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Royal Mach Hits a New High With $6B User Spending

Royal Mach Hits a New High With $6B User Spending 🚀 Last week we discussed the Top 10 Puzzle Publishers and noticed how Dream Games quickly climbed up to the 5th place. All thanks to Royal Match! 👑The game added one more billion in user spend in just 4 months 🤯 Royal Match overtook Candy Crush Saga in June 2023, becoming the Match-3 revenue leader—and hasn’t given up the top spot since. In April 2025, it continued to dominate, outperforming Candy Crush by 14% in monthly revenue🥇In the beginning of the year, we highlighted that the game started maturing. It followed the path of previous market leaders like Gardenscapes and Project Makeover, focusing on monetization and LiveOps. That’s reflected in its RpD—up 17.3% YoY, reaching $15.6 in April 2025. Learn more about approaches Dream Games used in our report.And have […]

Andrei Zubov May 20

Highlights

Wooga Hit by Layoffs as Claire’s Chronicles: Solitaire Gets Canceled

50 Layoffs precisely. Berlin-based Wooga has quietly cancelled its upcoming title Claire’s Chronicles: Solitaire, leading to a wave of layoffs across the Playtika-owned studio. Claire’s Chronicles: Solitaire had been in soft launch since October 2024. 50 departures on spanning roles in art, design, economy, production, and data. The cancellation marks another shift in direction for the June’s Journey and Pearl’s Peril maker, which saw a leadership transition earlier this year. Former Youda Games GM Dennis Korf stepped in as Managing Director, following a handover from longtime MD Nai Chang. This isn’t the first time Wooga has shelved a major game. Late last year, Chang shared about lessons learned from the studio’s earlier misfire, Switchcraft, and the challenges of innovating under Playtika’s umbrella. Meanwhile, parent company Playtika just reported record Q1 revenue of $706M—buoyed in part by its SuperPlay acquisition—but saw […]

Gamigion May 20

Journal

Full event gated behind a one-time payment.

💰 Spotted in MONOPOLY GO! — a full event gated behind a one-time payment. The Shield Ventures event offers dice rewards and a grand prize, but only if you pay to unlock it. Likely part of an A/B test. Not my favorite approach, but if the rewards feel worth it, maybe it converts well.

Michael Kopelovich May 20

Journal

Interesting twist on daily goals in Cake Sort by Lion Studios.

🎯 Saw an interesting twist on daily goals in Cake Sort by Lion Studios! Before starting the week, players get to choose their daily XP goal, and the rewards scale up based on how many days they stick with it.✅ Flexible goals📆 Progress resets weekly🎁 Bigger chests for longer streaksI’ve seen this goal-setting approach before in Coin Master and Travel Town — but usually in limited-time live-ops events, not in daily or weekly task systems.Nice mix of personalization and retention — and the UI keeps it light and motivating.

Michael Kopelovich May 20

Highlights

11 tips for Killer UA operations (Q2 2025)

Here we go again! The previous UA killer articles were super successful, so I started writing a UA killer tips segment. I will keep sharing these tips; don’t worry. Keep reading the tips to improve your UA. They are simple, practical, and efficient! That’s it, no bullshit and brutally honest! No fluff intro, straight to the point. 1. When should we start Applovin as a channel? I often get the following questions: When should we start? Is it a good channel? Are we ready? First, we must ensure that our in-app purchase volume is strong enough for the algorithm to optimize effectively. We aim for at least 10–15 unique purchases per day. We can do a quick math exercise to determine if we're ready using our D7 cost per purchase (CPPD7). For example, if our CPPD7 is $800, then multiplying that […]

Matej Lancaric May 20

Journal

Puzzle & Dragons “0” launches in May!

Puzzle & Dragons "0" launches in May! 😮 Its predecessor is an absolute juggernaut.• 7.3B gross revenue • WW RPDs over $100 🧠 💥Staggering.That said, the revenue trend has been slowly negative since IDFA deprecation in April 2022.It ONLY made $43M (net) in Q1... so I suppose its a good time for a reboot.Anyone else looking forward to playing this one? 🤠Revenue data from AppMagic 🪄✨

Matthew Emery May 20

Journal

What’s Wrong With Reviver:Butterfly?

Just stumbled on this game “Reviver: Butterfly” in the Game of the Day section on the App Store recently. There was a short article about it: The article made me feel curious. The art style is so unique for these days. Point-and-click quest, with a time travel twist. Managing not only locations, but different timelines. I loved the design and the story. The whole experience is so different from the majority of games I see today in the top charts. It’s like a breath of fresh air. But who are these brave developers? CottonGame, the developer behind Reviver: Butterfly, was founded in 2013 in Shanghai. They’ve carved a niche in the world of atmospheric, story-rich indie games — especially on mobile. Their past works include the quirky Mr. Pumpkin Adventure, the haunting Dad’s Monster House, and the philosophical Isoland series. […]

Michael Khripin May 19

Highlights

Supersonic’s SuperPitch: Studio Speed-Date?

