Last War
Game
Documents about Last War
Cracking the 4X Code: First Fun and RiverGame’s Billion-Dollar Strategy
The mobile 4X strategy genre has undergone a significant evolution driven by the partnership between developers First Fun and RiverGame.
- First Fun and RiverGame’s flagship title, Last War: Survival, scaled from $15 million in annual revenue in 2023 to over $1.1 billion in 2024.
- The partnership between First Fun and RiverGame was formalized in 2021 when First Fun acquired a 42% stake in RiverGame, leveraging their shared professional history at ELEX Technology.
- The companies have successfully deployed a replicable 4X development formula, resulting in them holding three of the top 10 grossing 4X games as of January 2025.
Cracking the 4X Code: Billion Dollar Strategy (2.5gamers x @GameMakersDev crossover)
The 4X strategy genre has undergone a significant transformation, evolving from traditional, complex simulations into a highly efficient, data-driven ecosystem dominated by a new generation of titles.
- Modern 4X game success is driven by 'genre mashing,' where developers layer hyper-casual mechanics (like those in Frozen City or Legend of Mushroom) onto traditional 4X engines to lower high user acquisition (UA) costs.
- The 4X genre has shifted from simple reskins to complex multi-core gameplay, with titles like 'High Seas Hero' integrating three distinct gameplay layers to maximize engagement and retention.
- Aggressive UA strategies are now defined by massive creative volume, with top-performing studios like the developers of 'Dark War' managing up to 600 pages of ad creatives to optimize performance.
Top 10 Worldwide Mobile Games by Revenue and Downloads: January 2025
The mobile gaming industry experienced a robust start to 2025, with global consumer spending on the Apple App Store and Google Play reaching $7.27 billion in January, a 4% increase over the previous month.
- Global mobile game consumer spending reached $7.27 billion in January 2025, a 4% increase from the previous month, with the U.S. accounting for 29.8% of total revenue.
- Honor of Kings became the top-grossing mobile game globally in January 2025, nearly doubling its monthly revenue through Lunar New Year events, IP collaborations, and new skin releases.
- Tencent dominated the top revenue rankings, securing four of the top five spots with Honor of Kings, Game For Peace, CrossFire, and Teamfight Tactics, largely driven by performance in the Chinese iOS market.
Top 10 Worldwide Mobile Games By Revenue and Downloads: December 2024
The mobile gaming industry experienced a robust performance in December 2024, characterized by a 5.1% month-over-month increase in global consumer spending, which reached an estimated $6.98 billion.
- Global mobile game consumer spending reached $6.98 billion in December 2024, a 5.1% increase over the previous month, with the U.S. accounting for 31.8% of total revenue.
- Last War: Survival became the top-grossing mobile game globally in December 2024, driven by a Christmas event and aggressive user acquisition spending on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
- Pokémon TCG Pocket secured the #2 spot in global revenue following its late November 2024 launch, generating over $390 million in total gross revenue to-date.
Japan Game Market Insights 2025
The analysis demonstrates that Japan’s mobile gaming sector has reached a mature equilibrium, with download volumes stabilising after 2020 while in-app purchase (IAP) revenue continues to grow, largely driven by high-spending iOS users.
- Domestic publishers maintain a dominant market position, capturing roughly one-third of total downloads and over 50% of all in-app purchase (IAP) revenue in Japan.
- Anime-style intellectual property remains the primary revenue driver, accounting for 42% of total IAP revenue between January and July 2025.
- Mobile action and strategy titles accounted for 63% of total digital advertising spend during the first half of 2025.
Week in Mobile Games E40 - Games industry trends 2024 review
The mobile gaming industry experienced a notable return to growth in 2024, with Google Play net revenue rising 5.3 percent to $54.6 billion during the first eleven months of the year.
- The top 10 list of new mobile game releases in 2024 was dominated by Asian developers, with no Western companies releasing a new game in the top 15 except for Supercell's Squad Busters at rank 14.
- New game entries into the top 10 mobile charts decreased in 2024 compared to 2023, which saw four major new titles, whereas 2024 saw only one major new entry, Dungeon and Fighter Mobile.
- Cross-platform play is shifting from a niche feature to a necessity, with titles like Infinity Nikki allowing users to transition seamlessly between mobile and console experiences.
