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Intelligence Top Mobile Games Challenges: A User Acquisition, Ad & Product Monetization Report

The mobile gaming landscape heading into 2025 is defined by the critical difficulty of performing within an increasingly crowded market space. Approximately 41% of user acquisition managers identify market saturation and rising costs per installment as their primary obstacles, driven largely by intense competition from non-gaming entities. This environment has forced a strategic pivot away from traditional acquisition tactics toward sustainable growth rooted in long-term retention and creative iteration. Consequently, the industry is transitioning from a focus on sheer volume to a model centered on maximizing lifetime user value through sophisticated engagement strategies. Ad monetization and product management sectors face parallel pressures, specifically regarding effective user segmentation and the declining value of electronic cost per mille (eCPM). While segmentation is the most widespread concern for monetization teams, senior executives are particularly focused on innovating new revenue streams to compensate for diminishing ad returns. In the realm of product management, LiveOps development and the accurate assessment of return on investment have emerged as the dominant priorities. Nearly 30% of product managers rank LiveOps as their most significant challenge, outweighing traditional concerns such as game economy balancing or initial prototype testing. To navigate these hurdles, the industry is moving toward data-driven personalization and revenue diversification. Success in the maturing mobile market now requires leveraging artificial intelligence for audience segmentation and expanding monetization models to include subscriptions and alternative storefronts. By moving beyond simple acquisition hacks and focusing on robust LiveOps and incremental growth through retention, developers aim to stabilize revenue in a volatile privacy-centric environment. This shift underscores a broader industry evolution where deep audience understanding and operational agility are the primary drivers of commercial viability.