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Report
65 pages
The State of AAA Game Advertising: A Look Back on the Biggest Launches and Trends of the Past Year
AAA advertising shifted heavily toward new title launches in 2023, which accounted for 50% of total ad spend compared to just 20% in the previous year.
YouTube remains the dominant advertising channel at 35% of total spend, though marketing budgets are increasingly diversifying into TikTok, Instagram, and OTT services to leverage short-form video engagement.
High-budget marketing is no longer the sole path to success, as titles like Lethal Company and PalWorld achieved millions of sales through viral gameplay and creator-driven interest with minimal ad investment.
Advertising
Market Analysis
Global
+2
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
65 pages
The State of AAA Game Advertising: 2023 Review
In 2023, AAA publishers shifted toward launch-focused campaigns, with new releases accounting for 50% of all top-tier advertising expenditure.
While YouTube remains the primary advertising medium for PC and console games, publishers are increasingly diversifying their media mix by integrating Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram to target specific demographics.
Strategic platform-based partnerships, such as deep Xbox branding and hardware collaborations, are now essential for anchoring major titles within broader ecosystem strategies.
Market Analysis
Advertising
Marketing
+3
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
41 pages
PC/Console Gaming Index: A Look at the Top Games, Publishers, and Platforms in 2025 So Far
Steam leads the 2025 PC and console market with 450 million downloads and a projected $12 billion in premium revenue, representing a 15 percent year-to-date increase.
Premium purchase models remain the primary revenue driver, accounting for 79 percent of Steam's income and 83 percent of PlayStation's earnings.
Steam outperforms console competitors in user acquisition, recording 450 million downloads compared to 376 million for PlayStation and 283 million for Xbox.
Market Analysis
Global
PC
+1
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
47 pages
How to Prepare Your Live Ops for the Holiday Season
Implement a series of short-term, 1-to-3-day events to generate immediate spikes in player engagement and session frequency.
Structure holiday content as a 'soft-sawtooth' difficulty curve that alternates between periods of challenge and respite to maintain player momentum.
Integrate holiday events directly into the core gameplay loop to ensure they feel like natural extensions of the existing experience rather than disruptive additions.
Live Ops
Monetization
Player Behavior
+2
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
29 pages
Sensor Tower India: Mobile Game Market Insights 2025
India is the world's largest mobile-gaming market by volume, recording 8.45 billion downloads in FY 2024-25 but generating only $400 million in in-app purchase (IAP) revenue.
Monetization is heavily concentrated in competitive, engagement-heavy genres including Shooter, Casino, and Strategy (4X), while high-volume downloads are driven by casual Simulation, Arcade, and Tabletop titles.
The player base is predominantly male (86%) and aged 18-34 (77%), though lifestyle titles represent a unique segment for attracting female gamers.
Market Analysis
Mobile
India
+1
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
71 pages
State of AI Apps Report 2025
Generative AI applications experienced explosive growth in H1 2025, reaching 1.6 billion downloads and $1.2 billion in in-app purchase revenue.
Revenue growth significantly outpaced adoption, with a 200 percent increase in in-app purchase revenue and a 67 percent rise in downloads compared to H2 2024.
The user base is heavily skewed toward younger males, with approximately 60 percent of users being male and nearly 70 percent under the age of 35.
Market Analysis
AI
Monetization
+2
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
37 pages
Starfield: How It Achieved 10M Players
Starfield reached 10 million players at launch, marking the largest release in Bethesda’s history despite a competitive RPG market.
The marketing campaign utilized a $21.2 million advertising budget, the second-highest in the RPG category for 2023.
Over one-third of the total advertising budget was allocated to Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming services, reflecting a strategic shift toward high-impact digital distribution.
Market Analysis
Player Demographics
Marketing
+2
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
37 pages
SensorTower Report: Southeast Asia Mobile Game Market Insights 2025
Southeast Asia generated 1.93 billion new mobile game installs and $625 million in in-app purchase revenue during Q1 2025.
Casual genres like Arcade and Simulation drive the highest download volumes, while Strategy, Shooters, and social-driven RPGs account for the majority of monetization.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Garena Free Fire remain the region's top revenue-generating titles, though newer IPs like Ragnarok M: Classic and Magic Chess: Go Go are rapidly gaining market share.
Market Analysis
Mobile
Southeast Asia
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
39 pages
Playing to Win: 2025 Digital Game Advertising Report
Global digital gaming advertising expenditure reached $8.7 billion in 2025, with major publishers like Microsoft and Dream Games utilizing aggressive spending to maintain market share.
The industry has shifted its primary success metric from sheer download scale to engagement quality, despite a year-over-year decline in total mobile and PC downloads.
Roblox continues to bypass traditional external advertising, generating 187 billion visits through organic traffic and internal discovery mechanisms.
Advertising
Market Analysis
Global
+1
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
29 pages
Souls‑likes: From Niche to Mainstay
The souls-like genre has shifted from indie-dominated to AAA-led, with AAA and AA publishers now accounting for over 70% of estimated units sold on Steam.
Chinese gamers represent approximately 47% of the global souls-like audience, significantly outpacing the United States at 15% and Germany at 5%.
APAC developers have surged to control roughly 80% of the genre's development share as of 2025, building on a foundation established by Japanese studios.
Market Analysis
Player Demographics
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
29 pages
Mobile Game Market Insights: India 2025
India is the world's largest mobile gaming market by volume, recording 8.45 billion downloads in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Despite high download volume, in-app purchase revenue is limited to $400 million, though it is growing at 8.5% year-over-year due to increased digital payment adoption and high-value iOS spenders.
Revenue is heavily concentrated in core competitive genres, with Battle Royale titles like Garena Free Fire and Battlegrounds Mobile India accounting for 50% of total market earnings.
Market Analysis
Monetization
India
+1
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
Report
32 pages
Hybrid Casual Games Playbook
Hybrid-casual games are outperforming hyper-casual titles, with 5 billion downloads in 2022 (a 3% increase) compared to a 15% decline in hyper-casual downloads.
Hybrid-casual games achieve significantly higher retention, with day-30 retention at 54% (vs. 42% for hyper-casual) and day-60 retention at 9% (vs. 1%).
Revenue is split evenly between ads and in-app purchases, with session lengths averaging 372 seconds, which is 160 seconds longer than hyper-casual benchmarks.
Market Analysis
Game Design
Monetization
+1
Sensor Tower
Jan 2025
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