Tencent Holdings Ltd., Tencent-owned Supercell Oy, and NetEase Inc. were named the top three largest global mobile app publishers based on revenue earned in 2016.

Japanese publishers grabbed the biggest share with 17 companies, followed by the United States with 16. China ranked third with 11 game publishers on the list.

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According to China Money Network, this year's top 10 ranking list was quite overhauled. Coming from the sixth spot in 2015, Tencent skyrocketed to the top. NetEase, on the other hand, snatched the third from the ninth spot, surpassing US-based Machine Zone Inc. and Activision Blizzard Inc.

Supercell, which maintained its top position in 2014 and 2015, slid down to the second spot on the latest ranking. Supercell Oy is the maker of hit games Clash of Clans, Hay Day, and Clash Royale. Niantic also made it to the top 10, thanks to the success of the widely popular Pokemon Go.

Other China-based publishers that made it to the list include Perfect World Co Ltd., Baidu Inc., and G-bits Network Technology Xiamen Co Ltd.

"As China's mobile market grows increasingly, we will see more Chinese publishers appear on the top publishers list than before," Dai Bin, regional director of App Annie in China, said.

"Now Chinese publishers' earnings are growing faster than the average in the globe."

The figures include paid downloads and in-app purchases on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. It did not cover the revenues earned from in-app advertising or subscriptions outside app store channels, App Annie, the mobile app data firm, noted. China's iOS revenue surpassed $2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016.

TagsTencent, Supercell Oy, netease, mobile app, Activision Blizzard