Every Wednesday we break down the latest data, research and financial results into digestible chunks.
Read on for the numbers you need to know about minus the fluff.
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Apple’s US App Store income ‘topped $10bn’ in 2024
Apple earned $10.1bn from US App Store commissions in 2024, up 15.3% year-over-year, according to data from Appfigures (via TechCrunch).
The firm estimates that apps accounted for approximately $6.28bn (62%) of the total and games for $3.83bn (38%).
Appfigures’ analysis found that US App Store revenue from commissions has more than doubled since 2020, when it came in at $4.76bn. Mobile games revenue from commissions has risen by 59% since 2020, and in 2024 it jumped by 12.7% year-over-year.
Apple is currently appealing a court ruling that forces it to let US App Store developers redirect users to external payment systems and avoid paying the iPhone maker a commission. Appfigures previously reported that about 350 new App Store games grossed $1m+ last year.
Kingshot’s rapid rise up the top grossing charts
GameRefinery’s April update noted the continued US revenue growth for Century Games’ 4X title Kingshot.
The game broke into the US top grossing 200 in mid-March, and continued to close in on the top 30 during April, says GameRefinery. It was also in the top three by daily downloads at one point last month.
Appmagic data (above) backs up GameRefinery’s claims, showing a rapid rise in both downloads and revenue since mid-March. The data firm estimates that Kingshot is close to earning Century Games $30m in lifetime revenue after over 10.6m installs.
Sega’s game division sees slight earnings fall
Sega Sammy’s game division saw sales decline 3.3% year-over-year to ¥216.8bn ($1.47bn) in FY25. Sales during Q4 were relatively weak, falling 30.6% YoY to ¥52bn ($352m).
Having joined the Sonic maker partway through FY24, Rovio completed its first full financial year as a Sega subsidiary in March. The Angry Birds maker generated sales of ¥7.9bn ($53.4m) in Q4, which was down 7% YoY.
Rovio’s full year sales contribution was ¥33.7bn ($227.7m). That made up 15.5% of the game division’s total sales in FY25, but fell 22% short of Sega’s previously issued full year guidance of ¥43.3bn ($293.5m).
Sega Sammy Group posted full year sales of ¥428.9bn ($2.9bn, down 8.5% YoY), operating income of ¥48.1bn ($325m, down 16.8% YoY), and a profit of ¥45.1bn ($304m, up 36.3% YoY).
Playtika posts record Q1 sales of $706m
Playtika has posted record Q1 revenue of $706m, up 8.6% sequentially and 8.4% year-over-year, driven partly by last year’s acquisition of Dice Dreams maker SuperPlay.
Net income for the three months ended on March 31 totalled $30.6m, which was down 42.3% YoY, while adjusted EBITDA was $167.3m, a decrease of 9% sequentially and drop of 9.9% YoY.
The Israeli publisher also released the following numbers as part of its Q1 results:
- Average daily paying users totalled 390k, up 15% sequentially and 26.2% YoY
- Average payer conversion of 4.3%, up from 4.2% in Q4 2024 and 3.5% in Q1 2024
- Bingo Blitz revenue was $162.4m, an increase of 2.1% sequentially and 3.1% YoY
- Slotomania revenue was $111.8m, a decrease of 5.5% sequentially and 17.4% YoY
Fuse Games raises $7m
Istanbul-based mobile studio Fuse Games has closed a $7m funding round led by Griffin Gaming Partners, with participation from Lakestar, NFX Capital, and Actera.
Fuse’s co-founders include director of operations Yavuz Topçuoğlu and art director Umut B., who previously served as business development manager and creative director respectively at Fiona’s Farm maker Ace Games.
The funding will be used to support development of Fuse’s debut title, which is billed as a globally accessible original IP, as well as to grow its 12-strong team and to invest in proprietary tools and tech.
Alpaka Games secures $2.25m
Istanbul’s Alpaka Games has raised $2.25m in a seed funding round led by Ludus Ventures, with participation from A16z Speedrun and Revo Capital, Mobidictum reports.
Alpaka was established last year as a self-publishing mobile game studio focused on hybrid action titles. Its co-founders include CEO Can Aksoy, who was previously senior game manager at Rollic.
