Monetization Report 2025

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Global Monetization Trends

Page 05

RPG

Page 20

Strategy

Page 13

Puzzle

Page 28

Monetization trends in:

Contents

Simulation

Page 43

Casino

Page 36

Hybridcasual

Page 50

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Our customers

Key premises:

How is the market categorized?

All market analytics are based on

AppMagic’s core categorization.

Click here to learn more

What is the basis for the market

analytics data?

Estimates for downloads and revenue are

derived from app positions in the Top Free

and Top Grossing charts across all countries

and are processed using AppMagic’s

internal data to improve accuracy.

How are payment behavior metrics and D2C

revenue calculated?

D2C revenue and payment metrics are

calculated based on AppMagic’s internal

analytics and include data for the United

States only.

This methodology makes it possible to capture overall market trends with a focus on paying countries and to compare user

behavior across the two platforms.

You can ﬁnd more details on the chart calculation methodology in the footer of each slide.

Data recorded on October 22, 2025.

Methodology

This report is based on AppMagic data for the period from 2023 to 2025 for the sections dedicated to App Store and Google Play market overview. The

sections focused on user payment behavior are based on the top 10 grossing Tier-1 West projects within their respective genres in the United States for
2024

and 2025.

Global

Monetization Trends

Moderate market growth

compared to last year

Overall revenue increased by 3.4%,

driven mainly by the App Store (+5.4%),

while Google Play showed a slight

decline.

Key takeaways

Market growth driven by

select subgenres and regions

Overall revenue expansion is modest

and concentrated in a few genres:

Strategy, Simulation, and Hybridcasual.

Shift toward emerging

markets

Main growth comes from countries
with

low bases and volatile currencies:

LATAM, MENA, and Eastern Europe.

Revenue remains

concentrated in key regions

Developed markets such as the US,

Western Europe, and Japan show signs

of slowdown or stagnation, yet

continue to maintain high ARPPU levels.

Simple and Hybrid / Midcore

games gain traction

In genres like Puzzle, Simulation, and

Hybridcasual, simple and Hybrid

formats continue to expand actively.

Revenue concentrated

in top offers

Over 40% of revenue in each genre

comes from the top ﬁve offers or top

ten projects.

Revenue growth shifts

toward the App Store

Across most genres, the App Store

shows higher ARPPU, while on Google

Play, purchase size stays ﬂat despite

higher transaction frequency.

Payment SDKs are gradually

gaining traction

Monetization through D2C systems and

alternative payment methods grew by

46% but is employed by 62% of top 100

games only.

Yearly trend

Trends in revenue for 2023–2025 (worldwide) by platform

App Store

Google Play

Compared to last year, the mobile games market has not changed dramatically, with

overall growth of just 3.5%. Google Play showed minor revenue ﬂuctuations (less than 1%),

while the App Store demonstrated a 5.4% increase.

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

YoY Changes

Google Play

20.3B

–0.12%

App Store

34.9B

36.8B

5.46%

Overall

55.2B

57.1B

3.41%

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Monetization Report 2025 | GLOBAL MONETIZATION TRENDS

Country

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

Argentina

$47.0M

$57.3M

21.97%

United Arab

Emirates

$211.4M

$245.2M

16.00%

Russian

Federation

$182.4M

$210.6M

15.50%

Colombia

$41.9M

$48.2M

14.97%

Saudi Arabia

$335.0M

$376.1M

12.26%

Turkey

$323.2M

$357.2M

10.54%

United

Kingdom

$1.5B

$1.6B

9.68%

Israel

$162.9M

$178.7M

9.65%

Ireland

$75.8M

$81.4M

7.38%

South Africa

$110.3M

$117.9M

6.92%

Country

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

United

States

$18.9B

$18.2B

–3.47%

China

$11.3B

$10.3B

–8.54%

Japan

$8.5B

$7.9B

–7.09%

South

Korea

$3.7B

$3.1B

–15.05%

Germany

$1.9B

$1.93B

1.78%

Taiwan

$1.9B

$1.6B

–13.57%

United

Kingdom

$1.5B

$1.6B

9.68%

Canada

$1.1B

1.06%

Australia

$991.3M

$964.5M

–2.70%

France

$876.7M

$926.1M

5.63%

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Key market changes

While
Midcore and Casual games showed only minor

growth
(within 3%), a
strong change was observed in

the Hypercasual segment,
which increased by 88%

compared to last year.

The list of top countries remained the same as last year
;

however, the revenue trend differs:

–
Most Eastern markets (China, Japan, South Korea,

Taiwan) experienced a decline (up to 15%)
, while

Western countries (the United Kingdom, France,

Germany, Canada) demonstrated growth.

The strongest revenue growth is observed in markets
:

–
with a low base and high currency volatility
, such

as
Latin America
(Argentina, Colombia) and
Russia

(where growth is linked to the gradual recovery of

the market after previous restrictions);

–
in the
Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel,

Turkey)
, which is among the fastest-growing
regions

in terms of mobile revenue;

–
in
Western Europe
(the United Kingdom and Ireland).

Revenue Dynamics, YoY

Monetization Report 2025 | GLOBAL MONETIZATION TRENDS

Top 10 countries by revenue

Top 10 countries by growth rate

Subgenre

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

YoY Changes

Midcore

$30.1B

$31.9B

2.99%

Casual

$19.4B

$19.9B

2.26%

Hypercasual

$366.8M

$688.8M

87.80%

Trend toward alternative payments: SDK use

Monetization Report 2025 | GLOBAL MONETIZATION TRENDS

Includes payment SDK

Games with payment SDKs by month

Top 3 fastest-declining SDKs since Jan 202 4

Top 3 fastest-growing SDKs since Jan 202 4

100k

200k

300k

Jan’24

Apr’24

Jul’24

Oct’24

Jan’25

Apr’25

At the beginning of 2025, monetization

through alternative payment systems and

webshops began to gain traction
. Major
D2C

and payment SDK providers, such as Xsolla,

Yookassa, and OpenIAB, increasingly

promoted these monetization models as a

new industry trend.

By the start of Q4 2025, the number of

games featuring payment SDKs had grown

by 12%
, but there was no major surge in

integrations across all apps, and
growth

remained steady.

The strongest growth was observed for:

–
Yookassa, Xsolla, and
Card.i
o

The steepest decline, with more SDK

removals than new installations, was seen
in:

–
Stripe, Paystack, and PayU.

Jul’25

Sep’25

The dynamics of payment SDK installations and removals are based on AppMagic data and include over 850,000 games featuring any SDKs.

The analysis is based on 62 payment SDKs (Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Open In-App Billing (OpenIAB), Anjlab, Bolt, Alipay, PayPal, Card.io, Stripe, PayPal Braintree, and others).

]

+12%

50%

100%

Yookassa

Xsolla

Card.io

–8%

–6%

–4%

–2%

Stripe

Paystack

PayU

Samsung Pay

Google Pay

Trend toward alternative payments: SDK dynamics

A similar pattern can be observed across

the most popular SDKs: the
period from

June to August 202 4 was marked by

increased integration activity
, while the

overall trend throughout 2025 has

remained relatively stable.

On average,
SDK installations still

outnumber removals
, but each SDK

behaves differently, and no consistent

trend can be identiﬁed:

–
For some SDKs, such as Yookassa,

there are nearly no removals.

–
A noticeable spike in Samsung Pay

SDK removals occurred in summer

2025, likely due to Samsung’s

announcement that updates for Tizen

devices would end on May 31, 2025,

rather than the global shift toward

alternative payment systems.

Monetization Report 2025 | GLOBAL MONETIZATION TRENDS

100

200

300

400

500

Jan’24

Removals

Installs

Jul’24

Jan’25

Jul’25

Jan’24

Jul’24

Jan’25

Jul’25

Yookassa

Xsolla

Jan’24

Jul’24

Jan’25

Jul’25

Jan’24

Jul’24

Jan’25

Jul’25

Removals

Installs

Removals

Installs

Removals

Installs

The dynamics of payment SDK installations and removals are based on AppMagic data and include over 850,000 games featuring any SDKs.

