What does Mobile Game Monetization look like in 2025?

What does mobile game monetization look like in 2025? I examined this from a data perspective, focusing on recent Sensor Tower data (March 2024 - February 2025). Below is data showing the percentage of revenue and downloads in mobile gaming for games with specific monetization features. So we see the following: 🔸 F2P is the king, and paid games hardly exist on mobile 🔸 Currency bundles and Live ops are becoming the standard now for in-app games 🔸 Subscription and season pass are moving to heavy in-app games 🔸 Lootbox is a topic in bigger games 🔸 It is still not a year of NFT and Crypto in mobile gaming :).

Mariusz Gąsiewski April 3

Journal

SKAN can work better than AEM for Some Apps

📢SKAN can work better than AEM for some apps Yes, you read that right.AEM is not a silver bullet.It can fail when, for some reason, Meta is not able to fingerprint their users 😬(because yes, they obviously do fingerprinting😂)Today, I’m sharing a real case where this happened.We started a Trial Start campaign in early February using AEM to feed the algorithm with real-time signals which indeed helps the campaigns to optimize better.The campaign started to show more signals on AEM than SKAN during the first weeks but with the time, SKAN started capturing more CTA conversions daily (as shown in the graph), making a HUGE difference on the CPT for each attribution methodology.In my case:👉Cost per trial (last 14d) according to AEM: $71👉Cost per trial (last 14d) according to SKAN: $49🤯Difference: SKAN is 30% cheaper, making my campaigns profitable—unlike AEM.Despite […]

David Vargas April 3

Highlights

When to Scale a Mobile Game?

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk First, it was vibe coding; now, I have started seeing vibe prompting and even vibe marketing. Jesus fucking Christ. Are you serious? 🦩Tip of the week When to Scale a Mobile Game? 1. Analyze Soft Launch Performance Before scaling, a game must pass a soft launch and ideally some time after global launch. This phase serves as a litmus test for: Cohort Profitability: Tracking how different cohorts of players perform in terms of lifetime value (LTV). Retention Metrics: This includes Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 retention rates. Successful scaling typically requires a minimum of 10-15% retention after Day 30. Monetization Consistency: Ensure that in-app purchases (IAP) and ad revenues are consistent and can be predicted over time. 2. Confirm Cohort Consistency While early cohorts may perform well, consistency is key. The […]

Matej Lancaric April 3

Journal

Good RV Placement in Cake Await

Good RV Placement in Cake Await Really like this approach to rewarded video at the level start screen. Instead of a generic RV offer, the game presents three boosters—giving players a clear and immediate benefit for watching an ad. This placement makes the decision feel natural, reinforcing the value of RV while improving gameplay. A small but effective way to boost engagement and monetization without disrupting the player experience.

Michael Kopelovich April 3

Journal

Beyond Battle Passes and Gacha: Retention-Driven Monetization Models

Battle passes and gacha mechanics have become standard monetization strategies in F2P games. However, they often lead to predictable engagement patterns and don’t always foster deep, long-term player investment. This post explores several new innovative monetization models designed to drive engagement and retention without relying solely on battle passes (including event and season passes) and/or gacha mechanics. These models explored in this article can create monetization opportunities that align with player behavior, community participation, and overall game experience. 1. Prestige & Legacy Systems (Monetizing Long-Term Engagement) Example: A game where high-level players can “retire” their progress in exchange for exclusive content. How It Could Work: Players who reach a certain milestone (e.g., max level, final tier of progression) can ‘prestige’ to gain exclusive benefits from a premium track (of e.g., cosmetics, skills, or VIP content). Monetization comes from prestige passes, premium tracks or premium currency […]

Antti Kananen April 3

Highlights

Mobile Gaming Today: April’1 Week

Hey Fam, Was Ramadan Festival week! I had the best time playing Mo-co, Squad Busters & Brawl Stars with my nephews! Lots of laughs & sweet moments all around (: 👌🏻 Top Gaming Content » Helping Your Players In a Smart Way 🌿 Top puzzle games know the secret: support players, even if it means less short-term cash. From Royal Match’s smart propeller targeting to Toon Blast’s clean levels, these subtle touches help players win without feeling squeezed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Help is Help. Royal Match’s “take a look” before end-game offers might lower conversions, but it builds trust. These aren’t just kind gestures; they’re smart, player-first design that drives long-term loyalty and revenue. And it’s not just puzzles. A helpful AI or clear progression works wonders in any genre. Quick wins are easy, but great games play the long game by […]