Top 10 Worldwide Mobile Games By Revenue and Downloads: November 2024
The mobile gaming industry experienced a period of relative stability in November 2024, with global consumer spending across the Apple App Store and Google Play reaching $6.54 billion, a marginal 0.05% decrease from the previous month.
- Global mobile game consumer spending reached $6.54 billion in November 2024, a marginal 0.05% decrease from the previous month, with the U.S. accounting for 32.3% of total revenue.
- Tencent’s Honor of Kings remained the top-grossing mobile game globally, while Pokémon TCG Pocket emerged as the second-highest-grossing title and the leader in revenue growth.
- Garena Free Fire maintained its position as the most downloaded mobile game globally with over 25 million downloads in November, bringing its lifetime total to 1.78 billion.
Week in Mobile Games E38 - Xbox and Adjust mishandle their PR and Supercell's culture revolution
Microsoft’s strategic pivot toward a proprietary mobile store has encountered significant friction, exacerbated by a U.S. court decision to pause Google Play remedies and a widely criticized communication strategy.
- Supercell is abandoning its traditional small-team structure in favor of a dual-model approach that integrates larger live-game teams and formal management to combat creative stagnation.
- Microsoft’s attempt to launch a proprietary mobile store is facing significant setbacks due to a U.S. court decision pausing Google Play remedies and a poorly received communication strategy that alienated key partners.
- Mobile measurement firm Adjust is undergoing internal instability following abrupt leadership changes and workforce reductions, allowing competitors like Singular to capture market share and talent.
From Gameplay to Marketing: Inside Last War — The Mobile Game Winning Over Japan and the US
Last War: Survival Game has emerged as a significant success in the mobile gaming sector, achieving top-ten-grossing status in both the United States and Japan.
- Last War: Survival Game has achieved significant cross-market success, generating $212M in revenue from the US and $135M from Japan since its August 30, 2023 release.
- While the US has nearly three times the active users of Japan, Japan exhibits higher monetization, with an average revenue per monthly active user (ARPMAU) of $31 compared to $12 in the US.
- The game utilizes a 'bait-and-switch' mechanic where ads feature hyper-casual 'run' gameplay to lower acquisition costs, before transitioning players into a mid-core strategy experience after a five-minute onboarding session.
Age of Empires Mobile: Nostalgia Meets Modern Gaming (ehm, modern 4X strategy games)
Age of Empires Mobile serves as a strategic pivot for the classic real-time strategy franchise, transitioning the brand into the competitive landscape of modern 4X mobile gaming.
- Age of Empires Mobile launched globally on October 16, 2024, and quickly reached a daily revenue of approximately $500,000, though it has since experienced a slight downtrend.
- The game currently maintains a daily download rate of roughly 50,000, which significantly trails established 4X titles like Whiteout Survival and Last War, which continue to clock 200,000 to 250,000 daily downloads.
- The title functions primarily as a 4X strategy game that utilizes the Age of Empires brand as a skin, incorporating various mini-games—such as fishing and Vampire Survivors-style combat—to drive engagement.
Top 10 Worldwide Mobile Games By Revenue and Downloads: October 2024
The mobile gaming industry experienced a mixed performance in October 2024, characterized by a slight contraction in consumer spending alongside a notable increase in global download volume.
- Honor of Kings remained the top-grossing mobile game globally in October 2024, achieving a 10% month-over-month revenue increase driven by its ninth-anniversary event.
- Global mobile game consumer spending reached $6.55 billion in October, a 0.7% decrease from the previous month, with the U.S. accounting for 31% of total revenue.
- Worldwide mobile game downloads grew by 4.8% month-over-month to 3.9 billion, led by India, which contributed 670 million downloads or 17% of the global total.
Creative Trends in Mobile Games - September 2024
The mobile gaming landscape is currently defined by a strategic shift toward high-production creative assets and the aggressive integration of hyper-casual mechanics into more complex genres.
- Market leaders like Royal Match and Last War are reducing cost-per-install (CPI) metrics by 30% to 50% by utilizing high-production creative assets and altered gameplay advertisements.
- The mobile gaming industry is increasingly adopting a hybrid-casual model that blends high-fidelity, Pixar-style CGI with familiar, iterative gameplay loops.
- Developers are systematically repurposing legacy mechanics from classic titles such as Zuma, Coin Dozer, and Helix Jump to refresh gameplay through asset swapping.
Companies behind it
As the documents state it.