Recap of the Week

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang FT recorded the most notable ranking gain in this week’s Top 50 mobile game revenue chart, climbing 13 places from #41 to #28. Estimated revenue also increased from USD 14,853 to USD 19,542, up approximately 31.57%, during the week when Mobile Legends: Bang Bang officially launched its 10th anniversary campaign.
Vietnam welcomed Thương Lam Cảnh Giới, the local release of Tales of Erin, while Tam Quốc Chí – Chiến Lược introduced its Binh Diễn Xuân Thu content and Play Together VNG rolled out Update 2.31 featuring a new Magic Academy theme.
Vietnamese esports recorded several notable milestones. Domestic media reported on August 31 that Team Secret Whales had won the LCP 2026 championship after defeating CTBC Flying Oyster 3–0, while the PMPL Vietnam Fall 2026 Grand Finals took place offline in Hanoi from September 4–6 and concluded with Team Flash taking the title.
On the business front, Vietnamese studio Skylink Studio announced a strategic partnership with PvX Partners through a growth financing program of up to USD 12 million, aimed at scaling User Acquisition and global game publishing.

Market & Game Performance

Dynamic ranking: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang FT climbs 13 places to #28

AppMagic data this week shows relatively limited movement across Vietnam’s Top 50 mobile game revenue ranking compared with the previous week. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang FT was the only title to climb by at least 10 positions, while no game met the Revenue Spike threshold of 100% growth and no New Releases entered the ranking under the Dynamic Ranking criteria. [1]

Among titles returning to the Top 50, two store listings were recorded: Thế Giới Hoa Viên Của Tôi and Summoners War – Funtap.

Rank Spike: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang FT climbs 13 places

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang FT moved from #41 to #28, a gain of 13 positions, with estimated weekly revenue reaching approximately USD 19,542. Compared with USD 14,853 in the previous week, revenue increased by around 31.57%. [1]

The increase coincided with the launch of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s global ALL IN MLBB campaign on September 4, marking the game’s 10th anniversary. According to MOONTON Games, the campaign opened with the 10th Anniversary Celebration Pass on September 4, offering rewards including a new Epic skin for Nana, an Epic Skin Selection Chest, and other anniversary content. [2]

At the same time, the Vietnamese listing of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang FT on Google Play continued to run the MLBB × Jujutsu Kaisen collaboration event through September 11, featuring four collaboration skins and a 50% discount on the first draw of each day. [3]

The overlap between the anniversary campaign and the ongoing collaboration event may have helped create additional reasons for players to return and more monetization touchpoints during the week. However, AppMagic data only reflects overall revenue movements and does not attribute revenue to individual events, making it impossible to determine the specific contribution of each activity to the 31.57% increase.

From a LiveOps perspective, the case illustrates the value of layering content over time: an ongoing collaboration can be followed by a major anniversary campaign to maintain engagement momentum. For games already in a mature stage of operation, continuously creating new reasons for players to return can be just as important as adding core gameplay content.

Back-to-top: Two listings return to the Top 50

Two listings from games released more than three months ago returned to the Top 50 after ranking outside it in the previous week:

Thế Giới Hoa Viên Của Tôi on Android rose from #51 to #45, with estimated revenue of around USD 14,798.
Summoners War – Funtap rose from #58 to #50, with estimated revenue of around USD 13,014. [1]

For Thế Giới Hoa Viên Của Tôi, AppMagic tracks the platforms as separate listings. Since the game’s iOS listing remained in the Top 50 in both weeks, the #45 result should be understood as the Android listing returning to the ranking, rather than the title as a whole leaving and re-entering the Top 50.

Overall, this week saw no revenue increases above 100% and no new wave of recent releases entering the ranking. Movement was instead concentrated among existing live titles, making this week more characteristic of LiveOps and player reactivation than a new launch cycle.

New Releases & Major Updates: Thương Lam Cảnh Giới launches as LiveOps continues to refresh established titles

Tales of Erin returns to Vietnam as Thương Lam Cảnh Giới

On August 31, Thương Lam Cảnh Giới officially launched in Vietnam under VLG Play. The publisher’s official website identifies it as one of VLG Play’s first titles in the domestic market, while Google Play lists the Vietnamese version under VLG PLAY JSC. [4]

On September 3, GameN also reported that the title marks the return of Tales of Erin, an anime RPG that previously built a community among Vietnamese players through its international servers. The local version continues to feature character collection, team building, and tactical combat within the world of Erin. [5]

Unlike introducing an entirely new IP to Vietnam, relaunching a title with some existing recognition may allow a publisher to benefit from an established level of awareness and community familiarity. However, that advantage also comes with expectations from players who experienced the earlier version.

The post-launch challenge will therefore depend more heavily on local operations, community management, and LiveOps. Existing IP awareness can reduce some of the initial barriers to discovery, but converting that recognition into long-term retention and spending will still depend on the quality of local market operations.