Does not include D2C systems

Includes D2C systems

Trend toward alternative payments: D2C revenue in the top 100

Revenue from D2C sources for the top 100 grossing

games (2025) in the US has grown signiﬁcantly
:

–
Revenue from D2C systems is up 46% YoY, with a

major boost in Sep–Oct 2025 when several of the

top 100 apps enabled them.

However, the overall dynamics remain mixed: only

62% of the games in the grossing top 100 for the ﬁrst

half of 2025 generate D2C revenues, while in the 2024

top 100, this share was 72%. D2C serves as a stable

tool for supporting revenue in older apps, while

newcomers are in no hurry to integrate alternative

payment systems.

Percentage of games using D2C as of August 2025

The analysis is based on the top 100 titles by revenue in the ﬁrst half of 2024 and 2025 according to AppMagic’s taxonomy. The data reﬂects the US dynamics only and does not represent performance in other

countries.

25%

50%

100%

75%

Top 100 2024

Top 100 2025

D2C revenue dynamics in the top 100 grossing games, 2025 (US)

Jan’24

Jul’24

Jan’25

Jul’25

$100m

$150m

$200m

$250m

Apr’24

Oct’24

Apr’25

Aug

2024

Aug

2025

$300m

$350m

Monetization Report 2025 | GLOBAL MONETIZATION TRENDS

As the mobile market matures, developers are shifting

from rapid experimentation to building sustainable,

long-term monetization ecosystems. We’re seeing

strong growth in off-store systems and SDK

integrations that give studios more ﬂexibility,

transparency, and direct player relationships, all crucial

for future-prooﬁng revenue.

Chris Hewish, President, Xsolla

Looking at global market trends helps capture the overall dynamics and understand

where the mobile gaming segment is headed. However, each genre or subgenre

behaves differently.

The rest of the report presents a number of current benchmarks by genre, as well as

year-over-year changes and speciﬁc niche trends that can help developers reﬁne and

optimize monetization in their projects.

What’s next

Monetization trends in:

RPG

Page 20

Strategy

Page 13

Puzzle

Page 28

Simulation

Page 43

Casino

Page 36

Hybridcasual

Page 50

Whiteout Survival

Pokémon TCG Pocket

Clash Royale

Strategy
is a parent tag for games (usually war

games) based on strategic management of units

and/or cities as a key element of their gameplay.

Strategy

Both classiﬁcation and associated data are based on AppMagic’s taxonomy.

The Strategy genre shows

steady growth

Since mid-2024, several major new

titles have contributed to a 20–28%

increase in revenue on each platform.

Key takeaways

Growth seen in both major and

smaller subgenres

Strongest gains came from Card

Battlers (+213%) and 4X Strategy (+26%)

Only one subgenre showed

signs of decline

MOBA remains the only declining

subgenre (–4.9%).

Asian publishers drive

growth in the genre

Most revenue comes from Asian

publishers, while new projects test

unconventional, gradually deepening

gameplay.

Strategy players reach record

spending levels

By day 90, paying Strategy players in

the US spend twice as much as Casino

players, with ARPPU on the App Store

now up to eight times higher than on

Google Play.

Different spending models

across platforms

On Google Play, growth comes from

purchase volume, while on the App

Store, larger payments (often $15+)

drive ARPPU.

Hard currency drives top

spending in Strategy games

Most revenue comes from hard

currency bundles, with $99 offers far

more common among top purchases

than in other genres.

High-priced offers expand in

4X Strategy games

In 2025, titles like
Whiteout Survival
and

Last War
raised the top offer price from

$99 to $159.99 across both stores.

Yearly trend

Trends in revenue for 2023–2025 (worldwide) by platform

App Store

Google Play

The Strategy market has been actively growing since mid-2024.

Although the main increase was driven by several major titles, the overall growth trend

remains smooth and consistent. Revenue has also grown evenly across platforms: while

other segments typically show growth on a single platform only, the Strategy genre

demonstrated a 20–28% increase on each.

Monetization Report 2025 | STRATEGY

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

YoY Changes

Google Play

$3.5B

$4.3B

20.83%

App Store

$7.2B

$9.3B

27.87%

Overall

$10.8B

$13.5B

25.55%

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Monetization Report 2025 | STRATEGY

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Key market changes

The Strategy market has shown signiﬁcant growth
,

largely
driven by several major releases in recent years

that have been actively shaking up the subgenres of

Card Battler, 4X Strategy, and Turn-Based Strategy
.

At the same time,
only one niche demonstrated a clear

negative trend: MOBA
. The leading title,
Honor of Kings
,

scraped together a minor uplift (within 1%), while the

overall genre downsizing was brought about by declining

performances of
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang US
and

Garena Liên Quân Mobile
.

Today, the
Strategy segment continues to grow steadily

across both Western and Asian markets
. However, it
has

become more challenging to enter as more and more

projects seek unconventional approaches to secure their

audiences. For example, they disguise early sessions as

popular simple games or titles from other genres,

gradually deepening their gameplay over time.

Despite the strong interest of Western players in the

genre,
the majority of revenue comes from Asian

publishers and developers.

Last

War:Survival

Clash

Royale

Whiteout

Survival

Pokémon TCG

Pocket

Top Heroes:

Kingdom Saga

Revenue Dynamics, YoY

Revenue Growth Drivers:

Subgenre

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

Card Battler

$437.1M

$1.4B

213.12%

Strategy: Other

$32.2M

$58.2M

80.81%

Tactics

$773.5M

$980.6M

26.77%

4X Strategy

$5.4B

$6.9B

25.84%

Turn-Based Strategy

$15.5M

$17.9M

15.86%

Real Time Strategy

$1.0B

$1.2B

9.81%

MOBA

$2.2B

$2.1B

–4.97%

Strategy games have always been a genre that

requires signiﬁcant player spending, but this

year, the numbers are beating all possible

records:
by day 90, paying users in the US

spend twice as much as players in another

traditionally high-spending segment, Casino.

Historically,
ARPPU for paying users in the

Strategy genre on the App Store has been 4–5

times higher than on Google Play.
However,
in

2025, with the genre’s growth
and the

emergence of new titles, this gap has widened

even further, with up to eightfold differences at

certain points in the user lifecycle.

The analysis is based on the top 10 titles by revenue in the ﬁrst half of 2024 and 2025 within the Strategy genre according to AppMagic’s taxonomy. The data reﬂects the US dynamics only and does not represent

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behavior

Monetization Report 2025 | STRATEGY

Average Purchases per Paying User

ARPPU

30 days

60 days

90 days

30 days

60 days

90 days

$200

$400

50%

68%

94%

App Store

Google Play

App Store

Google Play

YoY Changes

16%

20%

12%

YoY Changes

17%

$600

Interested in more monetization insights?

Analyze both permanent and time-limited

monetization strategies using the
Monetization

Intelligence
tool.
Click here to learn more

Overall,
Strategy follows the same trend as other

genres:

–
On Google Play, the main focus is on the

number of purchases
, with the average

transaction value typically not exceeding $7.

–
On the App Store, the focus is on payment

size
: even the ﬁrst purchase often exceeds $15,

which drives ARPPU growth despite the decline

in the number of purchases this year.

While the average transaction value on the App

Store is rather high, the
most common in-game

offers are priced at $4.99.

In 202 4, the vast majority of top-grossing Strategy

games offered their players high-priced bundles

capped at $99
.

In 2025, several 4X Strategy titles, such as
Whiteout

Survival
and
Last War
, have begun actively

introducing higher-priced offers. Currently, the

maximum offer price in these games on both the

App Store and Google Play (US) is $159.99.

