User Acquisition reports and market data
Documents
Session: How To Steer Players To Your Webshop (Without Breaking the Rules!) - Archie Stonehill.
The primary objective for mobile game developers is to successfully transition players from in-app environments to proprietary web shops, thereby bypassing traditional platform fees and increasing net revenue.
- Developers can leverage the 2021 Epic Games versus Apple and Google litigation outcomes to communicate alternative payment options and bypass traditional platform fees.
- Driving web shop adoption requires a multi-channel strategy that integrates non-commercial features like loyalty programs and daily rewards into the core game loop to incentivize migration.
- To maintain app store compliance, developers must avoid direct links to payment pages within the app and instead use pre-authenticated links to facilitate a seamless user experience.
Session: Revealing Winning Patterns From 500+ Top Game Creatives Of 2024 - Brijesh Bharadwaj.
The analysis of over 500 top-performing mobile game creatives from 2024 identifies specific, data-driven patterns that drive user acquisition across the puzzle, strategy, and simulation genres.
- Across both puzzle and strategy genres, 70% of top-performing creatives utilize a 'distress' theme, where a character is shown in a life-threatening or negative scenario that the player must resolve.
- Puzzle game ads frequently use 'IQ meters' to signal progression, with 55% of winning creatives incorporating these elements to challenge the viewer's intelligence.
- Strategy game ads perform best when using 'hold' or 'survival' mechanics as hooks, even if these mechanics are not core features of the actual game.
Session: Winning With Whales: How To Get, Retain & Monetize Them.
The primary objective of this analysis is to outline effective strategies for attracting, retaining, and monetizing high-value players, commonly referred to as whales, within the mobile gaming industry through the use of dedicated web shops.
- Whales represent a significant revenue driver for web shops, with an average spend of $847 per user and an average of 17 repeat purchases per month.
- Web shops should prioritize high-value, exclusive content that is difficult to obtain in-game, as whales consistently prefer added value over simple discounts.
- Direct communication channels—such as dedicated community managers and closed Discord channels—are essential for fostering the exclusivity and premium treatment that whales expect.
Session: The Web Gaming Renaissance - Rafael Morgan & Rabia Dincer, CrazyGames
The web gaming sector is currently experiencing a significant renaissance, driven by technological advancements, shifting developer needs, and a desire to bypass the rising costs and restrictive environments of traditional mobile app stores.
- Web gaming is experiencing a resurgence driven by high organic search visibility, zero user acquisition costs, and the ability for players to access games instantly via links without installation.
- CrazyGames has doubled its user base over the past two years and currently supports a developer community of over 3,000 creators.
- The integration of in-app purchases via Xsolla, alongside traditional ad models, has become one of the fastest-growing revenue streams for web game developers.
Session: State Of Gaming - Alyssa Paramo, Sensor Tower
The global mobile gaming market experienced a return to growth in 2024 following a period of contraction in 2022 and 2023.
- The mobile gaming market is increasingly top-heavy, with revenue growth driven by evergreen titles over five years old—such as Candy Crush, which saw its largest year ever—making it significantly harder for new entrants to gain market share.
- While total gaming downloads declined by approximately 6.6% year-over-year on iOS and Google Play, overall in-app purchase revenue grew, indicating that publishers are successfully focusing on better monetizing existing user bases through live ops.
- Hybrid-casual games emerged as a high-growth segment, recording a 37% increase in revenue, even though they still represent a small portion of the total market at 3% to 4% share.
Growing in a Mature Market with Josh Wilson, CEO of SciPlay
The mobile gaming industry currently faces a period of stagnation, necessitating a strategic shift from aggressive user acquisition toward operational efficiency and long-term retention.
- Developers should establish proprietary web shops to bypass platform fees, increase profit margins, and regain control over customer relationships in a mature market.
- The period between late November and mid-February, known as Q5, is a critical window for growth due to higher consumer leisure time and lower user acquisition costs.
- Sustainable profitability requires shifting from aggressive, high-churn monetization to building interconnected game networks that prioritize long-term player retention and cross-pollination.
Screwdom 3D Is PRINTING MONEY! 💸 Vietnam’s Game Devs Just Raised the Bar
Screwdom 3D represents a significant evolution in the hybrid-casual gaming landscape, demonstrating how Vietnamese developers are successfully scaling sophisticated puzzle titles.
