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Top 10 Hybrid Casual by Revenue

TOP 10 HYBRID CASUAL# 3 WEEK, MAY, 2025 Hey Hybrid Maniacs! 😜The newcomer to the Top 10 list in the third week of May is “Epic Plane Evolution”. 💫Published by Voodoo and developed by Walk Talk with Heseri Games, “Epic” is an arcade flight simulator with a typical clicker economy.This blend makes requests for video rewards go through the roof. 📈💵With an easy hyper-style mechanic, “Epic” makes players want to see the whole plane. ✈️This drives monetization. 💰My proudest moment. 🤩💖 I mentioned “Epic Plane Evolution” in my Releases and Transfers List for the fifth week of September 2024. 💝Other highlights.“Kingdom Clash” comes back to the list. ⚔️🔛It’s an excellent strategy game published by Azur with a deep meta.Last but not least, “Screwdom” jumped to second place for the first time.Yes, Screw Puzzles are still on fire! 🔩 🔥Don't want […]

Carlos Pereira May 23

Journal

Thread vs Screw: How Wool Sort Stands Out in the Screw Puzzle Subgenre

Thread vs Screw: How Wool Sort Stands Out in the Screw Puzzle Subgenre 🤔 A new type of the Screw Puzzle hit our Top Trending with 2M installs in May alone. Wool Sort swaps screws for threads—but that’s just the start. Let’s see how it stacks up against its closest reference, Screw Jam 👇1️⃣ GenreWhile Wool Sort beats Screw Jam in daily installs (180k vs 75k in the peak), its IAP revenue is much lower ($2.6k vs $211k in the peak). It clearly follows a Hypercasual model driven by ads.2️⃣ Core Gameplay 🔩Screw Jam offers short, progressively harder levels and a “limited lives” system to boost retention and drive early purchases.🧶Wool Sort opens with tougher levels to spark a sense of achievement and maximize rewarded ad views, though this might hurt long-term retention.3️⃣ Meta Systems🔩Screw Jam features light city-building: players […]

Andrei Zubov May 23

Highlights

RevenueCat raises $50M: Monetizing Mobile Amid AI Boom

RevenueCat, now the backbone of over 70,000 subscription-based mobile apps, just announced a $50M Series C to level up its mission: helping developers make more money, faster. Founded in 2018 as a side project by Jacob Eiting and Miguel Carranza, RevenueCat started as a simple tool to manage in-app subscriptions. Today, it's handling billions in payments and is used by 1 in 3 new subscription apps. Now valued at $500M, the company plans to go far beyond subscriptions. Why It Matters: New funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures (with support from Index, YC, and others) $100M total raised 2,000+ devs already testing RevenueCat’s web billing engine, now a serious Stripe/Chargebee contender CEO Jacob Eiting says: “We want to build the most important software company for apps—by a mile.” What’s Next for RevenueCat: Web billing: After the Apple-Epic ruling, devs […]

Gamigion May 23

Highlights

8 Steam Games That Could Inspire the Next Mobile Hit

The Mobile Ad Monetization Newsletter #23 As the competition in mobile games continues to grow. We’ve noticed an interesting trend. Did you know that some of the most successful mobile games of 2024 and 2025 were actually copies or heavily inspired by Steam games? Check out this list of 8 Steam games that could likely become the next hit on mobile. Schedule I: Kicking off our list is what looks like the biggest game of Steam Q1 2025. This drug empire simulator could really capitalize on the "supermarket simulator" trend, but with a drug twist. Its strategic depth and management elements make it a prime candidate for mobile adaptation. FlyKnight: Staying in the first-person view, we have FlyKnight, an old-school RPG dungeon crawler with intriguing insect visuals. (Though we're already considering the CPIs might be too on this one!). Its concise gameplay […]

Felix Braberg May 23

Highlights

Safety and Fairness in Gaming: PlaySafe ID Secures €1M

PlaySafe ID, a platform designed to safeguard gaming communities by blocking cheaters, bots, and predators, has raised €1 million ($1.12M) in pre-seed funding. The startup’s mission is to bring accountability and fairness to gaming without compromising user privacy. The funding round was led by Early Game Ventures, joined by Hartmann Capital and Overwolf. The investment will support PlaySafe ID’s expansion efforts and integrations with major gaming platforms, with a goal of reaching over 250,000 users in the near term. “This funding allows us to scale quickly, grow our elite team, and work with developers committed to creating safer game environments,” said CEO Andrew Wailes. He noted the urgency of tackling cheating and child safety, especially as new regulations like the Online Safety Act come into play. Andrew Wailes is CEO of PlaySafe ID. PlaySafe ID provides an anonymous, verified digital […]

Gamigion May 23

Journal

Solo Game Dev in 2025: From Peloton to Reinventing Fitness

Discover how a solo developer combined fitness tracking with RPG gameplay and leveraged AI and deep community engagement to power a unique approach to gamified fitness. What if your heart rate powered your RPG battles? Josh Singer, a former Peloton engineer and solo dev, built Cardio Quest, a fantasy game in which exercise fuels gameplay. In this conversation, we discuss what it takes to build an ambitious solo project that blends fitness, games, and AI and how Josh is trying to create a whole new genre from scratch. What you'll take away: How to validate, pivot, and build a solo game with real user feedback The technical and emotional challenges of launching without a team or funding How AI tools like MidJourney and Eleven Labs are transforming solo game dev https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Diko5FtcCF0&ab_channel=GameMakers 🎮 Solo Developer Builds Fitness RPG with Apple Watch & […]

Joseph Kim May 22

Journal

Top Steam Games that can go Mobile!

