Now we’ve got six months of 2025 data, let’s have a little dig through Appmagic and see where we’re at.
First, the usual caveats: Appmagic’s revenue estimates are based on publisher payout, and therefore do not include Apple or Google’s 30%, ad or webshop revenue either, nor IAPs from China’s fragmented Android ecosystem.
Still, these numbers are indicative of the broad shape and size of things. Analysis and trends below.
You can find 2025’s top downloads so far here, too.
Some folks seem to think these top grossing charts rarely change, but that’s not the case at all. Sure, Honor of Kings is top, of course, but below that there’s plenty of games jostling for position.
Most notably there’s the relentless rise of 4x duo LastWar and Whiteout Survival, which have consistently been the closest challengers to Tencent’s MOBA.
This time last year FunFly and Century’s flagship games were in seventh and tenth respectively, but are now in second and third spots, comfortably ahead of Dream Games’ Royal Match in fourth.
It’s worth stressing both of these 4x games’ incredible year-on-year growth: LastWar is up from earning $438m to $895m, and Whiteout Survival also more than doubled its IAP revenue year-on-year, rising from earning $369m in the first six months of 2024 to $834m in the same timeframe this year.
Both Royal Match and PUBG Mobile are up significantly year-on-year too, but not enough to beat those two 4x games. Dream Games’ puzzler is up a good $200m compared to last year, and Tencent’s battle royale has earned about $120m more at the halfway point of this year compared to 2024.
Monopoly Go IAP revenue is down from just over $700m to about $680m year-on-year, though Scopely’s skill at directing players out to its ‘Tycoon Club’ webshop means this game is likely to be earning a lot more. Indeed, the Appmagic trendline shows a gentle decline since its webshop was introduced in October 2024.
King’s Candy Crush Saga is up year-on-year to the tune of about $90m, which will be of little comfort to the 200 or so staff to be laid off by parent company Microsoft. Add advertising revenue on top of IAP income and clearly those job cuts are not about the success or otherwise of King’s flagship game.
Pokémon TCG Pocket is the big new entrant for the first half of 2025, a monster hit however you slice it. It’s fading a little bit, though – it was earning The Pokémon Company nearly $100m per month at the start of the year, but was at around $55m in June, which looks like where it’ll settle after a frenzied launch at the end of 2024.
Coin Master has been remarkably consistent, and is up year-on-year by about $15m. It’s only dipped a little bit after the introduction of Monopoly Go, which is very similar mechanically, if not in terms of branding.
And seriously: what on earth has happened to Roblox’s iOS revenue?! Since March, Appmagic says it has only been earning Google Play revenue, and that income from Apple devices has flatlined. It appears to be the same for other data firms. We’re still investigating this one, but obviously the lack of iOS IAPs has meant a big year-on-year drop according to these estimates – from $563m at the halfway point in 2024 to $361m in 2025.
The top grossing games of 2025 so far, 11-20:
11. Pokémon Go (Niantic): $287m
12. Honkai: Star Rail (Mihoyo): $269m
13. Gardenscapes (Playrix): $245m
14. Township (Playrix): $244m
15. Gossip Harbor (Microfun): $233m
16. Love and Deepspace (Paper Games): $229m
17. Genshin Impact (Mihoyo): $222m
18. TfT: Golden Spatula (Tencent): $204m
19. Dungeon + Fighter (Tencent): $202m
20. Brawl Stars (Supercell): $200m
Pokémon Go is up year-on-year on 2024 by nearly $30m, meaning Scopely’s acquisition of Niantic’s flagship is looking pretty wise so far.
Heading the other way is Honkai: Star Rail, which posted a year-on-year drop in IAP revenue of a whopping $110m. There are contrasting fortunes for Playrix duo Gardenscapes and Township. The former is down about ~$16m year-on-year while the latter is up significantly from $198m at this point in 2024 to $244m halfway through 2025.
Gossip Harbor and Love and Deepspace are the notable new(ish) games in this 11-20 bracket, while both Brawl Stars and Dungeon and Fighter are fading, after tearing up the charts in the first half of 2024.
Outside the top 20, Peak’s Toon Blast has been growing again since the start of the year and has risen up to 21st place, while a wild spike in Tencent shooter Crossfire Legends suddenly boosted it up to 22nd.
Several stalwart top grossing regulars including Monster Strike, Clash of Clans, Homescapes, Fishdom, Fate/Grand Order and Evony all appear to be in gentle long-term decline now.
But Clash Royale is gathering pace again, and there are newer games rising through the rankings too, including Wuthering Waves ($133m in IAPs year-to-date), Travel Town ($127m YTD), Top Heroes: Kingdom Saga ($124m YTD) and Dark War: Survival ($119m YTD).
Royal Kingdom and new Tencent shooter Delta Force are both newish entries too, with both games posting year-to-date IAP earnings of about $94m.
