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 without the fluff.
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Mattel buys NetEase’s 50% stake in Mattel163 for $159m
NetEase and Mattel joint venture Mattel163 is now under full ownership of the toy giant. Mattel bought out NetEase’s 50% stake in Mattel163 for $159m, and intends to release two games a year, according to an interview with Bloomberg. Full ownership of Mattel163 will accelerate that plan, the company said. The transaction is expected to close in the next few weeks.
Mattel163 was set up as a joint venture between NetEase and Mattel in 2018, and employs several hundred people. It owns and operates mobile card games like Uno and Skip-Bo, and the company says its portfolio has been downloaded 550m times, with 20m playing monthly.
Unity turnaround continues with revenue and profits up
Unity’s results for the quarter ended December 31 2025 exceeded the high end of its guidance as boss Matt Bromberg continues to talk up the company’s turnaround.
Bromberg once again highlighted its UA and ad revenue tech Vector as a highlight, claiming that it saw its third consecutive quarter of mid-teen sequential revenue growth. Unity 6 adoption is high too, he added.
Unity’s Q425 at-a-glance
- Revenue was $503m, (up year-on-year from $457m)
- Create Solutions revenue was $165m, (up YoY from $152m)
- Grow Solutions revenue was $338m, (up YoY from $305m)
- GAAP net loss was $89m, with GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share at $0.21
- Adjusted EBITDA was $125m with a margin of 25%, (up YoY from $106m with a margin of 23%)
- Adjusted earnings per share was $0.24
- Net cash was $121m, free cash flow was $119m
For Q126, Unity expects revenue of $480-490m. Its Grow business is expected to be flat sequentially, and in Create Unity expects double digit YoY revenue growth excluding the impact of nonstrategic revenue. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be $105-110m.
Socialpoint hits 1bn downloads
The maker of Dragon City, Monster Legends and more has now passed 1 billion in cumulative lifetime downloads, GamesBeat reports.
The milestone comes shortly after Socialpoint’s parent company Take-Two said its mobile division had grown 19% year-on-year, taking up 49% of the company’s net bookings. Barcelona-based studio Socialpoint was acquired by Take-Two in 2017 for around $250m.
Liftoff Mobile delays IPO amid software selloff
Liftoff Mobile has postponed its IPO in the US, amid a selloff of software and services stocks sparked by concerns about the threat to the industry from AI.
“Given current market conditions, we have made a business decision to take additional time before listing,” a Liftoff spokesperson told Reuters.
The mobile ad firm, which is backed by investment giant Blackstone, had been targeting a valuation of up to $5.17bn in its IPO, aiming to raise up to $762m. “We fully intend to pursue the public markets when timing and conditions best support our long-term vision,” the Liftoff spokesperson added.
IAP revenue growth slowed to 0.2% in 2025
Global mobile games IAP revenue growth in 2025 slowed to 0.2% YoY, compared to 3% YoY growth in 2024.
That’s according to a new 96-page Mobile Market Landscape report from Appmagic, which also found that game downloads rose 4.6% YoY in 2025, compared to 6.6% a year earlier.
The strategy games segment was the big winner in 2025, with revenue up 16% YoY to $13.3bn, and downloads rising 15.3% YoY to 2.6bn.
In contrast, RPGs saw revenue fall 16.6% YoY to $11bn, as downloads dropped 9.1% to 1.6bn.
Puzzle games delivered 11.1% YoY revenue growth to $8.7bn, with downloads up 6.5% to 11bn.
Meanwhile, the casino segment saw revenue decline 7.6% to $6.9bn, despite downloads increasing 15.8% to 1.7bn.
YoY changes (2024–2025) in revenue for the top 10 markets were: US (+1.7%), China (-2.5%), Japan (-2%), South Korea (-12.2%), Germany (+5.1%), Taiwan (-9%), UK (+5.7%), Canada (+0.8%), Australia (+3.1%) and France (+5.8%).
YoY changes in downloads for the top 10 countries were: India (+1.1%), US (+2.6%), Brazil (-5.1%), Indonesia (+8%), Russian Federation (-2.9%), Mexico (-4%), Vietnam (+9.6%), Pakistan (+11.2%), Turkey (-0.4%) and Philippines (+2.8%).
In 2025, the number of apps released globally across Google Play and the App Store rose by 25% YoY to 1.4m, with games accounting for 72% of the total.
The top games by downloads in 2025 were Block Blast with 368m (+66% YoY), Roblox with 295m (+37% YoY) and Free Fire Max with 287m (-2% YoY).
Honor of Kings led 2025’s revenue chart with $1.68bn (-3%), followed by Last War Survival with $1.57bn (+40% YoY) and Roblox with $1.46bn (+30% YoY).
Appmagic’s report also covers trends in D2C revenue for the USA. In this market, overall D2C revenue grew by 26% YoY, and by 38% for the top 100 grossing apps.
Elsewhere, it claims AI-driven advertising has become a standard practice, with 56% of the top 100 grossing mobile games clearly using AI to produce ad creatives in 2025.
Resident Evil Survival Unit tops 5m downloads
Resident Evil Survival Unit has surpassed 5m downloads, according to publisher Aniplex, which co-developed the strategy title with Joycity.
The latest milestone follows last week’s release of the game in additional markets, including South Korea, Taiwan and Egypt, meaning it’s now available in 176 countries and regions.
Capcom’s mobile sales down 39% in first three quarters
Capcom’s mobile games sub-segment recorded sales of ¥1.7bn ($10.85m) during the nine months ended on December 31, 2025, which was down 39% YoY.
Mobile accounted for 2.3% of the total revenue generated by Capcom’s wider games business in the first three quarters of its FY26, compared to 4.8% for the same period in FY25.
The Resident Evil and Monster Hunter publisher’s games business saw sales rise 25.4% YoY to ¥73.4bn ($468.7m) during the nine months ended in December.
Square Enix profits rise from mobile/browser games
Square Enix’s sales for the nine months ended on December 31, 2025 fell 13.3% YoY to ¥215.4bn ($1.37bn). Operating income increased 39% to ¥46.3bn ($295.8m) during the same period. Sales for Square’s digital entertainment division were down 23.7% YoY to ¥122.3bn ($781.4m), while operating income was up 28.3% to ¥35.5bn ($226.9m).
Within its games division, the Final Fantasy publisher said its mobile and PC browser sub-segment saw net sales fall 26% YoY to ¥41.7bn ($266.5m), “due to weakness in existing titles”. However, operating income grew 91% to ¥10.7bn ($68.3m), “mainly as a result of improved profitability stemming from diversification of payment methods”.
Lamar – Idle Vlogger tops 100m downloads
Lamar – Idle Vlogger has reached 100m downloads, according to developer and publisher CrazyLabs. Released in 2020, the idle clicker and life simulation game sees players guiding the title character from being a broke no-hoper to a viral streaming tycoon.
