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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Nintendo’s mobile apps break 950m downloads
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa touched on the company’s mobile portfolio during its Q2 financial results briefing. “The cumulative number of unique downloads for apps published by Nintendo has surpassed 950m,” he said.
The figure includes installs of apps such as Nintendo Music and Nintendo Today as well as games including Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Super Mario Run, Mario Kart Tour, Pikmin Bloom, and the recently released Fire Emblem Shadows.
Sensor Tower recently estimated Nintendo’s mobile portfolio had generated 816m downloads and $2.27bn in revenue since Super Mario Run launched in September 2016.
AppLovin’s Q3 revenue jumps 68% to $1.4bn
AppLovin says its revenue for Q3 was up 68% YoY to $1.4bn. Net income for the three months ended September 30 almost doubled YoY, from $434m to $836m, while adjusted EBITDA rose 79% to $1.16bn.
The adtech giant is forecasting Q4 revenue of $1.57bn- $1.6bn, and adjusted EBITDA of $1.29bn-$1.32bn.
Unity reports 5% revenue increase for Q3
Engine giant Unity saw Q3 revenue rise 5.4% year-over-year to $471m. Its net loss for the quarter grew 1.6% YoY to $127m, while EBITDA was up 18.5% to $109m.
Unity is forecasting Q4 revenue of $480m-$490m, and adjusted EBITDA of $110m-$115m.
Q3 2025’s top games and ad spenders
Sensor Tower has estimated a total gaming digital ad spend of $8.7bn in the first three quarters of the year in its latest report. Dream Games’ Royal Kingdom is said to be the top ad spender for Q1-Q3, and has risen to 18th in Sensor Tower’s top grossing charts.
LastWar was the top earner from Q4 2024-Q3 2025, leading the revenue chart with $2.36bn. Royal Match ($2.157bn), Honor of Kings ($2.131bn), Whiteout Survival ($2.114bn) and Monopoly Go ($2.048bn) rounded off the top five.
In terms of users, Roblox was by far the largest game, attracting 392m MAU. Its closest competitor, Candy Crush Saga, had 124m MAU, while Honor of Kings placed third with 73m.
Shooters and geolocation games saw IAP revenue increases across all regions in Q3 2025 when compared to Q2. Most notably, IAP revenue for shooters was up 33.5% QoQ in Asia, and rose 19.3% QoQ in North America. IAP revenue for geolocation titles – led by Pokémon Go – increased 25.5% QoQ in Latin America, and 25.4% QoQ in Europe.
In contrast, action games saw QoQ IAP revenue declines in North America (-18.3%), Asia (-7.4%), Europe (-15.5%), Latin America (-13.4%) and the rest of the world (-14.1%).
IAP revenue on iOS in Q3 was up 1% YoY to $13.4bn, with Honor of Kings the largest revenue generator. Android IAP revenue increased 5.5% YoY to $7.7bn, with Roblox the largest contributor. iOS game downloads in Q3 fell 9.3% YoY to 1.9bn, while Android game downloads were down 7.1% YoY to 10.4bn. Roblox was the most downloaded title across iOS and Android in Q3.
Mobile app networks like AppLovin and AdMob had the largest share of digital advertising spend during Q3 in both the East and West, Sensor Tower says.
They accounted for 66.47% of advertising spend in the US in Q3, ahead of YouTube (21.47%), Instagram (4.69%), Facebook (3.9%), TikTok (1.89%) and others (5.74%).
In Japan, mobile app networks commanded a 52.58% share of digital ad spend, followed by YouTube (21.92%), TikTok (14.56%), Instagram (5.21%) and others (1.58%).
YouTube was the top platform for digital advertising on PC and console in both markets.
Dream Games had the largest outlay on digital ads for mobile titles in the US between Q4 2024 and Q3 2025, spending $373m.
It was followed by Tencent ($278m), Playtika ($239m), Microsoft ($212m) and Take-Two ($203m).
The largest game by US ad spend during the 12-month period was Dreams’ Royal Kingdom with $212m.
It came in ahead of Candy Crush Saga ($180m), Royal Match (161m), Brawl Stars ($99m) and Evony: The King’s Return ($98m).
Krafton’s mobile revenue up 15% in Q3
Krafton saw mobile gaming revenue for Q3 rise 14.8% YoY to ₩488.5bn ($333.3m). It said mobile growth was driven by global user engagement with PUBG Mobile content, including a Transformers-themed mode and X-Suit progressive skins, as well as strong live service operations.
Mobile accounted for over half of the South Korean publisher’s total revenue in Q3, which was up 21% YoY to ₩870.6bn ($598.4m). Its operating profit for Q3 increased 7.5% YoY to ₩348.6bn ($239.6m), helping it surpass ₩1tn ($686,9m) of operating profit in its first three quarters for the first time.
Mobile nets 46% of Take-Two’s $1.77bn Q2 revenue
Take-Two’s mobile games business “outperformed substantially” in Q2, according to CEO Strauss Zelnick, accounting for 46% of the publisher’s revenue during the three months ended on September 30.
Mobile revenue for the quarter was up 11% YoY to $821.6m, while net bookings from mobile increased 13% YoY to $818.1m.
Among Take-Two’s Q2 highlights, Zelnick said Toon Blast “grew 26% YoY”, while fellow Peak title Match Factory “achieved record net bookings and grew 20% over last year”.
Rollic also surpassed 3.8bn lifetime downloads and set a new net bookings record for the quarter, and the CSR franchise topped $1bn in lifetime in-game spending.
Playtika revenue up 8.7% to $675m in Q3
Playtika has posted revenue of $674.6m for its Q3 ended in September, which was up 8.7% YoY. It included record DTC platforms revenue of $209.3m, an increase of 20% YoY. Net income for the period totalled $39.1m, which was down 0.5% YoY, while adjusted EBITDA came in at $217.5m, an increase of 10.3%.
The Israeli publisher said average daily paying users totalled 354K, which was down 6.3% sequentially but up 17.6% YoY. And average payer conversion was 4.3%, up from 4% in Q3 2024 and consistent with Q2 2025.
In terms of its top performing titles, Bingo Blitz revenue totalled $162.6m, which was up 1.7% YoY. Slotomania revenue of $68.5m was down 46.7% YoY, and June’s Journey revenue of $68.3m declined 2.7% YoY.
Square Enix sales down, but profits up in mobile/browser games
Square Enix says company-wide sales for the six months ended on September 30 fell 15% YoY to ¥133.9bn ($872.5m), while operating income increased 28.8% to ¥27.28bn ($177.8). Sales for its digital entertainment division were down 25.6% YoY to ¥73.1bn ($476.3m), but operating income was up 19.3% to ¥20.1bn ($131m).
Within its games division, the Final Fantasy publisher said its mobile and PC browser sub-segment saw net sales fall 24% YoY to ¥29bn ($189m), “mainly due to weak sales of existing titles”. However, operating income grew 47.9% to ¥7.1bn ($46.3m). “Profits increased mainly because payment method diversification resulted in improved profitability”.
