Mobile reports and market data
Documents
Guide to Growing Chinese Gaming Apps Overseas
The "Guide to Growing Chinese Gaming Apps Overseas" analyzes strategies for Chinese mobile game developers expanding into international markets.
- Video advertising is the most effective monetization channel for Chinese developers in mature markets, currently yielding a 21% Day 7 return on ad spend.
- Generative AI is being deployed at scale to automate the production of localized ad creatives, voice-overs, and performance-tested copy to reduce costs and speed up regional market entry.
- Long-term player retention is increasingly driven by integrating social hangout spaces, customizable home systems, and minigames into core gameplay loops.
Interactive Entertainment: Global Market Sizing & Forecast 2025
The interactive entertainment market is projected to reach $250.2 billion in consumer spending by 2025, reflecting a 4.6% year-over-year growth, signaling a recovery driven by the transition to next-generation experiences and devices.
- The global interactive entertainment market is projected to reach $250.2 billion in 2025, marking a 4.6% year-over-year recovery.
- Software publishing remains the dominant revenue driver at $196 billion, with mobile gaming leading the sector at $115.7 billion despite rising user acquisition costs.
- The console hardware sector is in a significant downturn, evidenced by a 31% decline in revenue during 2024 as the current cycle concludes.
The State of Video Gaming: 2025
The video game industry is currently navigating a period of significant stagnation and transformation following a decade of robust growth from 2011 to 2021, which saw revenues surge by 150% to $196 billion.
- The video game industry is undergoing a structural correction characterized by a 12% decline in real-term content spending following the post-2021 plateau of previous growth engines.
- Market polarization has intensified as AAA production budgets reach $500 million, causing revenue and engagement to concentrate within established franchises while crowding out new releases.
- Chinese developers have significantly expanded their global footprint, increasing their share of non-domestic content spending from 0.5% to 12.5% over the last 13 years.
The State of Puzzle Games: An Analysis of the Puzzle Category in Mobile Gaming
This report analyzes the mobile puzzle game category, leveraging Sensor Tower's updated Puzzle Taxonomy to examine revenue and download trends across various sub-genres from January 2018 to June 2023.
- The hybridcasual puzzle model experienced a 430% revenue increase between early 2022 and early 2023, signaling a major shift in market structure.
- Hybridcasual revenue in the 'pair' sub-genre grew from $7 million in Q1 2022 to $40 million in Q1 2023.
- Traditional casual puzzle games are experiencing modest declines in both downloads and revenue despite maintaining overall market share through robust meta-features.
Match-3 Genre Snapshot Report: May 2021
This report provides a snapshot of the Match-3 puzzle genre in May 2021, analyzing top-performing titles, emerging trends, and player motivations.
- Candy Crush Saga remains the market leader with a 16.74% share and a revenue per download (Rev/DL) of $11.27 as of Q1 2021.
- Project Makeover demonstrates the most aggressive growth in the sector, capturing a 10.57% market share with a high-premium monetization strategy yielding a $45.51 Rev/DL.
- Modern match-3 success is driven by fast-paced core loops, quick animations, and progression systems integrated with home or makeover themes, as seen in titles like Royal Match and Project Makeover.
Japan Game Market Insights 2025
"Japan Game Market Insights 2025" analyzes the dynamics of Japan's gaming industry, highlighting its unique position as a high-value, mature market.
- 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.
Mobile Gaming Benchmarks 2025
The "Mobile Gaming Benchmarks 2025" report provides a comprehensive analysis of key performance indicators within the mobile gaming sector, drawing on data from 11,600 games and 1.48 billion monthly active users in 2024.
- Retention is the primary driver of long-term engagement, revenue, and user acquisition ROI across the 11,600 titles analyzed.
- Average session lengths have decreased, with top-tier games averaging 8–9 minutes and median-tier games averaging 5–6 minutes.
- Midcore titles lead in engagement frequency, generating six to seven sessions per day.
Hyper-Casual Games – Industry Snapshot 2020
This industry snapshot analyzes the hyper-casual games market in 2020, focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs) across various sub-genres.
- Hyper-casual developers should target a day-one retention threshold of approximately 40% early in the development cycle to ensure viability.
- Timing games lead the sector in day-one retention at roughly 44%, while traversal titles demonstrate superior long-term engagement with day-seven retention near 41%.
- Monetization performance varies significantly by sub-genre, with ARPPU ranging from $18 for physics-based games to $42 for timing titles, despite conversion rates remaining consistently below 1%.
Mobile Growth and Monetization Report 2023
The "Mobile Growth and Monetization Report 2023" analyzes trends in the mobile gaming industry, focusing on in-app purchases (IAPs) and in-app advertising (IAA) during the latter half of 2022.
- 77% of players who make in-app purchases convert within the first two weeks, with the highest conversion efficiency achieved by pricing initial offers between $1 and $5.
- Offerwalls contribute approximately 33% of total ad revenue and can increase day-7 to day-120 player retention by up to fivefold.
- Multi-reward offerwall campaigns generate 60–82% of conversions and can yield up to $68 per completion, while delivering an average of $4.68 per converted user.
The Gaming App Insights Report: 2025 Edition
The "Gaming App Insights Report: 2025 Edition" examines the state and future trajectory of the global mobile gaming market, asserting that while the sector is experiencing significant growth in revenue and player base, it faces evolving challenges in user acquisition and retention.
- Mobile gaming is projected to generate $126.1 billion in 2025, capturing 49% of total global gaming revenue compared to console (28%) and PC (23%).
- Global ATT opt-in rates reached 37.9% in Q1 2025, with arcade titles showing significant growth from 42.4% to 59.3%.
- Advertising efficiency improved in 2024 as median cost per install fell from $0.38 to $0.36, while click-through rates increased from 7% to 9%.
Target. Connect. Engage: Driving Profitable App Growth with Revenue-Boosting Strategies
The document, "Target. Connect.
- Integrating AppsFlyer’s measurement suite with TikTok’s advertising ecosystem enables brands to maximize ROAS through real-time attribution and privacy-compliant user acquisition.
- Case studies demonstrate significant performance gains, including a 7x ROI for Burger King, a 44% conversion lift for Casas Bahia, and a 29% increase in in-app revenue for Carrefour.
- App marketers should prioritize App Event Optimization (AEO) and Value-Based Optimization (VBO) to focus advertising spend on high-value user actions.
Mobile Gaming M&A Playbook: How to Identify and Target High‑Growth Gaming Companies
The mobile gaming industry is experiencing unprecedented growth, with player revenue projected to reach $138 billion by 2025, up from $80 billion in 2020.
- The mobile gaming market is projected to reach $138 billion by 2025, driving significant M&A activity as publishers seek to diversify portfolios and acquire new talent and intellectual property.
- High-profile acquisitions demonstrate the scale of industry consolidation, including Zynga’s $2 billion purchase of Peak Games and EA’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Glu Mobile.
- Effective target identification requires a data-driven approach using platforms like Sensor Tower to track specific genre trends, revenue trajectories, and regional market share.
Writers
Games and companies
Games