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behavior

Google Play

Min Price

Avg Price

Median Price

Max Price

2024

$0.99

$8.98

$4.99

$99.99

2025

$0.99

$10.22

$4.99

$99.99

App Store

Min Price

Avg Price

Median Price

Max Price

2024

$0.99

$8.98

$4.99

$99.99

2025

$0.99

$9.90

$4.99

$99.99

Average Purchase Value

Most common offer prices

$10

$20

App Store

Google Play

37%

24%

23%

YoY Changes

Monetization Report 2025 | STRATEGY

$30

Most impactful offers

The Strategy market generates most of its revenue from hard currency bundles, which make up the core of top purchases in most Strategy games. Special packs, passes,

or event-limited offers appear less frequently. Unlike other genres, however, offers priced at $99 are much more likely to rank among the top positions here.

Honor of

Kings

Pokémon

TCG

Pocket

Puzzles &

Survival

Evony

Mobile

Legends

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In-App Purchases Distribution
tool, you can explore in detail

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Monetization Report 2025 | STRATEGY

10%

15%

20%

4000 tokens

$74.98

2400 tokens

$29.99

4000 tokens

$49.99

800 tokens

$9.99

1,200 tokens

$14.99

10%

Premium pass

$9.99

Poke gold

$19.99

Poke gold

$22.99

Poke gold

$99.99

Poke gold

$39.99

Sack of diamonds

$4.99

Pile of diamonds

$9.99

Big pile of

diamonds $19.99

Big chest of

diamonds $99.99

Pile of diamonds

$29.99

20%

40%

60%

25000 gems

$99.99

5000 gems

$19.99

2500 gems

$9.99

Rally monthly

card – $9.99

Large general

package – $99.99

10%

15%

20%

1000 diamonds

$19.99

500 diamonds

$9.99

5000 diamonds

$99.99

1500 diamonds

$29.99

2500 diamonds

$49.99

20%

30%

40%

10%

20%

30%

25%

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics and is used in the new In-App Purchases Distribution tool.

The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

Hero Wars: Alliance

Genshin Impact

Archero 2

RPG
is
a parent tag for games where the player controls a character

or characters of a certain class with different characteristics,
whose

abilities can be improved by leveling up and gaining experience.

RPG

Both classiﬁcation and associated data are based on AppMagic’s taxonomy.

RPG market sees notable

revenue decline

Revenue dropped by 13–16% across

both platforms, with the steepest fall

recorded in China (–25%).

Key takeaways

Most RPG subgenres show

double-digit decline

Most RPG subgenres have shrunk by

15–30%, while Tactical RPG and
Roguelike

grew with
Warhammer 40,000
,
GIRLS’

FRONTLINE 2
, and
Archero 2
.

Google Play spending decline

impacts RPG market

Average payments per user fell by up to

29%, with day 90 ARPPU down 42%,

while the App Store maintained stable

growth in high-spending markets.

Average check drops on

Google Play

Average payment size decreased by

20–28%, reﬂecting weaker player

spending.

App Store strengthens

monetization

The average ﬁrst-payment check rose

to $17.9, showing higher player

willingness to spend more.

Hard currency remains the

core of RPG monetization

Most RPG revenue comes from hard

currency, though battle passes and

30-day subscriptions also play a

notable role for key titles.

Low-priced offers gain

traction in Midcore RPGs

Titles like
Honkai: Star Rail
and
Zenless

Zone Zero
tested $0.99–$4.99 bundles,

effectively engaging low-spending

users.

Yearly trend

Trends in revenue for 2023–2025 (worldwide) by platform

App Store

Google Play

The RPG market showed a signiﬁcant year-over-year revenue decline, with drops of

13–16% recorded across both platforms.

Most of the decrease is attributed to the Eastern markets, with the largest decline

observed in China (–25%).

Monetization Report 2025 | RPG

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

YoY Changes

Google Play

$5.3B

$4.6B

–13.60%

App Store

$8.4B

$7.0B

–16.44%

Overall

$13.7B

$11.6B

–15.35%

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Monetization Report 2025 | RPG

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Key market changes

Most RPG subgenres showed a signiﬁcant decline

(from 15% to 30%) across all regions
. However, for
some

subgenres, the drop was not limited to Asian markets
:

–
In the
Puzzle RPG
niche,
Empires & Puzzles
and
Best

Fiends

recorded a notable decrease in Tier-1 West

countries.

–
The decline in the
Idle RPG
segment was facilitated

by falling revenues from

AFK Journey
and
Legend of

Mushroom
, while the recently launched
Capybara

Go!
failed to sustain its initial momentum and

continues to decline.

–
The
Empire Building
niche also decreased due to

revenue drops in
Isekai: Slow Life
and
King’s Choice
.

Only two niches demonstrated visible growth:

–
The
Tactical RPG
segment grew thanks to

Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus™
and the launch of

GIRLS’ FRONTLINE 2: EXILIUM
(Tier-1 West), while in

Asia, the main growth driver was
SD Gundam G

Generation ETERNAL
.

–
The
Roguelike
niche increased primarily due to

Archero 2
and
Mech Assemble: Zombie Swarm
.

Wuthering

Waves

CookieRun:

Kingdom

Archero 2

Capybara Go!

Zenless Zone

Zero

Subgenre

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

Tactical RPG

$269.5M

$419.8M

55.79%

Roguelike

$294.8M

$371.9M

26.20%

RPG: Other

$25.1M

$25.3M

0.55%

Open World RPG

$624.5M

$613.2M

–1.82%

Team Battler

$3.9B

$3.3B

–14.39%

Idle RPG

$1.8B

$1.5B

–18.56%

MMORPG

$3.3B

$2.6B

–19.69%

Empire Building

$370.7M

$290.4M

–21.65%

Action RPG

$1.1B

$852.9M

–23.45%

Puzzle RPG

$949.9M

$682.2M

–28.17%

Revenue Dynamics, YoY

Revenue Growth Drivers:

19%

42%

24%

30 days

60 days

90 days

$50

App Store

Google Play

YoY Changes

$100

$150

15%

27%

18%

16%

The most notable change in user behavior was

observed on Google Play:

–
While the
average number of payments per

user decreased by 16–29%
across different

lifetime stages,
the day 90 ARPPU dropped

by 42%.

–
These
changes reﬂect the overall negative

trend in the niche
and are largely driven by

the behavior of its leading titles, such as

Genshin Impact
and
Honkai: Star Rail
,
as

well as the growing presence of simpler

games in the top charts
, including
Legend

of Mushroom
and
Archero 2
.

Meanwhile, the
App Store continues to show

positive dynamics similar to other segments
,

demonstrating a clear trend toward stronger

monetization in high-spending countries.

The analysis is based on the top 10 titles by revenue in the ﬁrst half of 2024 and 2025 within the RPG genre according to AppMagic’s taxonomy. The data reﬂects the US dynamics only and does not represent

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behavior

Purchase count

ARPPU

29%

12%

Average Purchases per Paying User

30 days

60 days

90 days

App Store

Google Play

YoY Changes

ARPPU

YoY Changes

Monetization Report 2025 | RPG

The negative shift in ARPPU on Google Play

also led to a decrease in the average check

size
for both ﬁrst and subsequent payments by

20–28%.

In contrast, the App Store saw the opposite

trend, with the average check increasing

signiﬁcantly, which widened the gap between

the two platforms.
For instance, the current

average ﬁrst-payment check on Google Play is

$8.3, while on the App Store it is $17.9.

One might expect this to result in changes to

the average price of offers on Google Play, yet

for top-grossing games, this metric has

remained virtually unchanged. Both the average

and median offer prices stayed at the same

level, reﬂecting ﬂexible pricing systems already

established in the games.

Nevertheless
, some titles have been

experimenting with lower-priced offers,

which may signal the market’s attempt to

adapt to these changes.