Tam Quốc Chí – Chiến Lược expands strategic depth with Binh Diễn Xuân Thu

On September 5, Tam Quốc Chí – Chiến Lược introduced its original Binh Diễn Xuân Thu content to international servers. The update centers on a new Troop Transformation system, featuring 16 troop types and a total of 1,296 possible combinations under the announced design. [6]

The update also introduces 40th Anniversary Lữ Bố, designed by Koei Tecmo to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms franchise and made available free to players who log in during the launch period.

For a long-running SLG, a fundamental change to the troop system potentially has greater impact than a short-term event or the addition of a single new character. Expanding the range of possible formations can create more room for theorycrafting, encourage players to reassess existing lineups, and refresh the meta.

From a LiveOps perspective, the notable point is that the update focuses on strategic depth rather than simply adding more content to consume. For long-running strategy games, systems that change how players make decisions can be an important tool for sustaining engagement among core users.

Play Together VNG turns its school into a Magic Academy in Update 2.31

On September 3, Play Together VNG released Update 2.31, transforming the school area into a Magic Academy and launching a series of events running through September 17. [7]

The update connects several activities around the same theme. Players can learn magic, battle the Dark Wizard, Fallen Troll, and Dark Dragon, collect materials, craft items, and unlock the Wizard Owl pet, uniforms, and brooms. Two new classes, Stacking Magic Books and Preparing Magic Ingredients, have also been added.

Rather than introducing individual features separately, Update 2.31 creates a themed LiveOps loop connecting quests, combat, collection, crafting, minigames, and cosmetics within the same period.

For long-running social simulation games, packaging multiple mechanics around a shared theme can make new content easier to discover while giving players several different reasons to return. It is a notable LiveOps approach for titles that do not rely primarily on competitive gameplay.

Esports & Community

Esports Highlights & Tournament Updates: Vietnam claims a regional title as PMPL returns to the offline stage

Team Secret Whales reported as LCP 2026 champions

On August 31, Vietnamese media reported that Team Secret Whales had won the League of Legends Championship Pacific 2026 after defeating CTBC Flying Oyster 3–0 in the Grand Final held one day earlier in Taipei. [8]

The championship capped a standout year for Team Secret Whales, with the organization securing all three LCP split titles and qualifying for all three international tournaments of the 2026 season.

From a market perspective, the achievement carries significance beyond the result of a single team. A Vietnamese organization competing for and winning a title at the Asia-Pacific level strengthens the competitive credibility of the country’s esports ecosystem.

For publishers and brands, international success can also increase the media value of teams, players, and competitions as marketing assets. The ability to generate compelling narratives on the regional stage can make Vietnamese esports more attractive for partnerships extending beyond the domestic market.

Team Flash defends its title at PMPL Vietnam Fall 2026

From September 4–6, the 2026 PUBG Mobile Pro League Vietnam Fall Grand Finals took place at Tương Mai Sports Hall in Hanoi with 16 competing teams. It marked the first time in four years that a PMPL Vietnam final had returned to an offline format with a live audience. The tournament concluded with Team Flash taking the championship. [9]

Team Flash finished the Grand Finals with 223 points, including 121 elimination points, successfully defending the title it won in the Spring 2026 season. Together with runner-up DE Esports, the team earned the right to represent Vietnam at the 2026 PMGO SEA Finals Season 2 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The return of offline esports adds a layer of value beyond livestreaming: fans can interact directly with teams and creators, while publishers and sponsors gain additional inventory for activations, booths, product experiences, and community activities.

Combined with Team Secret Whales’ regional success, Vietnamese esports demonstrated two parallel strengths this week: competitive performance at the regional level and the ability to build direct community experiences in the domestic market. Both contribute to expanding the commercial value of esports beyond tournament results alone.

Industry & Business Developments

Featured Vietnamese Studios & Growth Financing: Skylink Studio secures access to up to USD 12 million in growth financing

On September 4, Skylink Studio announced a strategic partnership with PvX Partners through a growth financing program of up to USD 12 million, aimed at scaling User Acquisition and global game publishing. [10]

According to Skylink, the financing will be used to expand international UA campaigns, accelerate publishing and commercialization for games that have demonstrated potential, continue experimenting with new game categories, and invest further in talent, technology, and data systems. The studio currently operates a portfolio including Tile Pyramid, Tile Bloom, Tiles 2D, Tile Candy, Ocean Tiles, and Snake Go, while expanding into titles such as Jigsaw Art and Way Escape.

Importantly, this should not be interpreted as a conventional USD 12 million equity funding round. Skylink describes PvX as a platform using a data-driven, cohort-performance-based financing model, with the program providing access to up to USD 12 million.

The model is particularly relevant to mobile gaming because UA often requires substantial working capital: studios pay upfront to acquire users while revenue from those cohorts is recovered over time. Once unit economics become sufficiently predictable, performance-linked financing can help studios scale more quickly without relying entirely on equity dilution.

For Vietnam’s game ecosystem, the Skylink case also suggests that studio competitiveness increasingly depends not only on the ability to build games, but also on combining data, UA, publishing, and capital to scale products globally. This is an important trend to watch among Vietnamese studios pursuing a global-first strategy.