Every Wednesday we break down the latest data, research and financial results into digestible chunks.
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Match Villains hits $4.5m in monthly IAP revenue
Monthly IAP revenue for Match Villains reportedly peaked at $4.5m in October. That made it the 13th highest-grossing match 3 title globally last month, when it was downloaded 4m times, according to Appmagic estimates.
Match Villains has generated $25m in IAP revenue since its release in November 2024 and it’s been downloaded 15m times, giving it a revenue per download total of $1.69.
Its Turkish developer Good Job Games, which previously made and then sold Zen Match to Moon Active, announced at the end of July that it had raised $60m to scale Match Villains globally.
Last War was October’s highest earning game globally
Having played second fiddle to Whiteout Survival for the previous two months, Last War was October’s highest earning mobile game worldwide, a position it last occupied in July.
Funfly’s 4X strategy game earned $124m in October (+11.7% MoM) to top the rankings ahead of Royal Match, which brought in $121m (+10% MoM), according to Appfigures estimates.
Whiteout Survival slipped to third place with $114m (+0.9%), followed by Monopoly Go with $112m (+1.8%) and Honor of Kings with $110m (+15.8%).
October’s top 10 games generated $955m after platform store fees (+7% MoM).
Block Blast tops October’s download chart with 20.4m
Block Blast returned to the top of the worldwide monthly download chart in October with 20.4m installs (+6.4m MoM), according to Appfigures. Hungry’s game last held the number one position back in June.
Following three months at the top of the rankings, Roblox slipped to second place in October with 19.2 downloads (-0.7m MoM).
The top five was rounded off by Subway Surfers with 16.1m downloads (-2.1m MoM), Pizza Ready with 12m (+2m MoM), and Clash Royale with 10.8m (+1.3m MoM).
The combined top 10 racked up 123m downloads in October (+10m/9% MoM).
Clash Royale hits new daily revenue high of $6.6m
Approaching a decade since its March 2016 release, Clash Royale hit a new daily revenue peak of $6.6m in September, Appmagic reports. That beat the game’s previous daily record of $4.9m, which was set just after its global launch.
Clash Royale’s monthly earnings have been on the rise since a February low of $12m, reaching $67.8m in September. And installs have been increasing too, hitting 12m in October, marking the biggest monthly download surge since 2017.
Appmagic’s report digs into the tactics Supercell has used to reinvigorate Clash Royale this year, including reshaping the in-game economy and progression systems, the reintroduction of a classic mode, and rebalancing gameplay.
Nexon’s mobile revenue was down 48% in Q3
South Korean publisher Nexon saw Q3 revenue fall 12% YoY to ¥118.7bn (~$766.4m). Operating income was down 27% YoY to ¥37.5bn (~$242.2m), while net income increased 41% to ¥38.2bn (~$246.7m).
Compared with the blockbuster performance of Dungeon & Fighter Mobile a year earlier, Nexon’s mobile revenue for the three months ended on September 30 was down 48% YoY to ¥33.5bn (~$216.3m).
The collective Q3 revenue of its three key franchises (Dungeon & Fighter, MapleStory, and FC) fell 11% YoY, Nexon said.
MTG Q3 sales up 108% YoY to $316m
MTG says its net sales for Q3 increased 108% YoY to SEK 2,987m (~$316.5m). Its UA spend of SEK 1,112m (~$117.9m) corresponded to 37% of revenues, and was up 37% YoY for its original studios, while adjusted EBITDA rose 73% YoY to SEK 675m (~$71.6m).
The Swedish roll-up group, which expects this year’s $620m acquisition of Raid: Shadow Legends maker Plarium to double its annual sales, recently raised its FY25 revenue forecast to between SEK 11.4bn ($1.2bn) and SEK 11.7bn ($1.24bn).
Embracer mobile games sales down 61% in Q2
Embracer’s net sales from mobile games during its second quarter fell 61% YoY to SEK 535m (~$56.7m). The decline was mainly due to the divestment of casual puzzle game maker Easybrain, which Miniclip acquired for $1.2bn. Embracer’s top five revenue generating titles in Q2 were Glow: Fashion Idol, Coffee Mania, Alien Invasion, Party In My Dorm, and Bus Frenzy – Traffic Jam.
Profitability as measured by adjusted EBIT in Q2 fell 83% YoY to SEK 63m (~$6.7m), yielding a 12% adjusted EBIT margin. User acquisition costs decreased 59% YoY to SEK 241m (~$25.5m), or 45% of net sales, compared to 44% of sales a year earlier. Total installs in Q2 fell 28% YoY to 181m, daily active users dropped 63% to 10m, and monthly active users declined 43% to 121m.
Sales down but net profit up at Ten Square in Q3
Fishing Clash and Hunting Clash maker Ten Square Games saw Q3 sales fall 3.8% YoY to PLN 90.4m (~$24.8m), while bookings dropped 17% to PLN 85m (~$23.3m). Adjusted EBITDA declined 16.7% to PLN 22.1m (~$6.1m), but net profit was up 42.3% to PLN 17.8m (~$4.9m).
In July, the company launched Trophy Hunter globally, marking its first new release since October 2022. Ten Square said the game enjoyed a successful launch, contributing over PLN 3.2m (~$879k) in bookings during its debut quarter.
Sonic Rumble grossed $300k on mobile in first week
The mobile version of Sonic Rumble generated revenue of $298k and was downloaded 6.8m times in its first week of availability, according to Appmagic estimates. That was enough for Sega’s title to place fifth on the market intelligence tool’s list of 2025’s top-grossing party royale games.
The party royale genre is estimated to have generated $808m in lifetime revenue, with NetEase’s Eggy Party accounting for 65% of total earnings. Eggy Party is 2025’s top-grossing party royale game, bringing in $103m to date, which is 3.6x the revenue of its closest competitor.