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behavior

YoY Changes

Google Play

Min Price

Avg Price

Median Price

Max Price

2024

$0.99

$16.57

$9.99

$99.99

2025

$0.99

$15.62

$9.99

$99.99

App Store

Min Price

Avg Price

Median Price

Max Price

2024

$0.99

$16.57

$9.99

$99.99

2025

$0.99

$15.62

$9.99

$99.99

Most common offer prices

Average Purchase Value

$10

$15

$20

App Store

Google Play

YoY Changes

$25

28%

24%

20%

Monetization Report 2025 | RPG

Most impactful offers

The core of monetization in RPGs, as is for many midcore games, is hard currency. However, in some titles, such as
CookieRun: Kingdom
, battle passes account for a

signiﬁcant share of revenue. In HoYoverse games, a key part of monetization is the 30-day subscription offer, which generates up to 10% of the project’s total revenue.

RAID

CookieRun:

Kingdom

Hero Wars

Honkai

Star Rail

Genshin

Impact

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Monetization Report 2025 | RPG

10%

15%

ultimate savings

pack – $99.99

bulk value pack

$29.99

extra savings pack

$49.99

small pack

$9.99

regular pack

$19.99

fateful cookie

cutter – $15.99

eternal pass

$14.99

hollyberry pass

$14.99

kingdom pass

57 – $4.99

ﬁre spirit pass

– $14.99

treasure of

dominion – $19.99

treasure of

dominion – $39.99

treasure of

dominion – $9.99

112000 emeralds

$98.99

treasure of

dominion – $4.99

10%

20%

oneiric shard 6480

$99.99

oneiric shard 3280

$49.99

the nameless

medal – $19.99

oneiric shard 1980

$29.99

Express supply

pass – $4.99

10%

20%

30%

40%

6480 genesis

crystals – $99.99

1980 genesis

crystals – $29.99

3280 genesis

crystals – $49.99

980 genesis

crystals – $14.99

Blessings

bundle – $4.99

10%

15%

20%

25%

10%

12%

30%

Kingdom pass

58 – $4.99

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics and is used in the new In-App Purchases Distribution tool.

The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

Offers trend: low-priced offers

Monetization Report 2025 | RPG

This year, many Midcore projects have been experimenting with low-priced

offers during various in-game events.

For example, during its anniversary celebration,
Honkai: Star Rail

introduced both

high-priced bundles and low-cost offers priced at $0.99 and $4.99, which until

recently was quite uncharacteristic for this publisher. An offer in a similar price

range was also introduced in
Zenless Zone Zero
for a limited time.

Although low-priced offers are often designed to boost conversion rather than

maximize revenue per purchase, many of them performed strongly during

events, accounting for a signiﬁcant share of total revenue.

Amidst the decline in the average spend of ﬁrst-time and repeat purchases on

Google Play, such offers may become an effective way to monetize low-spending

users.

Game

Offer

Price

% of revenue

% of purchases

Trailblaze assistance pack

Special ticket pack

$4.99

$0.99

<1%

13%

12%

Hollow navigator supply

$2.99

16%

Honkai: Star Rail

Zenless Zone Zero

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics. The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

*The data on low-priced offer shares of total revenue and total purchases is presented for the month.

Gossip Harbor®:

Merge & Story

Gardenscapes

Toon Blast

Puzzle
is

a parent tag for puzzle-solving games

that challenge the player’s wit and logic,

problem-solving and strategic skills.

Puzzle

Both classiﬁcation and associated data are based on AppMagic’s taxonomy.

Puzzle market shows strong

overall growth

Revenue rose by 15%, with the App

Store leading (+18%) while Google Play

showed more moderate dynamics

Key takeaways

Tier-1 countries drive

performance

The strongest gains came from the UK

(+28%) and Ireland (+24%), while the US

showed a moderate increase (+10%)

Simple and Hybrid Puzzles

drive growth

Overall market revenue grew by 14%,

driven by simple subgenres like Block

Puzzle (+911%!) and Hybridcasual

projects expanding their share

Merge remains the only

growing complex niche

Merge games rose by 61%, led by
Gossip

Harbor
and
Travel Town
, while Find the

Difference declined by 42%

Monetization metrics show

slight decline

ARPPU fell across both platforms, and

App Store users made fewer purchases,

especially in the older top-ranking

titles.

Average check rises for the

App Store

First-time and repeat purchase values

rose by up to 46%, driven by older

games and Merge titles like
Gossip

Harbor
and
Travel Town
.

Monetization strengthens

across platforms

While Google Play remains focused on

purchase frequency, both stores show

an increase in average bundle prices.

Customizable offers expand

into the Puzzle genre

Once a Midcore feature, customizable

offers are now common in
Merge

Mansion
,
Merge Cooking
, and
Triple

Match 3D
.

Yearly trend

Trends in revenue for 2023–2025 (worldwide) by platform

App Store

Google Play

The Puzzle market showed signiﬁcant growth (+15%), with the strongest increase recorded on

the App Store (+18%), while Google Play demonstrated more moderate dynamics.

The highest revenue growth was observed in Tier-1 countries, particularly the United Kingdom

(+28%) and Ireland (+24%), while the United States showed a less expressed increase (+10%).

Monetization Report 2025 | PUZZLE

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

YoY Changes

Google Play

$3.0B

$3.3B

8.90%

App Store

$4.6B

$5.5B

18.54%

Overall

$7.7B

$8.8B

14.72%

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Subgenre

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

Block Puzzle

$15.4M

$156.0M

911.00%

Fill & Organize

$1.1M

$3.0M

175.35%

Sort Puzzle

$92.7M

$231.0M

149.14%

Merge

$897.6M

$1.5B

61.36%

Physics Puzzle

$127.2M

$205.2M

61.34%

Sudoku

$3.2M

$3.9M

24.42%

Trivia

$40.0M

$48.8M

22.09%

Draw Line Puzzle

$995,173

$1.2M

22.08%

Puzzle: Other

$30.6M

$36.8M

20.39%

Nonogram

$8.7M

$9.9M

13.27%

Logic Puzzle

$31.6M

$35.6M

12.69%

Coloring

$36.4M

$40.0M

9.87%

Minesweeper

$314,584

$332,328

5.64%

Match-3

$4.4B

$4.6B

4.13%

Word Puzzle

$257.5M

$265.4M

3.09%

Connect Puzzle

$5.6M

0.86%

Jigsaw Puzzle

$8.8M

–0.17%

Match-2 Blast

$440.8M

$439.8M

–0.22%

Math Puzzle

$2.0M

$1.9M

–4.85%

Maze

$1.8M

$1.7M

–6.18%

Match 3D

$343.8M

$310.3M

–9.73%

Brick Breaker

$26.8M

$21.9M

–18.33%

Chain Puzzle

$128.7M

$104.4M

–18.88%

Bubble Shooter

$79.3M

$63.8M

–19.59%

Match-3: Tile

$115.1M

$79.6M

–30.87%

Find The Difference

$3.8M

$2.2M

–42.56%

Monetization Report 2025 | PUZZLE

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Key market changes

While the overall market revenue grew by a solid 15%,

some subgenres showed truly impressive growth:

–
The trend toward simple Puzzle games continues

to develop:
Block Puzzle grew by 911%, while Sort

Puzzle, Fill & Organize, and similar subgenres
showed

growth between 60% and 150%.
The main share of

the market’s growth comes from Hybridcasual

titles, which continue to expand their revenue.

–
Among the more complex Casual niches, only

Merge demonstrated a notable increase in

revenue
, reaching 61%. Currently, two Merge-2
titles,

Gossip Harbor
and
Travel Town
, have secured

positions in the top 10 grossing chart.

The steepest decline was seen in the Find the Difference

subgenre, which dropped by 42% compared to last year.

Revenue Growth Drivers:

Gossip

Harbor

Royal

Kingdom

Travel Town

Royal Match

Matching Story

Revenue Dynamics, YoY

Despite the growth of the Puzzle market on both

the App Store and Google Play,
the main drivers

of this increase were low-spending subgenres

such as Sort Puzzle, Fill & Organize, and Merge.

