Online game company Mobile Premier League (MPL) this week released a new study in which it reveals a trend in the reviews of some of the most popular mobile games: That is, that many of the gamers who play these titles are not happy with the in-game advertising. Players may have similar negative reactions to things like updates and technical problems, but the distribution of their positive and negative sentiments may reveal different sentiments in different game approaches. .

For its research, MPL selected the top 5 most downloaded games from Google Play as identified by the AppRadar 2024 report, and then analyzed the 75,000 most relevant user reviews of the games . An MPL spokesperson summed up the general sentiment of these reviews in a statement, “The data reveals that the number of downloads does not necessarily correlate with player satisfaction. Games with the same entering the market may have distinctly different player sentiment profiles.”

As an example of different player feelings, the report shows different player reactions to in-game monetization, and Candy Crush Saga shows a huge spike in negative sentiment, with many reviews specifically calls out the annoying ads. While many other games show a similar dissatisfaction with ads, the further mention of those ads in the game suggests that gamers are unhappy with that particular monetization model.

The report shows that players reacted equally strongly to other issues in the game, with Talking Tom reviews being positive for the game while Ludo King showed more negative mentions. Similarly, reviews of Subway Surfers show a high number of positive reviews that mention in-game updates, while Free Fire players show negative sentiment towards them.

It is worth noting that players who have had negative experiences and impressions of a game may be more inclined to leave a review than those who have had more lukewarm or pleasant-but-unremarkable experiences. But the MPL report is an interesting snapshot of player satisfaction and engagement that goes beyond download numbers.