 (2.7 times more than PC and Mac), Wild Rift’s achievement marks an exciting milestone in the ever-evolving landscape of mobile gaming.