The 20 Most Popular Gacha Games of May, 2023

It’s that time of the month – New Gacha games rise.. and new Gacha games fall. Some might surprise you. Some might not.
Hey, my name is Stix and welcome back to your monthly recap of how your favorite Gacha games are doing on a month by month basis. These stats are purely Mobile – and do not include PC stats for reference.

Last month, Uma Musume dethroned Genshin Impact as the #1 Gacha game in the world. This month, Genshin Impact took back its crown, with a worldwide revenue of $95 million dollars and 3.8 million new players. Soon there will be more players playing Genshin than there are people in the world. This is up from last month’s $90 million dollars.
At #2 we have Honkai: Star Rail.
Now I’ll admit right out the gate – Star Rail would easily be the #1 highest grossing most downloaded Gacha game in the world for the month if it didn’t only have a week’s worth of earnings to base this off of, but in a short 6 day period, Honkai: Star Rail averaged $42 million dollars in revenue and over 30 million players.
HoYo have now successfully dominated the genre with 2 of the most popular Gacha games in the world.
#3 is once again occupied by Fate/Grand Order, which has pretty much secured itself the #3 spot every month for the entirety of 2023 thus far, with $35 million dollars in revenue, and 200,000 new downloads. This is up quite significantly from last month’s $25 million dollars.
NIKKE takes the #4 spot – something haters would’ve told you was impossible 6 months ago, earning $25 million dollars and 300,000 new players. Absolutely crazy numbers, although down slightly from last month’s $30 million dollars.
Uma Musume has secured the #5 spot – down from the #1 spot last month, with $25 million dollars in earnings and 60,000 new players. Those are still absolutely insane numbers given this game still remains pretty much a Japan exclusive.
Blue Archive has taken the #6 spot – maintaining a top 10 spot every month since this year began, with $13 million dollars in revenue and 200,000 new players. This is down slightly from last month’s $14 million dollars, but by no means a sign of decline.
#7 somehow goes to Raid: Shadow Legends, with a whopping $16 million dollars in revenue and 700,000 new players. This is down from last month’s $18 million dollars. I don’t know how this continues to make it into the top 10 – I played 15 hours of it and it was the least free to play friendly Gacha I’d ever played.
The #8 spot goes to Summoners War, with $14 million dollars in revenue and 260,000 new players. This is on par with last month’s $14 million dollars – surprisingly not boosted by the recent release of Summoners War Chronicles, which didn’t even make the top 10 this month.
Coming in at #9 is Arknights, finally breaking back into the top 10 – just barely, with $11 million dollars in revenue and 200,000 new players. This is slightly down from last month’s $12 million dollars. Arknights is my favorite Gacha game and I’m glad to see it make its way back into the top 10.
Dislyte makes #10 here for the first time in.. well, forever, I think? With $11 million dollars in revenue and 1.2 million new players. This is up significantly from last month’s $2 million dollars.
These are absolutely phenomenal numbers, showing that the game has reached a second wind. Or a massive event that has been marketed to millions of people in a short time-frame.
#11 is taken by Diablo Immortal, with $11 million dollars in revenue and 400,000 new players. This is on par with last month’s $11 million dollars, and goes to show that the game has achieved a very stable income and rate of new player acqiusition. Somehow.
At #12 we see Project Sekai, with $11 million dollars in revenue and 200,000 new players. This is down quite a bit from last month’s $15 million dollars, but still crazy numbers given there isn’t a single person I know that actually plays the game.
Heaven Burns Red comes in at #13, a Japanese exclusive somehow managing to earn $9 million dollars and 100,000 new players, which is down by over half from last month’s $20 million dollars. Nevertheless, absolutely crazy numbers for a single-region release.
Marvel Snap, another Gacha I’ve never heard anyone play takes the #14 spot, with $9 million dollars in revenue and 800,000 new players. Mostly kids, probably. This is down from last month’s $10 million dollars.
#15 is secured by AFK Arena. A title I guarantee you never saw coming, with $9 million dollars in revenue, and 400,000 new players. This is up from last month’s $7 million dollars. Can you believe an AFK Gacha brings in more money than Honkai Impact 3rd and Tower of Fantasy combined?
Summoners War Chronicles managed #16, with $7 million dollars in revenue and 900,000 new players. Unbelievably high rate of new players comparatively to the earnings, which are down from last month’s $8.2 million dollars.
Dragon Trail: Hunter World – a Gacha I’ve never actually heard of took the #17 spot, with $6.4 million dollars in revenue and 400,000 new players. This is down from last month’s $8 million dollars. Evidently, the game is incredibly popular, I just somehow never knew of its existence.
Memento Mori comes in at #18, and is arguably a Gacha nobody ever expected to have the lasting power it has, with $6.4 million dollars in revenue and 70,000 new players. Down from last month’s $8 million dollars but still higher than almost every other popular Gacha game, somehow.
Fire Emblem: Heroes takes the #19 spot, with $5.6 million dollars and 20,000 new players only. This is up from last month’s $5 million dollars, and proof that the Fire Emblem franchise can thrive in any genre.
And finally at #20, we have Street Fighter: Duel, with $5.5 million dollars in revenue and 510,000 new players. This is down from last month’s $11 million dollars, but given the state the game and company is in right now, it’s not unexpected. On the contrary, I’m surprised it still made so much.

This was quite the interesting month. Honkai: Star Rail launched, and has arguably already made hundreds of millions of dollars across every platform combined, dethroning Genshin and becoming the fastest growing Gacha game in history. I’m curious the effect it’ll have on Honkai Impact next month, honestly.
We saw Tower of Fantasy not even make the top 20 – being bested by idle RPGs that don’t even require playing, continuing its trajectory into obscurity one month at a time.
Punishing Gray Raven barely made $2 million dollars, but with its PC release on May 15th we may see a significant boost next month. Other releases like Higan Eruthyll made a mere $1.8 million dollars in its launch month, Echocalypse and Demian Saga both made less than a million dollars.
Admittedly, there has been a decent shift in the genre in the last month and I’m glad to see it. Competition is always important.