Pitching games & Standing out in Hybrid-casual? Just sat down with my dear friend Guy Yogev from SuperSonic. Sharing our Studio Speed-Date chat with you since I find it valuable for the studios. 🤟🏻 Anyone not knowing them? From Trash Tycoon to Screw Master, Supersonic has already published 130+ Games, hit 190M+ MAU, and racked up 6.4 Billion installs. What's SuperPitch? They're opening the door to just 8 studios, a live pitch session where selected teams will present their games and get real-time expert feedback. As a part of the TEAM, let’s hear from THE GUY. SuperPitch happens June 16. 🧩 What’s the quickest way to lose your audience during a game pitch? Guy: Complexity kills. We’ve seen hundreds of decks. The ones that win us over get to the point fast. Your pitch should scream “this is the fun” […]

Gamigion May 19

Journal

Economy Diagramming Using Figma & AI

𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗠𝗬 𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗜𝗚𝗠𝗔 & 𝗔𝗜 Every game/economy diagram worth its salt contains a +Power ↔ +Action slide. It says 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, but usually it’s not enough to understand what the hell is going on. Like traditional economic modeling, diagramming clarifies uncertainty by revealing a game's internal structure or “wiring.” It forces a simplification of assumptions, and, like the effect of understanding the world from a Mercator projection map, the diagram itself shapes one's understanding of reality. The most valuable economy diagram anchors in player action, where currencies play a secondary role. All diagrams start with either spending time or money: the two raw ingredients that all output derives from in games. Each further step is an action-driven refinement of the last stage. Along the way, usually deriving from the final production step, is a “final” good. This is ultimately what […]

Phillip Black May 19

Journal

Top Grossing Publlishers 2025

Choosing the right publisher is still an important task for game studios in 2025. Here are quick tips: I would look for the following before I startany conversation with publishers:1- Hybrid Casual games with IAP revenue know how,2- Amount of recent downloads on sub genres,3- Amount of new games released.This will kick off the conversation with theircurrent and future strategy on games.Also, this makes you see if your current game(s)align with what they are trying to scale.For example:1- If you are good with puzzles, Rollic;2- If you make arcade idles, SayGames;3- If you have "different" games, Voodoo;4- If you are somewhere between, Homa;Would be an ideal start for discussions.Of course, you cant be sure before you talk.Big publishers always have different plans...

Gökhan Üzmez May 19

Journal

Word Search Explorer reaches $163k/day in Ad Revenue!

🇮🇳Word Search Explorer reaches $163k/day in ad revenue🤑 Word Search Explorer by PlaySimple Games from India 🇮🇳 has been shaking up the highly competitive and stagnant word category. In the last 30 days, it’s been downloaded 8.2 million times (1 million US 🇺🇸 downloads) and grown to 3 million daily active users. Word Search Explorer's active user base is now the same as category-leading Words of Wonder by Fugo Games. 🤓Word Search Explorer uses clever level design to keep users engaged for longer session times. As the game has no fail state, progression is controlled by how many words users have to find in each level. Generally, levels alternate between boards that contain 56 letters and 42 letters. A 42-letter level follows a 56-letter level to keep users engaged. 📈Word Search Explorer, compared to other word games, starts showing interstitial […]

Felix Braberg May 19

Journal

Color Block Jam is the most successful new puzzle in 2025.

Color Block Jam is the most successful new puzzle in 2025. • $44M lifetime revenue• 33M downloads• +17,000% growthSo what’s the game?A colorful 3D puzzle in the block & slide subgenre.• Move blocks to their matching exits• Blocks block each other (pun intended)• Limited time, logic-based challenges• Swipe or drag-and-drop controlsIt’s like LEGO meets logic meets urgency.What makes it work?1. Onboarding is light. Just a quick tutorial. Then it’s all player-led discovery.2. Progression is smart. 12 intro levels, then menu loop, regular new mechanics, harder levels.3. Monetization blends ads + in-apps: • Watch ads to earn coins • Spend coins on boosters • Buy infinite lives, coins, and boostersPopular boosters include:• Freeze Time• Hammer• Vacuum• +20s post-boosterThis game competes with big names:• Farm Jam (animals)• Traffic Escape (cars)• Block Blast (Tetris-style)But stands out with minimal UI, 3D clarity, and spatial […]

Anton Slashcev May 19

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