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.
Unity revenue is down, though it beat earnings expectations
Unity’s AI-powered advertising platform Vector was highlighted as a big reason the firm beat revenue expectations in its Q225 financial results.
That said, revenue was down 2% year-on-year, and Grow, its ad business, was also down 4% YoY. Create, its engine business, saw a modest rise in YoY revenue of 2%.
Unity president and CEO Matt Bromberg added that Unity Vector delivered 15% sequential growth in the Unity Ad Network in the quarter ended June 30.
Unity’s Q225 in brief:
- Revenue was $441m (down 2% from $449m the year prior)
- Revenue from Create, its engine business, was $154m (up 2% from $151m the year prior)
- Revenue from Grow, its ad platform, was $287m (down 4% from $298m the year prior)
- GAAP net loss was $107m, GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share was $0.26
- Adjusted EBITDA was $90m, with a margin of 21%
- Adjusted earnings per share was $0.18
- Net cash was $133m, free cash flow was $127m
Roblox shares hit record high following Q2 results
Roblox shares reached an all-time high of $150.59 last week after the company’s Q2 user numbers and bookings beat market expectations, Investopedia reports.
On a year-over-year basis, Q2 revenue increased 21% to $1.1bn, bookings soared 51% to $1.4bn, average daily active users jumped 41% to 111.8m, and hours engaged rose 58% to 27.4bn.
However, the company also posted a net loss of $279.8m, compared to net loss of $207.2m in Q2 2024, while adjusted EBITDA came in at $18.4m, versus $66.5m a year earlier.
Roblox reached a record 32m concurrent players in July, while viral hit Grow a Garden broke a world record for the most concurrently played video game, attracting nearly 22m users simultaneously.
Good Job Games raises $60m to scale Match Villains
Good Job Games has raised $60m in a Series A funding round led by Menlo Ventures and Anthos Capital, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners.
The Turkish developer said it will use the capital injection to scale its match-3 hit Match Villains globally.
The investment follows a $23m seed funding round earlier this year, which was led by Menlo and Tripledot co-founder Akin Babayigit’s new games fund Arcadia.
Good Job, which previously made and then sold Zen Match to Moon Active in December 2022, claims its games have been downloaded over 3.5bn times.
Casual games generated $12bn in H1 2025
Revenue generated from casual games in H1 2025 was essentially flat year-over-year at $12bn, according to a new report from Appmagic.
While downloads during H1 2025 were up 5.78% year-over-year to 15.8bn, casual games revenue increased 0.8% compared to a year earlier.
The US, China and Japan retained their positions as the biggest revenue-generating markets, bringing in $5.85bn (-7.06% YoY), $766.76m (-7.31% YoY) and $737.39m (+21.76% YoY) respectively.
In terms of downloads in H1 2025, India led the way with 2.26bn (-1.98% YoY). It was followed by the US with 1.39bn (+9.68% YoY) and Indonesia with 1.29bn (+21.9% YoY), with the latter replacing Brazil in the top three.
Puzzle, casino, and simulation games continued to be the three biggest revenue-generating genres globally in H1 2025. Puzzle games revenue grew 13.23% YoY to $4.6bn, while downloads rose 4.67% to $3.7bn.
Casino revenue fell 15.51% YoY despite an 8.38% increase in downloads to 866.2m. And simulation games revenue grew by 4.65% to $1.1bn, with downloads up 0.88% to 2.4bn.
In H1 2025, three quarters of the top 100 grossing games came from the casino (41%) and puzzle (32%) genres.
48% of the top-grossing games were released between 2015 and 2020, while just 11% were released from 2023-2025.
Gameloft revenue up 8% in H1 2025
Gameloft saw revenue for the first half of 2025 increase 8% year-over-year to €143m ($165.8m).
EBITA came in at €8m ($9.3m), compared to -€12m (-$13.9m) for the first half of 2024).
Mobile games generated €71m ($82.3m) during the six months ended on June 30, while PC/console games brought in €65m ($75.4m).
Disney Dreamlight Valley, Asphalt Legends Unite, Disney Magic Kingdoms, March of Empires and Disney Speedstorm were Gameloft’s top titles, accounting for 57% of its total revenue.
Japan generated 11.5% of mobile gaming revenue in 2024
Japanese mobile gaming revenue hit $11.5bn last year, according to market research firm Newzoo.
That marked a 2.4% year-over-year decline in dollar terms, but the picture was different in local currency, with the segment bringing in ¥1.742bn (+5.2% YoY).
Mobile accounted for 69% of Japan’s total gaming revenue in 2024, ahead of console (21%) and PC (10%).
Japanese players are highly valuable, generating 11.5% of global mobile game revenue last year despite making up just 2% of the global player base.
According to Newzoo, on average each mobile game player generated $204 in revenue in Japan in 2024, compared to $66 in the UK.
In terms of game preferences, the most popular genres in Japan last year were simulation (played by 47% of players), RPG (46%), adventure (45) and shooter (40%).
InnoGames tops €2bn in lifetime revenue
MTG-owned outfit InnoGames has reached €2bn ($2.32bn) in total lifetime revenue, with its flagship title Forge of Empires generating over half of the total.
The other biggest contributors to the milestone are Tribal Wars, Grepolis and Elvenar, each of which has generated over €200m ($231.7m).
The Hamburg, Germany-based developer and publisher said 99% of its revenue since its founding in 2007 has been generated through in-app purchases, with its largest markets being the USA, Germany and France. From 2007 to 2019, 27% of InnoGames’ revenue came from mobile, a figure which has jumped to 43% between 2020 and today.
InnoGames’ 10-game portfolio also includes last year’s Heroes of History, which the company expects to become “evergreen” after enjoying the best mobile launch in its history, and Cozy Coast, which recently soft launched.
SkeeBoost maker Liberty Pixel raises $1.1m
Tel Aviv, Israel-based studio Liberty Pixel has raised another $1.1m, bringing total investment in the firm to $2.3m.
The studio is best known for arcade game SkeeBoost, and has two more games coming, Roll Masters and Merge Match: Bubble Puzzle.
Japan and Korea markets to top $30bn by 2029
The East Asia (Japan and Korea) games market is expected to grow to over $30bn in 2029.
That’s according to a new five-year market forecast from Niko Partners, which estimates the region generated $29.1bn in games revenue in 2024, which was down 3.1% YoY.
Revenue is forecast to decline again this year, by 2.3% to $28.5bn, before rebounding next year, and growing to $30.3bn in 2029 at a 5-year CAGR of 0.8%.
The gamer population in the East Asia market is expected to grow by 1.3% in 2025 to 98.4m, and to reach 101.7m by 2029 at a 5-year CAGR of 0.9%.