The dominant subgenre in the top 10—Match-3

—showed only a slight revenue growth of around

5%. For this reason, the
performance of the top

titles in the segment paints a picture that is

different from the overall market trend
:

–
ARPPU on both the App Store and Google

Play showed a slight decline.

A decrease was also recorded in the average

number of purchases per paying user on the App

Store, primarily driven by player behavior in the

older top-ranking games.

The analysis is based on the top 10 titles by revenue in the ﬁrst half of 2024 and 2025 within the Puzzle genre according to AppMagic’s taxonomy. The data reﬂects the US dynamics only and does not represent

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behaviour

Monetization Report 2025 | PUZZLE

Average Purchases per Paying User

ARPPU

30 days

60 days

90 days

30 days

60 days

90 days

$50

$100

App Store

Google Play

App Store

Google Play

YoY Changes

23%

24%

27%

YoY Changes

$150

Interested in more monetization insights?

Analyze both permanent and time-limited

monetization strategies using the
Monetization

Intelligence
tool.
Click here to learn more

Users have started purchasing more

expensive offers on the App Store:

–
The average checks for both ﬁrst-time

and repeat purchases on the App Store

show signiﬁcant growth—up to 46%

—depending on the purchase order. This

increase was driven by both older projects

and by the continued growth and

monetization improvements of Merge
titles

such as
Gossip Harbor
and
Travel Town
.

–
The effect is less noticeable on Google

Play, which remains more focused on

purchase frequency
rather than

transaction size.

Nevertheless, the trend toward stronger

monetization is also evident in the average
offer

price: on both the App Store and Google Play,

the average price of bundles has increased.

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behaviour

Monetization Report 2025 | PUZZLE

Google Play

Min Price

Avg Price

Median Price

Max Price

2024

$0.49

$5.40

$1.99

$99.99

2025

$0.99

$5.69

$1.99

$99.99

App Store

Min Price

Avg Price

Median Price

Max Price

2024

$0.25

$5.40

$1.99

$99.99

2025

$0.39

$6.05

$1.99

$99.99

Average Purchase Value

Most common offer prices

$10

$15

$20

App Store

Google Play

42%

41%

46%

YoY Changes

Most impactful offers

Although hard currency packs and bundles are often among the top purchases in Puzzle games, the main source of revenue comes from special offers tied to LiveOps

events. Most of these offers fall within the mid-price range of $6–15, while items priced at $50 or higher rarely appear among the top purchases.

Gossip

Harbor

Royal

Match

Royal

Kingdom

Project

Makeover

Candy Crush

Saga

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Monetization Report 2025 | PUZZLE

special bundle

$9.99

super pass ticket

$7.99

special bundle

$15.99

event pack

$9.99

seashell bundle

$14.99

royal favor

$6.99

mini coin package

$1.99

prince's treasure

$9.99

Queen's Treasure

$19.99

king's treasure

$39.99

splendid pouch

$9.99

superior chest

$19.99

mini coin package

$1.99

king's favor

$6.99

noble pack

$5.99

10%

15%

special offer

$1.99

stylish stash

$19.99

pile of gems

$1.99

special offer

$9.99

special offer

$4.99

10 gold bars

$1.99

50 gold bars

$7.99

small offer

$5.99

Offer

$19.99

Offer

$9.99

10%

12%

10%

15%

10%

12%

10%

15%

20%

25%

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics and is used in the new In-App Purchases Distribution tool.

The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

Offer trends: customizable offers

Customizable offers (special deals where players can choose the content

they ﬁnd the most appealing) have long been established in Midcore

games and are regularly used by developers as part of ongoing LiveOps

activities. Gradually,
Casual games, including Puzzles, have begun to

adopt this practice and adapt it to their own contexts.

Games like
Merge Mansion
and
Merge Cooking
have each launched this

type of offer at least once, while for
Match Masters
and
Triple Match 3D
,

customizable offers have become a cornerstone of their monetization

calendars: they recur regularly with minor variations and ongoing

experiments.

Triple Match 3D
has been running this type of offer every week
for a long

time without changing its visual design, yet the offer continues to show

similar performance with each launch:

Game

Offer

Price

% of revenue

% of purchases*

Mix & Match

$2.99 – $27.99

7.3%

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics. The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

Monetization Report 2025 | PUZZLE

Triple Match 3D

*The data on customizable offer shares of total revenue and total purchases is presented only for the days

when the offer was active.

Coin Master

MONOPOLY GO!

Lightning Link

Casino Slots

Casino
is

a parent tag for all the titles imitating real-life casino

games or other games of chance played with cards, dice,

equipment, slot machines, etc.

Casino

Both classiﬁcation and associated data are based on AppMagic’s taxonomy.

Casino revenue continues to

decline

Revenue fell by about 7.5% on each

platform, with the sharpest drop in the

US (–11%) and slight growth in the UK

(+5%) and Germany (+10%).

Key takeaways

Major Casino subgenres face

notable decline

Mahjong, Slots, and Coin Looter

revenues fell by 8–12%, making Casino

the only major segment with a clear

drop.

Emerging niches offset part

of the decline

Plinko, Crush, and Domino drove
modest

recovery within the segment.

Google Play shows sharp

drop in user spending

Top projects saw ARPPU and purchase

frequency fall by up to 50%, causing the

overall decline in Casino revenue

metrics.

App Store maintains stronger

performance

ARPPU grew by 25–40%, supported by

titles like
Monopoly GO!
and
Quick Hit

Slots
, which continue to show positive

dynamics.

App Store average payment

size continues to grow

Average checks rose by 28–46%,

pushing the average offer price to

nearly $20.

Gap between platforms

widens

Google Play metrics remained ﬂat,

further increasing the disparity with the

App Store.

Frequent LiveOps offers drive

Casino monetization

While coin packs remain core, some

titles feature over 300 offers in six

months, with revenue spread evenly

across them.

Yearly trend

Trends in revenue for 2023–2025 (worldwide) by platform

App Store

Google Play

Casino revenue declined signiﬁcantly compared to last year, with drops of around 7.5%

on each platform.

The main decrease came from Tier-1 countries: revenue in the United States fell by 11%,

while some markets showed slight growth, including the UK (+5%) and Germany (+10%).

Monetization Report 2025 | CASINO

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

YoY Changes

Google Play

$3.3B

$3.1B

–7.49%

App Store

$4.5B

$4.2B

–7.60%

Overall

$7.8B

$7.2B

–7.55%

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Monetization Report 2025 | CASINO

Key market changes

The Casino market is one of the few major segments

where revenue has declined signiﬁcantly
compared to

last year. Notable drops were recorded in large subgenres

such as Mahjong, Slots, and Coin Looter, ranging from 8%

to 12%.

Meanwhile, growing markets like Plinko and Crush,

despite showing strong growth, still represent only a

small share of the overall segment.

The Domino niche also showed signiﬁcant growth, driven

by
Higgs Domino Global
.

Despite the overall negative trend, several major titles

demonstrated strong positive revenue dynamics.

Revenue Growth Drivers:

Dice

Dreams™

Carnival

Tycoon

Animals &

Coins

Texas Hold'em

Poker: Pokerist

Jackpot Friends™

Slots Casino

Subgenre

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

Plinko

$77k

$888k

1061.09%

Crash

$1k

$4k

729.54%

Casino Domino

$7.9M

$13.7M

72.98%

Casino: Other

$55.6M

$70.6M

26.94%

Okey

$28.8M

$34.3M

19.08%

Keno

$5.0M

$5.9M

17.44%

Roulette

$7.6M

$8.4M

10.82%

Bingo

$382.2M

$389.9M

2.01%

Casino Card Games

$738.2M

$749.4M

1.52%

Coin Looter

$2.4B

$2.2B

–8.38%

Slots

$3.0B

$2.6B

–10.66%

Mahjong

$204.0M

$180.1M

–11.72%

Fish Hunter

$376.2M

$325.6M

–13.45%

Scratch Cards

$835,712

$681,431

–18.46%

Coin Pusher

$2.6M

$2.1M

–19.31%

Claw Machine

$23.8M

$18.3M

–23.09%

Pachinko

$1.2M

$750,045

–39.66%

Revenue Dynamics, YoY

The signiﬁcant decline in revenue metrics on

Google Play is also a result of falling user

payment indicators:
many top titles in 2025

showed a substantial decrease in both ARPPU

and the average number of purchases per

paying user—by up to 50%.