- Screwdom 3D is a hybrid-casual title generating approximately $3.6 million in monthly revenue, split roughly 40% from in-app purchases (IAP) and 60% from ad revenue.
- The game utilizes a physics-based core mechanic where players must manipulate and 'wiggle' 3D objects to clear levels, drawing design inspiration from titles like Screw Jam and Pinout Master.
- Despite being in a scaling phase with limited penetration in the US market, the game is achieving significant traction in Tier 2, 3, and 4 countries, with daily IAP revenue reaching approximately $200,000.
DC Dark Legion - Lets Play
DC Dark Legion, a mobile 4X strategy title developed by FunPlus, represents a high-stakes attempt to integrate the DC Universe intellectual property into a genre currently dominated by titles like State of Survival and those from competitors like Century Games.
- FunPlus has seen its mobile strategy market share drop from a 15% peak in 2020–2021 to approximately 5% as competitors successfully pivoted to more accessible, casual-friendly monetization models.
- DC Dark Legion is experiencing a rapid post-launch revenue decline, mirroring the performance trajectory of other recent strategy titles like Age of Empires.
- The game suffers from a disjointed design that fails to integrate its Fallout Shelter-style base building, squad-based RPG mechanics, and 4X exploration into a cohesive experience.
How to win at Steam Next Fest (2025 data)
Steam Next Fest functions as a high-stakes algorithmic filter that disproportionately rewards titles with established momentum.
- A minimum of 2,000 wishlists is required prior to the event to achieve the algorithmic visibility necessary for top-tier performance.
- Steam Next Fest functions as an amplifier for existing momentum rather than a debut platform, meaning developers must treat the event as the culmination of prior marketing efforts.
- The first 48 hours of the festival are critical for algorithmic placement, necessitating high-quality capsule art and a demo released months in advance to capture immediate engagement.
How Mobile Gaming’s Solitaire Giant Shuffled Its Strategy and Won Post-ATT
MobilityWare’s strategic evolution serves as a blueprint for mobile gaming studios navigating the restrictive post-App Tracking Transparency (ATT) landscape.
- MobilityWare achieved a 21% increase in click-through rates and 38% growth in its US-based iOS user base by shifting from granular user acquisition to a privacy-centric framework post-ATT.
- Studios should adopt 'cost weighted by retention' as a primary performance metric to balance the need for scale with long-term player value in a privacy-restricted environment.
- Successful measurement in a fragmented landscape requires a Single Source of Truth (SSOT) model that synthesizes probabilistic data with Apple’s SKAdNetwork to overcome measurement delays.
Top Girl meets Last War! Last Z: Survival Shooter review
Last Z: Survival Shooter represents a significant evolution in the mobile 4X strategy genre, functioning as a hybrid model that merges the established mechanics of titles like Last War: Survival with highly suggestive, character-driven engagement loops.
- Last Z: Survival Shooter is a new 4X mobile title from the developers of Last War: Survival, currently scaling to approximately $300,000 in daily revenue with 50% of earnings originating from the U.S. market.
- The game utilizes a proven 4X template established by Last War: Survival and Dark War, focusing on optimized onboarding sequences and high-retention mechanics to lower User Acquisition (UA) costs.
- Developers are aggressively integrating 'waifu' and AI-generated character tropes, including an 'OnlyFans-style' chat and image system that monetizes user interaction through energy consumption and per-message fees.
Summarizing Sensor Tower's Latest State of Mobile Gaming Report
The 2025 State of Mobile Gaming report provides a comprehensive analysis of the global mobile gaming landscape, focusing on performance trends throughout 2024.
- While mobile gaming download volumes declined in 2024, primarily driven by a slump in the casual games sector, total consumer spending increased, signaling that monetization remains robust for successful titles.
- Rising cost-per-install (CPI) metrics, exacerbated by Apple’s 2021 App Tracking Transparency changes, have forced developers to shift focus from launching new titles to optimizing legacy games through improved live ops and in-game events.
- Strategic use of intellectual property (IP) and transmedia integration, such as the synergy between the 'Arcane' Netflix series and 'League of Legends' mobile titles or 'Fallout' media and 'Fallout Shelter,' significantly boosted revenue and downloads.