Word Games are a massive part of the mobile gaming ecosystem.

Word Games are a massive part of the mobile gaming ecosystem. 1.09% of Google’s, 1.42% of Meta’s, and 2.61% of Applovin’s overall USA Impressions are served through Applovin’s Wordscapes. Words of Wonder by Fugo Games boasts a daily active user base of 3.1 million users. These two titles have been dominating the Word category since 2023. Their reign may be coming to an end, challenged by Word Search Explorer, by Playsimple Games.

Word games tend to follow one of two monetization playbooks: the hybrid approach pursued by Wordscapes, which blends ads (IAA) and in-app purchases (IAPs). Or the ad-heavy model championed by Words of Wonder. Based on public data and estimated ad revenue, Wordscapes likely generates 55% of its $226,000 daily revenue from ads, while Words of Wonder relies almost entirely on ads, accounting for 90% of its approximately $100,000 daily revenue.

Enter Word Search Explorer. Boasting 9.1 million (1.4 million from the USA) downloads in the last 30 days, with an active user base of 2.8 million users (780k in the USA). The game has generated 200k in IAP revenue in the same time. Word Search Explorer has taken the Words of Wonder IAA route, monetizing with Interstitials between levels, Banners at the bottom after level 10, and Rewarded ads for boosters. I estimate that Word Search Explorer is earning approximately $200,000 per day from ads, which would make it 95% ad monetized.

Word Search Explorer takes the meta game from other word games and changes the core from the wheel letter search seen in both Wordscapes and Words of Wonder to a simple Word Search bar like the ones you used to do in school. The game also takes cues from Cryptogram by showing users the % of people who have passed each level. Additionally, after approximately level 15, instead of finding words, users are presented with quotes from famous authors that they must identify. I can only assume that they get these quotes using AI to keep the content fresh.

With Word Search Explorer, Playsimple isn’t just iterating — it’s evolving the category. By rethinking core gameplay mechanics, layering in player motivations, and leveraging what looks like AI-driven content generation, the studio is pushing the word genre into fresh territory. If the current momentum holds, we might be watching the rise of the next defining title in word games — one that blends the best of old-school puzzles with modern monetization and tech. The question now isn’t whether Word Search Explorer can compete, but how big it will get before the other large studios copy it.

💰Great Content 💰

I’ve been fortunate enough to manage ad monetization for over 50 games during my eight years in mobile. One of the most complex and crucial aspects to get right is perfecting the ad frequency in games. How do you optimize for ad revenue without tanking retention? That used to be a question I answered by testing endless cohort setups and ad cooldown times. This week on the podcast, we were joined by Roi Nam from Airflux, who showcased their new ad optimization feature that does exactly that, but using AI. Finally, AI is starting to have a positive impact on ad monetization. Check out this insightful episode for all the details.

🎯The Cinderella of the Week🎯

Miracles still happen! Despite the highly competitive landscape in mobile, solo developers can still scale their IAA monetized games to impressive levels. This section is to salute you. Why? Because everyone loves a Cinderella story… that’s why.

This week, I thought I’d share a funny call I had with a solo developer, who asked not to be identified. The developer had made a sound effect app in 2014 – think light saber, airhorn, and chainsaw sounds at the press of a button. Here’s a little of the conversation.

Developer: “I have a problem – I’ve gotten close to 2 million downloads in Vietnam in the last week, and I don’t know why?”.

Me: “lol and you don’t know why?”

Developer: “Not in the slightest.”

Me: “You should really add App Open ads, Banners, and Interstitials to monetize the organics.”

I’m not quite sure what the moral of the story is here, but it’s always a good idea to launch apps or games with ads that you can control server-side, so you can roll them out in cases like this.

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