Data digest: Savvy’s Moonton swoop, Liftoff kills IPO, Habby hits $2bn, Fallout Shelter, more

 

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.

This column is sponsored by Xsolla, which can help you to create a seamless online store where web purchases can quickly generate new revenue – from launch to beyond. Get started here.

Savvy set for up to $7bn swoop for Moonton

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang maker Moonton is set to be Savvy Games Group’s next big buy, according to a Reuters report.

Moonton is currently owned by Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company, which has recently been retreating from the mobile games business. If the deal goes through this quarter as expected, it would be another major mobile game acquisition for Savvy not long after buying Scopely for $4.9bn and Niantic’s game catalogue, led by Pokémon Go, for $3.5bn.

Liftoff cancels IPO

Liftoff has withdrawn its IPO filing without explanation, Bloomberg reports. It had filed to go public in January, but last week said the IPO would be delayed due to “market conditions” – particularly a recent sell-off of many large SaaS companies.

Habby tops $2bn in lifetime user spending

Habby has surpassed $2bn in user spending, with Survivor.io and Archero accounting for 40% and 22% of the total, according to Appmagic estimates.

Founded in Singapore in January 2018, the publisher’s biggest games by lifetime IAP revenue are Survivor!.io ($476m), Archero ($265m), Archero 2 ($156m), Capybara Go! ($139m) and Souls (56m).

Fallout TV show boosts Fallout Shelter

Fallout Shelter on mobile saw a significant uplift in daily IAP revenue coinciding with the release of the second season of the Fallout TV series on Amazon’s Prime Video.

According to Appmagic estimates, the game saw an approximately 3-5× jump in daily IAP revenue. Over the course of the show’s seven-week release schedule, Fallout Shelter daily IAP revenue rose from around $15K-25K a day to $50K-$80K.

The increase wasn’t as significant as when the show’s first season launched in April 2024. At the time, the mobile version of Fallout Shelter grew its daily revenue 10 times, Appmagic reported.

Sega records $200m impairment loss on Rovio

Sega has written down the value of Angry Birds maker Rovio, which it acquired in 2023 for $776m, resulting in an impairment loss of $200m. The company blamed competition in the market, particularly for “customer acquisition”.

“Rovio found it difficult to advance its initially planned business development, and the profitability of this business has fallen below the initial forecast,” it continued.

Sega said Rovio’s key titles have “declined more than expected” since the acquisition, too. At the same time, Rovio has failed to officially launch new titles as had been expected, and collaborative efforts like Sonic Rumble officially launched “but struggled as each KPI fell below expectations”.

The company also said it’s yet to see increased sales and profits as a result of its efforts to leverage Beacon, Rovio’s F2P game operation support tool.

Sega described Rovio’s Q3 performance as “sluggish”, with sales totalling approximately $59.3m. In a bid to reverse Rovio’s fortunes, its future game development will “focus on Angry Birds and Sega IPs including Sonic”, and Sega intends to promote the transmedia expansion of the Angry Birds IP.

Rovio has also appointed Daniel Svärd, who previously served as head of live game studios at Candy Crush maker King, as its chief operating officer.

For the nine months ended on December 31, 2025, Sega Sammy reported net sales of $2.1bn (+4% YoY), operating income of $129.2m (-54.6% YoY), and ordinary income of $155.3m (-51.8% YoY).

Mobile made up 7% of Ubisoft’s net bookings in Q3

Mobile accounted for 7% of the $400.7m in net bookings Ubisoft generated during Q3 of its 2026-26 financial year. That was down from 10% of its Q3 net bookings a year earlier. Mobile also made up 7% of the publisher’s net bookings for the nine months ended in December 2025, which was down from 9% for the first three quarters of its previous financial year.

Ubisoft also said Rainbow Six Mobile has topped 18m pre-registrations ahead of its worldwide release on February 23. The Division Resurgence, which is billed as “a faithful mobile adaptation” of the franchise, is planned to launch before April 2026, with a release date to be announced soon.

AppLovin revenue up 70% to $5.48bn in 2025

AppLovin says its revenue for 2025 increased 70% YoY to $5.48bn. Net income for the year ended December 31, 2025 more than doubled, rising 111% YoY to $3.34bn, while adjusted EBITDA rose 87% to $2.412bn.

For Q4, the adtech giant’s revenue was up 66% YoY to $1.658bn. Net income rose 84% to $1.102bn, and adjusted EBITDA increased 82% to $1.399bn.

Krafton’s mobile revenue hit $1.2bn in FY 2025

PUBG maker Krafton saw mobile gaming revenue rise 3% YoY to reach ₩1,740.7bn ($1.2bn) in FY 2025. Mobile accounted for over half of the company’s full-year revenue, which was up 22.8% YoY to a record-high ₩3,326.6bn ($2.3bn).

The South Korean publisher made an operating profit of ₩1,054.4bn ($731.5m) in FY 2025, which was down 10.8% YoY. Adjusted EBITDA declined 10.2% YoY to ₩1,249.9bn ($867m).

Krafton said PUBG Mobile continued to record growth in 2025 by “steadily expanding its core fanbase” through new themed modes and user generated content updates.

Compared to 2024, Krafton said the number of paying users for PUBG Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India grew by 5% and 27%, respectively.

Embracer mobile games sales fall 66% in Q3

Embracer’s net sales from mobile games during its Q3 declined 66% YoY to SEK 566m (~$63.7m). The drop was primarily attributed to the divestment of casual puzzle game maker Easybrain, which Miniclip acquired for $1.2bn. Embracer’s top five revenue generating mobile titles in Q3 were Glow: Fashion Idol, Party In My Dorm, Flop House, Coffee Mania and Sled Surfers.

Profitability as measured by adjusted EBIT in Q3 was down 80% YoY to SEK 80m (~$8.96m), yielding a 14% margin. UA costs decreased 70% YoY to SEK 254m (~$28.45m), or 45% of net sales, compared to 50% of sales a year earlier. Total installs in Q3 fell 43.7% YoY to 143m, daily active users dropped 65.4% to 9m, and monthly active users declined 47.1% to 111m.

Nexon reports record Q4 revenue of $808m

South Korean publisher Nexon has reported record-high Q4 revenue of ¥123.6bn ($808m), which was up 55% YoY. It said growth was driven by its MapleStory franchise, Dungeon & Fighter on PC, and new releases including Arc Raiders and MapleStory: Idle RPG.

Maple Story: Idle RPG earned a cool $22.2m in its first month on Appmagic’s IAP revenue chart following its early November 2025 release, reaching 31st place. It rose 12 spots to 19th place on December’s chart, with $33.5m in earnings.

Nexon’s operating income turned positive in Q4 at ¥7.2bn ($47m), while net income fell 66% YoY to ¥10.9bn ($71.3m).

The company also reported record-high full-year revenue of ¥475.1bn ($3.1bn), which was up 6% YoY for the 12 months ended on December 31. Full-year operating income was flat YoY at ¥124bn ($810.6m), while net income fell 32% YoY to ¥92.1bn ($602m).

Scroll to Top