The harsh reality of Mobile Game Dev in 2025

The harsh reality of mobile game dev in 2025:

97% of mobile games fail.

Over the past 3 years, 139,396* games were launched.
Only 3,704 reached at least 1 million downloads.
↳ That’s a success rate of less than 3%.

Most games don’t even cover their development costs.

Does that mean success is impossible?

No.

But it’s very difficult, even for experienced teams.

Plus, the mobile market isn’t growing like it did during the pandemic.

Here are two main paths forward for new teams:

𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗜𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
• Build a strong testing pipeline.
• Keep learning from multiple failures.
• Have a very long runway (>2 years) until success

𝟮. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀
• Think about PC, UGC, or web games.
• They might offer smaller revenue, but better chances.
• It’s a different risk-to-reward ratio.

One thing is clear:
There’s no easy win in mobile games.
Only hard work and persistence.
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*Data Source: AppMagic.