Ömer Yakabagi April 3

Highlights

2025 Mobile Gaming Report: Key Insights for Marketers

Sensor Tower recently released a 50-page report about the state of mobile gaming in 2025. I spent several hours reading and preparing a TL: DR version for you. I added some custom graphs and creatives for visual experience! Enjoy .. Key KPIs: Growth & Engagement In-App Purchase (IAP) Revenue: Mobile game spending returned to growth in 2024, with global IAP revenue up about 4% YoY (reaching roughly $82 billion). Notably, 84% of this revenue came from games with live operations features, underscoring the importance of ongoing content and events. User Engagement: Players spent more time and came back more often—total hours in-game rose ~7.9%, and sessions jumped 12% compared to 2023. This indicates that existing users are playing more frequently and for longer durations, even as new user growth slows. Daily engagement per user increased, helping offset a 6.6% drop in new game […]

Matej Lancaric April 2

Journal

Dreamy Room: Home Design With Puzzle Touch

Dreamy Room: Home Design With Puzzle Touch ✨ ABI Games Studio’s new hypercasual hit Dreamy Room has taken off—surpassing 7.2M downloads within its first month and attracting 309K daily active users (and counting!) 🚀In the game, players are challenged to strategically arrange all the furniture, considering space layout and functionality, to complete levels that progressively increase in difficulty 💪To maintain engagement, developers are continuously adding new levels, daily challenges, progress tracking, and rewards 🏅Try it out yourself

Andrei Zubov April 2

Journal

Revenue Drop? Here’s Your Detective Kit

🕵️‍♂️💸 Revenue Dropped? Here's Your Detective Kit! Tired of staring at analytics with no clue what's going on? I built a simple spreadsheet that cuts through the noise.🔎 What This IsA no-BS template to track why your app’s revenue is up or down. It helps you quickly figure out if:✅ Fewer people are buying✅ Prices changed✅ Ad impressions dropped✅ Refunds went crazy⚙️ How It Works1️⃣ Grab the template 👇2️⃣ Input your numbers from two time periods3️⃣ See exactly what moved the needle🚀 Why This MattersWhen someone asks, “What happened to our revenue?”, you’ll have a clear answer—instead of mumbling something about "changing market conditions..."Worked great when I was managing thousands of campaigns at AppLike. Saves hours of digging through data.Kudos to the BI team who came up with this (original article)My Excel Template💡 Bonus: For teams wanting to level up, […]

Sven Jürgens April 1

Analysis

Take-aways from playing Block Blast

Want to know what’s wrong with Block Blast from Hungry Studio ? The game is #1 in the casual category at the moment (March 20), but from a monetization perspective it is pure AdMon and much more simple that many other casual games on the market. Static banners at the bottom. Interstitials after every level, short ones, easily skippable. The only case of rewarded videos – revival after losing. In this case, the video ad is long because the player is motivated to wait, providing better CPM. Revival happens only one time. If you lose again, it will be final. There are no IAPs, so there is no game shop, no offers, no resources, no energy, no lives, you name it. Players can play as long as they want. Game sessions are not limited. But absence of IAPs also means […]

Michael Khripin April 1

Journal

Data Analysis Automation

It is no secret that UA teams are likely to shrink in the coming year. While advertising budgets are increasing again, repetitive tasks are being replaced by Automation with the help of AI, saving hours of work. ⏱️ It allows UA specialists to become generalists again and those who adapt will thrive. Check the slides below 👇 I’ve added an incredibly simple setup to get automated UA performance reports directly in Slack: using just Zapier (...or Make/n8n) + Google Sheets + ChatGPT.

Richard Kos April 1

Journal

Mobile Gaming is still growing

Mobile gaming is still growing, but a big chunk of the revenue comes from older games. The data shows this clearly (based on Sensor Tower): more than 50% of in-app and subscription revenue is from six or older games. That's why there was so much talk about new growth strategies at the recent GDC, like more creative user acquisition, using IPs in games, web gaming, new platforms, different business models, deeper hybrid monetisation, etc. The problem is, this makes it harder to get a clear picture of mobile gaming's real growth, especially in categories where revenue is coming in through less traditional ways. Current data systems might struggle to track this, at least for now. It'll be interesting to see how this evolves...

Mariusz Gąsiewski March 31

#Marketing

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