GameRefinery Market Review: PUBG Mobile introduces user-generated content, and Street Fighter Duel becomes a top-grossing title in the US

The latest analysis by GameRefinery, A Liftoff Company, of the US, China, and Japan’s key mobile game markets, has just been released. GameRefinery analysts have picked their top updates from March for each country, including new releases, special events, and game updates.

Here’s what they found:

• PUBG Mobile celebrated its fifth birthday by adding a new custom game mode, in beta, World of Wonder (WOW), which follows in Fortnite’s footsteps by allowing the creation of user-generated content and custom PvP games. Only those who meet specific requirements (such as having a certain level of social media influence and map customization experience) are granted creation privileges.

• Survivor!.io added a beta version of local co-op to the game. Players can create a room using their IP address, and one player on the same router or mobile phone hotspot can join their match.

• Royal Match added a recurring event to its framework for the first time since September 2022. The new event, Lava Quest, is an intriguing mix of win streak/loss aversion mechanics that looks to have been inspired by the battle royale genre.

• Goddess of Victory: NIKKE added a cute dog-themed event, Bow Wow Paradise, which focuses on helping a new NIKKE character retrieve her runaway pack of dogs. The update propelled the game to the third spot in Japan’s top-grossing chart (and spot 44 in the US).

• A new title based on Capcom’s renowned fighting game franchise, Street Fighter, was one of the highest-grossing titles last month in the US. Street Fighter Duel is an idle RPG character collector game with an auto-battle core.

• Lingxi Games now has two top-10 4X strategy titles in China following the launch of Three Kingdoms Warchess. Besides a new grid-based battle system, the title is remarkably similar to the developer’s previous game, Three Kingdoms Tactics.