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 […]

Felix Braberg April 25

Analysis

Solitaire BOOM! Candy Crush and Disney Solitaires

Old Genre, New Momentum Solitaire isn’t a new genre — in fact, it’s one of the oldest and most familiar in mobile gaming. But recently, the genre seems to be gaining new momentum. It’s not often that 2 major studios release Solitaire games almost back-to-back, but that’s exactly what happened with Candy Crush Solitaire and Disney Solitaire. Both come from strong brands. Both use the familiar Tri-Peaks formula. But once you dive in, the experiences feel very different. In this article, I’ll break down the Core Gameplay, standout Features, Live Ops, Monetization, and the subtle tricks that make each game tick. And yes - I’ve played and paid them both ... a lot ;) Let’s deconstruct. Core Game Loop Both Solitaire titles are built around the classic Tri-Peaks Core Mechanic — a proven formula that’s been successful for years. Naturally, […]

Olha Semykina April 23

Highlights

Top 10 Hybridcasual Games in Q1 2025: The Great Puzzle Takeover

The Great Genre Shift: from Hyper to Hybrid Last year was all about embracing Hybridcasual and adding depth to Hypercasual. Both large publishers and small studios took the simple, catchy cores of Hypercasual games and layered them with Casual features, adding boosters, meta systems, and more refined monetization. We covered this shift in detail in our Casual Games Report 2024! This wave of change also led us to adjust our own approach. As developers enhanced their UA with LiveOps and monetization upgrades, we realized it was time to level up our reporting, too, which is why our quarterly Hypercasual Games reports are going Hybridcasual! IAP growth of the Hypercasual market If you’re familiar with our navigation system (and if not, just have a quick look here), you might be wondering how we analyzed the Hybridcasual segment if there’s no dedicated tag for […]

Andrei Zubov April 23

Journal

Most Monopolized Puzzle Genres 2025

Some puzzle genres are nearly impossible to break into. The top 5 games often take over 90% of the entire market.Here’s the full list of the most monopolized puzzle genres in 2025, ranked by how much of the market is controlled by just 5 games:𝟭. 𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗣𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲 – 𝟵𝟱% • $77M IAP revenue (2024) • Angry Birds still rules the roost. 𝟮. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲 – 𝟵𝟯% • $152M in IAP • LINE: Disney Tsum Tsum leads the pack. 𝟯. 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵-𝟮 – 𝟵𝟮% • $539M in IAP • Toon Blast, Toy Blast, Angry Birds Dream Blast dominate. 𝟰. 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝟯𝗗 – 𝟴𝟱% • $440M in IAP • Triple Match 3D and Happy Match Cafe™ hold their ground. 𝟱. 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵-𝟯 𝗧𝗶𝗹𝗲 – 𝟴𝟮% • $138M in IAP • Tile Busters and Zen Match are leading the charge. 𝟲. 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵-𝟯 (𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰) – 𝟳𝟱% […]

Anton Slashcev April 23

Analysis

Midcore Made You Click (And Lied About It)

Let’s be honest: Midcore games didn’t just define the genre. They defined the art of misleading ads. Remember this? A hero climbing a deadly tower… (not in the game) Epic boss fights with 5-button combos… (not in the game) A full-on dungeon crawler? Nope. Just a turn-based RPG under the hood. And the wild part? It worked. For years. Because showing the actual game was either: 1. Too complex 2. Too boring 3. Or just too mid So they did what marketers do best: They sold the fantasy. Not the product. --- 🧠 The “Promise” Era The golden era of fake ads wasn’t about fraud. It was about emotion-first targeting. UA teams optimized for: curiosity frustration problem-solving instinct Not clarity. It was smart — until it broke. Now, everyone’s seen the traps. Everyone’s watched tower puzzles turn into turn-based […]

George Tsomaev April 23

Journal

Top 10 Hybridcasual Games in Q1 2025

Top 10 Hybridcasual Games in Q1 2025: The Great Puzzle Takeover 🧩 With the trend of Hypercasual games enhancing their UA and monetization, we knew it was time—our quarterly reports had to go Hybridcasual too! 🏁So, here we go!In this article, we’ll cover:📈 The dynamics of the Hybridcasual games market: +67% YoY in net IAP revenue 🔎 Key Hybridcasual market trends: meta and boosters from Match-3 and Social Casino 👑 Leading titles and how they innovate: analysing the success of Сolor Block Jam, All in Hole, Mob Control, and Screwdom The full report here.Let us know in the comments what you think about this format 💛

Andrei Zubov April 23

Journal

For those looking to understand the mobile market.

