Today, Newzoo released its updated ranking of Top 25 Public Companies by Game Revenues, comparing performance in the first half year of 2015 with the same period a year ago. The ranking is a result of Newzoo’s continuous financial analysis, which incorporates a detailed review of reported quarterly revenues of more than 60 public companies around the world. The top 25 public gaming companies generated almost $29 billion in the first half of 2015, an impressive $4 billion increase, or 16%, compared to the same period in 2014.

Tencent, the world’s largest games company, increased revenues by another 23% YoY to surpass $4.2 billion in the first half of 2015. This is mainly driven by higher monetization from core gamers on PC and by an array of new smartphone titles.

Sony, with an estimated game software revenue increase of 12% YoY to $2.4 billion, overtook EA for a top 3 position, just behind Microsoft. This is primarily due to a significant increase in revenues from PlayStation Plus and an increase in PS4 software sales (partially offset by a decrease in PS3 software sales).

Apple’s game app revenues increased an estimated 28% in the first half of this year, thanks to a strong performance in the Apple Store in China. Meanwhile, Google rose a spot to take #7, driven by the fast growing number of Android devices worldwide.

Of the top 25, only 6 companies saw decreasing revenues, mainly companies with maturing mobile games, such as King and GungHo.

Asian companies accounted for 48% of total revenues of the top 25 companies, slightly up from 47% last year.

NetEase’s revenues increased an impressive 55% YoY to an excess of $1.1 billion. Mobile games, such as Fantasy Westward Journey, as well as first-party and licensed PC games showed strong performance.

Take Two Interactive jumped 10 places to #15, a dramatic 79% YoY increase from last year, due to a strong performance of not only GTA Online, but also Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, a compilation of first-person shooters, showing the dramatic impact of finding titles other than a hit title to generate continuous revenues.

Mixi Inc. & Warner Bros Debut, Piercing the Top 15

Two new companies to the top 25: Mixi Inc. came in at #13. With the success of its mobile game Monster Strike, the company generated $754 million in the first half of this year, a staggering 586% increase from the same period in 2014. The company has seen an increase in revenues every quarter since late 2013.

The second company is Warner Bros. Though the company has been active in the games industry for a long time, it only recently began publishing its game revenues separately. The success of the Batman: Arkham series and Mortal Kombat resulted in a top 10 spot in the ranking.

Ubisoft & Gree Fall out of the Top 25

Ubisoft especially saw a decline compared to last year, mainly due to the absence of a hit title, compared to last year when WatchDogs was released in H1. The company earned $267 million in the first half of 2015, a 60% decrease from 2014. The traditional publisher is clearly struggling to adapt to the new business rules in the industry and soon might find itself grossing only a tenth of Electronic Arts’ earnings.

GREE saw a 27% decrease from last year ($351 million compared to $482 million), due to a drop in sales of both native mobile and web games.

Newzoo’s Financial Analysis and Global Data Model

Newzoo performs continuous financial analysis of public and private game companies. This is only one of many data sources that are fed into Newzoo’s global data model that powers its annual Global Games Market Report. Since 2013, Newzoo also provides a Premium version of this report that includes quarterly updates and datasets with the latest take gamer and revenue figures on a global, regional and local level. This service is now used by the majority of the top 25 companies featured in the Top 25 Public Companies by Game Revenues ranking. More information on Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report Premium is here.

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