The trend on the App Store, however, is

different from that of Google Play:
its overall

decline has been far less pronounced, especially

in the US, and the
ARPPU has, in fact, increased

by 25–40%
depending on the user’s lifetime.

Nevertheless, some games stand out from the

general trend:

–
Monopoly GO!
, despite an overall decline in

revenue performance,
demonstrated

ARPPU growth on both the App Store and

Google Play.

–
A new top 10 grossing title,
Quick Hit Slots
,
is

showing positive year-over-year
dynamics

and has become one of the key drivers

behind the ARPPU boost in the segment.

The analysis is based on the top 10 titles by revenue in the ﬁrst half of 2024 and 2025 within the Casino genre according to AppMagic’s taxonomy. The data reﬂects the US dynamics only and does not represent

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behavior

Monetization Report 2025 | CASINO

Average Purchases per Paying User

ARPPU

30 days

60 days

90 days

30 days

60 days

90 days

$100

40%

App Store

Google Play

App Store

Google Play

YoY Changes

19%

YoY Changes

$200

38%

41%

25%

29%

39%

42%

$300

An important driver of ARPPU growth on the

App Store was the increase in users’ average

payment size,
which rose by 28–46%

depending on the payment order.
Alongside

the average payment value, the average offer

price also increased
: while previously it was

around $17 on both platforms, it has now

approached $20.

Despite the clear upward trend on the App

Store,
metrics for Google Play have remained

almost unchanged.

As a result,
the gap between Google Play and

the App Store in key metrics has widened

further.

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behavior

Most common offer prices

Monetization Report 2025 | CASINO

Google Play

Min Price

Avg Price

Median Price

Max Price

2024

$0.49

$17.34

$9.99

$249.99

2025

$0.49

$20.22

$9.99

$399.99

App Store

Min Price

Avg Price

Median Price

Max Price

2024

$0.49

$17.24

$7.99

$299.99

2025

$0.49

$19.65

$9.99

$399.99

Average Purchase Value

$10

$20

$30

App Store

Google Play

46%

43%

28%

YoY Changes

Most impactful offers

In the Casino segment, most games monetize through coin packs, but regular monetization offers closely tied to LiveOps play a key role as well. In some titles, the
number

of offers over a six-month period can exceed 300, with revenue distributed almost evenly across them.

Bingo Blitz

Big Fish

Casino

Quick Hit

Slot

Coin Master

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With our new
In-App Purchases Distribution
tool, you can explore in detail

what players are spending money on in games. Be among the ﬁrst to gain

access to complete insights into your competitors!

Monetization Report 2025 | CASINO

Plus subscription

$14.99

Deluxe bundle 1

$24.99

Advanced bundle

1 – $9.99

Advanced bundle

3 – $19.99

Advanced bundle 2 –

$14.99

Piggy bank

$49.99

Deluxe chips

$9.99

Premium chips

$19.99

Ruby chips

$249.99

Advanced chips

$4.99

Advanced coins

$9.99

Super coins

$24.99

Extraordinary coins

$49.99

Basic coins

$4.99

Vip coins

$99.99

10%

15%

Soﬁ pack –

$14.99

Soﬁ pack

$19.99

Soﬁ pack

$4.99

Soﬁ pack

$7.99

Soﬁ pack

$9.99

10%

20%

30%

20%

25%

10%

12%

Monopoly

10%

Special pack

$99.99

Baseline offer 8

type 1 – $9.99

Baseline offer

18 type 1 – $19.99

Special pack

$14.99

Special pack

$4.99

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics and is used in the new In-App Purchases Distribution tool.

The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

Township

Roblox

Love and Deepspace

Simulation
is

a parent tag for
games that recreate typical real-world

situations and activities and usually allow players to control

characters (usually people), enterprises, cities, and worlds freely.

Simulation

The classiﬁcation is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy.

Simulation market shows

steady growth

Revenue grew by 11% in 2025, mainly

driven by the App Store, while the gap

with Google Play widened to nearly

39%.

Key takeaways

Simulation market shows

polarized performance

Growth was led by Sandbox (+26%),

Dating Sim (+41%), and Life Sim (+14%),

while Job Simulator and Animal Simulator

more than doubled their revenues.

iOS users spend more despite

fewer payments

In 2025, ARPPU on iOS grew by up to

10%, while the number of payments fell

by 20–30%, driven by long-standing

titles like
Roblox
and
Township
.

Android shows weaker

spending dynamics

ARPPU remained ﬂat after day 60, and

early-stage metrics dropped by up to

10%, widening the iOS–Android gap

from 30% to 40%.

Average payment size rises

across platforms

First and repeat purchase values grew

by 17–27% on Google Play and 47–52%

on the App Store, while offer prices

increased only slightly.

Shift toward higher-value

spenders

Top titles now focus on users who pay

less often but spend more, a strategy

already showing stronger results on the

App Store.

Revenue concentrated in top

offers

Over 40% of income comes from the

top ﬁve purchases, mostly hard

currency packs, while passes and

special bundles contribute minimally.

Yearly trend

Trends in revenue for 2023–2025 (worldwide) by platform

In 2025, the
Simulation market shows steady growth: +11% compared to the same

period last year.
At the same time, the main revenue increase came from the App Store.

Since the end of 2023, the gap between App Store and Google Play revenues has

continued to widen:
while, in the beginning of 2024, Google Play revenue was 34% lower

than the App Store, by 2025, the average gap at the start of the year has reached nearly

39%.

Monetization Report 2025 |

SIMULATION

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

YoY Changes

Google Play

$1.59B

$1.6B

3.35%

App Store

$2.8B

$3.2B

15.79%

Overall

$4.4B

$4.8B

11.24%

App Store

Google Play

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Key market changes

In 2025, the Simulation market shows a clear

polarization of revenue dynamics:

–
The strongest growth came from Sandbox (+26%),

which remains the main driver of the segment, while

Dating Sim (+41%) and Life Sim (+14%) also

demonstrated signiﬁcant momentum.

–
At the same time, smaller subgenres, such as Job

Simulator (+107%) and Animal Simulator (+106%),

recorded explosive growth, highlighting the

potential of experimental formats within the

segment.

–
By contrast, several traditional subgenres, including

Fishing Simulator (–40%), Breeding (–13%), and

Home Design (–10%), showed revenue declines.

Revenue Growth Drivers:

Roblox

Township

Love and

Deepspace

Umamusume:

Pretty Derby

Minecraft: Dream

it, Build it!

Subgenre

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

Job Simulator

$7.0M

$14.5M

107.12%

Animal Simulator

$4.0M

$8.3M

106.19%

Simulation: Other

$28.4M

$55.6M

96.00%

Dating Sim

$4162M

$588.4M

41.38%

Sandbox

$1.1B

$1.4B

26.90%

Life Sim

$116.3M

$133.2M

14.54%

Vehicle Simulator

$46.3M

$49.6M

6.96%

Tycoon/Management

$82.9M

$88.5M

6.76%

Fashion & Dress Up

$149.3M

$153.4M

2.73%

Farming

$906.1M

$918.2M

1.34%

Citybuilder

$96.5M

$93.5M

–3.18%

Time Management

$147.1M

$135.6M

–7.85%

Idol Training

$646.8M

$592.9M

–8.33%

Virtual Pet

$30.2M

$27.6M

–8.78%

Satisfaction

$4.2M

$3.9M

–9.38%

Home Design

$87.8M

$78.8M

–10.21%

Breeding

$86.8M

$75.4M

–13.12%

Fishing Simulator

$70.0M

$41.8M

–40.26%

Revenue Dynamics, YoY

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Monetization Report 2025 |

SIMULATION

User behavior in the segment on iOS in 2025

has changed signiﬁcantly more than on Google

Play
,
with users spending more
: from the start

of the user’s lifecycle up to day 90, ARPPU grew

across the entire period by up to 10%, while the

number of payments, on the contrary, decreased

by 20–30%.