For those looking to understand the mobile market, A treasure trove of data in Udonis' 2025 blog post...Some highlights:• There are over 700,000 mobile games on iOS/GP• Users spend 3.5 hr/d on mobile devices, 11% on games• Roblox was most downloaded mobile game in 2024.• Azur Games was the most downloaded publisher, by a long shot (1.4B DL)• Monopoly GO was the highest-earning game • Tencent was the top-earning Publisher• US aOS Banner Ad eCPM are 2x iOS' ($0.60 vs. $0.27)

Matthew Emery April 22

Journal

Chess.com App: Record revenue after 16 years

Chess.com's Chess app scaled to $200K a day Its record revenue after unbelievable 16 years in the mobile stores. How is this possible? 😱 This is an all you can eat buffet for everything Chess. The feature set is super robust from around 10 different modification of main chess gameplay such as blitz, ranked, limited time from 3 minutes to 14 days a move ⏲️ to single player content of puzzles to solve in level based fashion and of course a chess coach with fully fledge coaching lessons. The best part about this app is that it takes great focus on analysis of your previous matches, training you and giving you real advice. In the end you will really be better at chess, not just play a game. The most unbelievable part is that there is NO UA. Yes, you […]

Jakub Remiar April 22

Highlights

Mobile Gaming Today: April’22 Week

Ciao Fam, Heading to HGC Berlin soon. Hit me up if around 🕺🏻 👌🏻 Top Gaming Content » Royal Kingdom’s Hollywood Power Play: Last Hurrah or Royal Rebirth? Launching a new Match-3 game in today’s mobile market is like trying to sell umbrellas in the Sahara. Saturation, soaring CPIs, and razor-thin differentiation margins make even the most technically sound games struggle to scale. When Dream Games soft-launched Royal Kingdom two years ago, they entered this same storm, which quickly showed itself. After years of pivots and a rocky soft launch, Royal Kingdom is back. This time with what may be mobile gaming’s priciest celebrity campaign, starring LeBron James, Jimmy Fallon & Shakira. Dream Games’ high-stakes play has reignited speculation: is this a desperate revival, or the launchpad for a broader Royal IP? Now, nearly a clone of Royal Match, Dream’s […]

Ömer Yakabagi April 22

Journal

New Market Research Drop: Sports, Puzzle & Simulation Games

New Market Research Drop – Sports, Puzzle & Simulation Games In this latest part of my market research series, I dive into three of the most promising mobile game categories based on actual performance data:- Success rate of newly launched games- Top-1 and top-3 revenue concentration- Share of revenue coming from new titlesPuzzle games show massive scale but intense competition.Sports games offer longevity, but breaking in is tough.Simulation games are dominated by incumbents and hard to crack.The analysis is based entirely on AppMagic data and built for F2P game developers looking to validate their next move with data, not guesswork.

Jukka Hilvonen April 22

Journal

Live Activities Beyond Games: Real-World Example

👀 Exploring Live Activities Beyond Games: A Real-World Example Just took a ride with Gett and noticed this very slick use of Apple’s Live Activities on the lock screen. It tracks your ride progress in real time, lets you know when the driver is about to arrive, and even gives you the option to always allow Live Activity updates from the app.This kind of UX is so amazing.✅ Keeps the user informed ✅ Reduces app-switching ✅ Feels premium and personalWhile more and more apps are tapping into Live Activities for delivery, ride-hailing, and fitness… I’m still hoping to see more MOBILE GAMES do something cool here — especially for live-ops, streaks, or energy timers. The potential is there 👀

Michael Kopelovich April 22

Journal

Blend Textures and Icons with ChatGPT

🥚 Had a long Easter weekend off! So I had some time to play around with 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗚𝗣𝗧 and ended up diving into its 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 functionality.You can blend Textures like Candy or Fabric and combine it with your existing 𝗔𝗽𝗽 𝗜𝗰𝗼𝗻, to create visuals that feel hyper-realistic, tactile, and just way more scroll-stopping.The effects are subtle but powerful, it instantly makes your icon 𝗣𝗢𝗣!🧠 It tricks the brain into thinking the icon is more “real”. 👀 It grabs attention and make your icon stand out. 🎯 And it can lift your store performance without a full rebrand.Check out the slides for a few examples 👇

Richard Kos April 22

#Marketing

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