Steam Scanner #1 📡 aka "Full Steam Ahead" 🚂 is a new podcast segment, where we look at latest Steam games, that could translate well into mobile soon. Similarly how we saw games like Supermarket Simulator. Come check 12 new games that we found 😎 ▪️ Starting the list with Schedule I, which is the biggest game of Steam Q1 2025. This drug empire simulator could continue on the Supermarket trend, but with a much "different" twist 😅. ▪️ R.E.P.O., being another Q1 success, continues the trend of coop scary games like Lethal Company. ▪️ Staying in the first person view then we have FlyKnight, an old school RPG dungeon crawler, with interesting insect visuals. (ehm, CPI 😅). ▪️ Nubby's Number Factory could really elevate the plinko style genre, through rogue lite mechanics that work so well on mobile. ▪️ […]

Jakub Remiar May 22

Journal

Mobile Live Ops Game Metrics

Monopoly GO! passed $5 Billion in revenue! Thats state of the art "live ops" right there! Can you learn from it though? When it comes to Live Ops, Things can get complicated.You can simply start with these though:Avoid:✧ Rushed first time user experience,✧ Early game paying player conversion,✧ Real money centered game economy,✧ Copy paste linear content.Focus:✦ Absolutely flawless new user experience,✦ Proven core game mechanic,✦ Day 1-7-30 retention focus content,✦ Fun but challenging progress.

Gökhan Üzmez May 22

Journal

What even is LiveOps, why does it matter so much?

What even is LiveOps — and why does it matter so much? If you work in game development, you've probably heard the term thrown around.But LiveOps isn’t just a buzzword.It’s a full-stack strategy that separates stagnant games from those that evolve, engage, and monetize long after launch.It’s the engine behind:- Retention that compounds- Monetization that scales- Content that players actually come back forAnd yet... most teams don’t have a clear, shared understanding of what LiveOps really involves.So I broke it down — from team structure to tooling, analytics, segmentation, events, offers, and more.👇 Here’s a complete visual breakdown of the LiveOps ecosystem — built for both product leads and hands-on practitioners.

Michael Khripin May 22

Journal

Nut Sort hit 3M monthly downloads.

Nut Sort hit 3M monthly downloads. On paper, it outperformed Magic Sort.But in reality?Magic Sort is miles ahead in monetization, LiveOps and player value.Here’s why download numbers don’t tell the whole story:𝟭. 𝗪𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 & 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 🎯• Nut Sort focuses on the character — not the win• Magic Sort makes the reward the hero• Magic Sort shows win streaks and completed levels• Nut Sort doesn’t even show the level numberPlayers need feedback to feel progress.Magic Sort delivers. Nut Sort doesn’t.𝟮. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 💹• Nut Sort has no clear goals or meaningful rewards• Magic Sort builds momentum with regular rewards and chapter unlocksProgression drives retention.Without it, players drop off fast.𝟯. 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗨𝘀𝗲 💲• Nut Sort’s coins? Only for background customization• Magic Sort’s coins = boosters + continuesPlayers want value from their in-game currency.Magic Sort gives them reasons to spend.𝟰. 𝗧𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀, 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 […]

Anton Slashcev May 22

Highlights

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick: Mobile is now more than 50% of our business

Mobile now brings over 50% of the company’s net bookings. The Zynga deal was a strategic move aligned with Take-Two’s long-term focus on mobile. Highlighting that broader distribution is beneficial, expanding into markets like India & Africa. In a recent appearance on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick highlighted the rising significance of mobile within the company’s long-term strategy. He noted that mobile now contributes to over half of Take-Two’s net bookings. Zelnick pointed to the Zynga acquisition—made nearly three years ago—as a key step in this direction, stating it was driven by the growing importance of mobile. “Today, mobile accounts for just over 50% of our net bookings, and it’s performing very well,” he said. He also stressed the need for a strong mobile presence, especially given that a large share of the player base—particularly older adults and […]

Gamigion May 22

Highlights

Q&A with Roi Glazer, General Manager of Solitaire Grand Harvest

What do you get when you mix solitaire, farming, and The Smurfs? Apparently... a top-grossing mobile game. Also one of my favorite games of all time. Solitaire Grand Harvest, published by Playtika, has quietly grown into the #1 highest-grossing solitaire game in the U.S., with over $1 billion in lifetime revenue and more than 71 million downloads worldwide. Datas from Appmagic At the center of it all is Roy Glazer, General Manager of the game, who’s helped shape its evolution from a card game to a full-blown live ops ecosystem. Solitaire Grand Harvest has been thriving for years — not something every mobile game can say. What do you think is the real secret to its long-term appeal? Solitaire Grand Harvest is the #1 highest-grossing Solitaire game in the U.S., attracting hundreds of thousands of daily players worldwide. Its success […]

Aylin YAZICI May 21

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