These changes were not driven by new projects

in the top grossing charts. Key titles like
Roblox

and
Township
show dynamics similar to the

overall trend.

Android showed an overall negative trend:

ARPPU after day 60 did not change signiﬁcantly,

but short-term metrics (up to day 30) showed a

noticeable decline (up to 10%).

Overall, the
ARPPU gap between iOS and

Android compared to last year has widened
:

while the day 60 ARPPU in 2024 across the

segment was on average 30% lower than on iOS,

in 2025 the gap is already around 40%.

The analysis is based on the top 10 titles by revenue in the ﬁrst half of 2024 and 2025 within the Simulation genre according to AppMagic’s taxonomy. The data reﬂects the US dynamics only and does not represent

performance in other countries.

Average Purchases per Paying User

ARPPU

Key changes in payment behavior

30 days

60 days

90 days

30 days

60 days

90 days

$50

$100

10%

App Store

Google Play

App Store

Google Play

YoY Changes

20%

28%

22%

YoY Changes

Monetization Report 2025 |

SIMULATION

Google Play

Min price

Avg price

Median price

Max price

2024

$0.99

$6.34

$4.99

$99.99

2025

$0.74

$6.84

$4.99

$99.99

App Store

Min price

Avg price

Median price

Max price

2024

$0.99

$6.94

$4.99

$99.99

2025

$0.99

$7.80

$4.99

$99.99

The most notable change occurred primarily

regarding the average payment amount
:

–
Both on the App Store and Google Play,

there is a clear positive trend
: the average

check for both ﬁrst and subsequent

payments increased by 17–27% on Google

Play and by 47–52% on App Store.

At the same time, no signiﬁcant changes in the

pricing policies of in-game offers have been

observed: the average offer price grew by about

10% on each platform, while the median price

remained unchanged.

As a result,
the top 10 market titles in 2025

mostly follow the strategy of attracting users

who pay less frequently but spend more.
At

the moment, this user acquisition strategy has

shown a noticeable positive effect on the App

Store, while on Google Play, it is yet to fully

unfold.

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behavior

Average Purchase Value

Most common offer prices

$10

18%

$15

$20

App Store

Google Play

27%

18%

52%

50%

47%

YoY Changes

Monetization Report 2025 |

SIMULATION

Most impactful offers

In most games, over 40% of revenue comes from the top 5 highest-grossing offers. The core of revenue is driven by hard currency packs, while special offers, passes, and

other types of bundles almost never break into the top revenue contributors:

10%

15%

20%

1700 robux

$19.99

800 robux

$9.99

400 robux

$4.99

80 robux

$0.99

Roblox premium 1000

$9.99

Roblox

Tiny cash pack

$1.99

Small cash pack

$4.99

Golden ticket

$4.99

Medium cash pack

$9.99

Large cash pack

$19.99

Township

10%

Farm pass

$11.99

Box of diamonds –

19.99

Special offer

$9.99

Sack of diamonds

$9.99

Special offer

$12.99

Hay Day

10%

15%

20%

cluster of diamonds

$4.99

pile of diamonds

$9.99

mound of diamonds

$19.99

handful of

diamonds – $1,99

trove of diamonds

$199,99

Design

Home

10%

20%

30%

40%

5,000 carats

$69.99

7,500 carats

$69.99

rookie starter pack b

$20.99

1,500 carats

$13.99

2,500 carats

$33.99

Umamusume:

Pretty Derby

Is your competitor missing from the list?

With our new
In-App Purchases Distribution
tool, you can explore in detail

what players are spending money on in games. Be among the ﬁrst to gain

access to complete insights into your competitors!

10%

12%

20%

15%

10%

15%

20%

Cluster of diamonds

$4.99

Pile of diamonds

$9.99

Mound of diamonds

$19.99

Handful of

diamonds – $1,99

Trove of diamonds

$199,99

10%

20%

30%

40%

5,000 carats

$69.99

7,500 carats

$69.99

Rookie starter pack b

$20.99

1,500 carats

$13.99

2,500 carats

$33.99

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics and is used in the new In-App Purchases Distribution tool.

The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

Monetization Report 2025 |

SIMULATION

Color Block Jam

Survivor!.io

All in Hole: Black

Hole Games

Hybridcasual
is

a parent tag for

games that combine intuitive,

easy-to-learn gameplay with added depth through progression systems,

unlockable content, and monetization features like ads and in-app

purchases.

Hybridcasual

Both classiﬁcation and associated data are based on AppMagic’s taxonomy.

The
Hybridcasual market

keeps growing

IAP revenue has increased by 84% on

the App Store and by 93% on Google

Play.

Key takeaways

Top-grossing games rely on

complex monetization systems

Most top-grossing titles feature

complex monetization systems and

generate signiﬁcant IAP revenue.

Paying users are now

spending more

By day 90, the share of App Store (US)

payers with ARPPU over $100 rose from

22% in 2024 to 32% in 2025, which

highlights stronger purchasing power.

The market remains

vibrant

Despite the oligopoly index rising from

41% to 43%, top titles still change

regularly, and overall market growth

remains strong.

ARPPU growth accelerates

across stores

US App Store users increased spending

by up to 71% in the ﬁrst 90 days, while

Google Play saw 31–43% growth driven

by more purchases per payer.

Checks rising on the App Store,

declining on Google Play

App Store users increased their
average

check by 30%, while it fell slightly on

Google Play, mainly due to shifts in top

titles rather than pricing changes.

Low-priced packs drive most

revenue

Most revenue comes from low-priced

currency packs and failure-triggered

offers, while no-ads deals lag behind

ad-skip tickets.

Season Pass becomes the

new standard

By mid-2025, nearly all top

Hybridcasual games featured a Season

Pass, which has become a standard

element for the new releases.

Yearly trend

Trends in revenue for 2023–2025 (worldwide) by platform

App Store

Google Play

Since early 2025, the
Hybridcasual market has shown strong IAP revenue growth: +93% on

Google Play and +84% on the App Store.

This was driven not only by rising downloads, but also by more complex gameplay and

monetization, which boosted the prevalence of Hybridcasual titles. Today,
Hybridcasual games

dominate the top grossing charts, and the upward trend shows no signs of slowing.

Monetization Report 2025 | HYBRIDCASUAL

The data is based on AppMagic’s taxonomy. Revenue ﬁgures reﬂect IAP earnings solely, excluding income from ads and alternative revenue sources.

Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

Oct 2024 – Sep 2025

YoY Changes

Google Play

$153.5M

$297.5M

93.88%

App Store

$236.3M

$435.2M

84.15%

Overall

$389.8M

$732.7M

87.98%

Key market changes

Growth in IAP revenue within the segment is

driven not only by the number of games, but also

by their quality and the purchasing power of

users:

–
Paying users are now spending more

In 2024, by day 90 of lifetime, only 22% of

paying users on the App Store (US) had an

ARPPU above $100, while in 2025, this ﬁgure

grew to 32%, showing a signiﬁcant increase

in purchasing power across the niche.

–
Entering the segment has become more

difﬁcult

The oligopoly index for the top 10

revenue-generating apps rose from 45% to

51%, making it slightly harder for new titles

to break into the top. However, the regular

turnover within the top grossing chart also

indicates that the niche remains dynamic

and continues to provide opportunities for

newcomers to experiment.

