State of the Mobile App Market: 2025

The mobile gaming market experienced a period of stagnation in 2025, characterized by marginal revenue growth and a continued decline in user acquisition. According to data from Sensor Tower, global in-app purchase (IAP) revenue reached $81.75 billion, representing a modest 1.3% increase over 2024. Simultaneously, total game downloads fell by 7.2% to 50.4 billion, marking the second consecutive year of contraction. Despite these headwinds, total engagement remained stable, with players logging 444.63 billion hours, a slight 0.9% rise from the previous year.

Market concentration remains a defining feature of the industry, as the top 1% of publishers accounted for 92.5% of total IAP revenue and 79.8% of all downloads. Financial success was heavily skewed toward high-performing titles, with 828 games generating over $10 million in revenue, 134 exceeding $100 million, and nine titles surpassing the $1 billion threshold. Tencent, Scopely, and Century Games emerged as the leaders in IAP revenue, while Azur Games, Miniclip, and Onesoft dominated in download volume.

Category performance varied significantly throughout the year. Mid-core games maintained their position as the primary revenue drivers, generating $44.68 billion, while hybrid-casual projects emerged as a growth segment with a 20% increase in IAP revenue to $4.2 billion. Conversely, hyper-casual games continued to lead in total downloads. Retention metrics also signaled ongoing challenges, as seventh-day retention rates for top casual games declined to 14.9% by December 2025, while mid-core titles performed better at 20.9%. These findings underscore a maturing market where growth is increasingly dependent on high-value titles and established publishers rather than broad-based expansion.