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics. The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

% of payers spending $100+ by day 30 / 60 / 90 of their lifetime

10%

20%

30%

30 days

60 days

90 days

33%

56%

46%

37%

39%

41%

App Store

Google Play

Oligopoly Index (for the Top 10)

2024: 44%

2025: 51%

Monetization Report 2025 | HYBRIDCASUAL

The strongest ARPPU growth was recorded on

the App Store
:

●
US users started spending 44–71% more

during their ﬁrst 90 days of lifetime.

●
At the same time, this ARPPU increase was

driven less by the number of purchases per

paying user.

Google Play also shows positive but more

modest dynamics:

●
ARPPU grew by 31–43% across different

user lifetime days.

●
Here, however, the growth was primarily

driven by an increase in the number of

purchases per paying user, which rose by

60–71%.

The analysis is based on the top 10 titles by revenue in the ﬁrst half of 2024 and 2025 within the Hybridcasual genre according to AppMagic’s taxonomy. The data reﬂects the US dynamics only and does not represent

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behavior

Average Purchases per Paying User

ARPPU

30 days

60 days

90 days

30 days

60 days

90 days

$50

$150

App Store

Google Play

App Store

Google Play

YoY Changes

60%

62%

71%

17%

$100

43%

31%

32%

44%

45%

71%

Interested in more monetization insights?

Analyze both permanent and time-limited

monetization strategies using the
Monetization

Intelligence
tool.
Click here to learn more

Monetization Report 2025 | HYBRIDCASUAL

The main changes in user spending occurred
on

the App Store: on average, users began paying

30% more, while the average check on Google

Play has shrunk
somewhat.

Shifts in metrics are observed both in games

that maintained their top positions and in newly

released titles.

The
average price of in-game offers also

decreased slightly on both platforms;

however, these changes are primarily driven by

shifts in the top games rather than by

adjustments within existing titles.

performance in other countries.

Key changes in payment behavior

Offer price

YoY Changes

Google Play

Min price

Avg price

Median price

Max price

2024

$0.99

$7.29

$4.99

$99.99

2025

$1.99

$6.32

$4.99

$99.99

App Store

Min price

Avg price

Median price

Max price

2024

$0.99

$7.28

$4.99

$99.99

2025

$0.99

$6.32

$4.99

$99.99

Most common offer prices

Average Purchase Value

$10

$15

$20

App Store

Google Play

37%

30%

32%

YoY Changes

$25

10%

13%

Monetization Report 2025 | HYBRIDCASUAL

Most impactful offers

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics and is used in the new In-App Purchases Distribution tool.

The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

The main share of revenue in Hybridcasual titles comes from low-priced hard currency packs and offers shown to players after level failures. Despite the heavy use of ads

in this genre, no-ads offers rarely reach the top, giving way to ad-skip tickets.

Tower War

Mob

Control

All In hole

Color

Block Jam

Screwdom

Is your competitor missing from the list?

With our new
In-App Purchases Distribution
tool, you can explore in detail

what players are spending money on in games. Be among the ﬁrst to gain

access to complete insights into your competitors!

Battle pass gold /

premium – $19.99

Vip big pack

$9.99

Gold upgrade
pack

– $49.99

Unit red

$99.99

Battle pass

silver line – $4.99

Season pass!

$6.99

A lot of skip

tickets – $17.99

Elite club

$14.99

Large pack of skip

tickets – $6.49

Medium pack of

skip'its – $2.99

10%

Small pack

$9.99

Pro pack

$6.99

Coins very small

$1.99

Middle pack

$19.99

Coins small

$7.99

20%

15%

10%

15%

Coin pack 1

$1.99

Keep up offer

$4.99

Beginner's bundle

$9.99

Coin pack 2

$4.99

Coin pack 3

$9.99

10%

15%

20%

Fail offer

$4.99

Coin pack 2

$7.99

Coin pack 1

$1.99

Coin pack 3

$14.99

Medium bundle

$19.99

25%

10%

20%

15%

Monetization Report 2025 | HYBRIDCASUAL

Offer trends: season pass

The Season Pass has become an integral part of Hybridcasual games.

Thus, in June 2025, one of the leading Hybridcasual developers,
Rollic
,

added a Season Pass to most of its games, such as
Knit Out
and
Hole

People
, while
Coin Sort
received its pass right with its launch.

Thus, the
Season Pass has become standard for the segment
and is now

present in its most popular titles:

Game

Offer

Price

% of revenue

Block Pass

$9.99

Screw Pass

Ultimate Screw Pass

$7.99 – 13.99

$9.99 – 16.99

Treasure Pass

$9.99

$14.99

<1%

Season Pass

$4.99 – 10.99

11%

Golden Pass

$6.99

Color Block Jam

Screwdom

All in Hole

Mob Control

Hole People

The information is based on AppMagic’s internal analytics. The data reﬂects US-only dynamics over the past six months for the Google Play platform.

*The data on season pass shares of total revenue and total purchases is presented for the month.

Monetization Report 2025 | HYBRIDCASUAL

Mike Koh

Google APAC

Our team leverages AppMagic daily to extract

actionable insights that fuel growth for our key

customers. Its intuitive interface and efﬁcient

workﬂow optimize productivity, while powerful

LiveOps intelligence tools deliver critical insights

for game operations.

Mike Koh

Principal Analytical Consultant

Testimonials

Pedro Ramos

Game Data Scientist & Game Designer

AppMagic is an outstanding platform if you need

reliable data to generate effortless market

investigations and draw various comparisons

from growth to performance, making it a perfect

ﬁt for a vast range of users (from high-level

decision-makers to growth teams and designers).

As a Game Data Scientist and Designer, I rely on

AppMagic to dive deep into product performance,

exploring my hunches and hypotheses, and

ultimately gain the clarity I need to conﬁdently

steer my projects in the right direction. Their

teams' commitment to listening and evolving

alongside their users, paired with the seamless,

user-friendly interface of their platform, makes

them an indispensable tool to navigate the mobile

gaming landscape.

Juha Lindell

Play Ventures VC

Director of Platform

AppMagic is invaluable in helping us put our

mobile investment strategy into effect,

offering deep insights into market trends as

well as performance and functional

excellence of individual players. Its fast,

intuitive tools make tracking retention,

monetization, and performance metrics

effortless, empowering us and our portfolio

companies to make data-driven, impactful

decisions. AppMagic's rapid feature updates

and robust taxonomy set it apart, providing

us with the intelligence needed to stay on top

of a fast-moving, dynamic industry.

AppMagic’s monetization tool is my go-to when

working on offers. It provides a clear breakdown

across genres and offer types, with plenty of

references from top games. Super useful for both

insights and UX/UI inspiration. Overall, it’s an

outstanding tool that makes my research faster,

sharper, and much more actionable.

Tatiana Kondratyeva

Play Pack

CEO

As a small startup, we don’t have the resources to

conduct thorough market research ourselves.

AppMagic ﬁlls that gap perfectly. It provides us

with fast, reliable insights into trends, genres, and

monetization strategies. This allows us to focus
on

creating great games. From the idea stage to

dealing with LiveOps, AppMagic has helped us

prioritize what truly matters and avoid costly

mistakes.

Michal Korek

Advisor

Seohee Kwon

Supercent

Director of Publishing

AppMagic’s insights allow us to track market

trends, analyze competitor strategies, and

adapt quickly to changes in the hypercasual

gaming landscape. Their data empowers our

team to stay agile and deliver games that

resonate with players globally.

Testimonials

AppMagic is a one-stop shop solution for

analyzing the Mobile and Steam app

markets, providing comprehensive

insights to help you stay ahead of the

competition, identify growth

opportunities, and maximize your
revenue.

A next-gen toolset, it is designed to ﬁnd

actionable, quality insights fast and easy…

as if by magic!

What is AppMagic?

We simplify complex data into actionable

insights with an intuitive interface.

Whether you’re a developer, marketer, or

publisher, AppMagic empowers you to

make informed decisions that drive

success.

Any questions?

We are always happy to chat!

reports@appmagic.rocks

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