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Monopoly Go leads as US mobile gaming spend rises 1% in 2025
US consumer spending on mobile games content in December was flat YoY, but for 2025 as a whole it increased 1% YoY.
That helped drive a 1% YoY increase in spending on video game content across all platforms in 2025, which reached $52.3bn, according to data from Sensor Tower and market research firm Circana.
The top 10 mobile games by US consumer spend in December (plus their rank change compared to November) were:
1. Monopoly Go (-)
2. Last War: Survival (+1)
3. Royal Match (-1)
4. Candy Crush Saga (-)
5. Kingshot (+1)
6. Gossip Harbor (+1)
7. Clash Royale (-2)
8. Whiteout Survival (-)
9. Royal Kingdom (+3)
10. Last Z: Survival (+2)
“Out with the old, in with the new,” said Sensor Tower lead gaming insights analyst Sam Aune. “With the exception of Gossip Harbor, newer games are taking spots away from legacy titles. With Last Z: Survival cracking the top 10, now four out of the top 10 mobile games by US in-app purchase revenue are part of the new wave of 4x strategy games from Chinese publishers taking over mobile gaming.”
Mobile gaming IAP revenue rose to $81.75bn in 2025
Mobile gaming IAP revenue increased 1.3% YoY to reach $81.75bn in 2025, according to Sensor Tower’s annual State of Mobile report.
IAP revenue for both midcore and casual games was essentially flat YoY, totalling $44.68bn and $32.7bn respectively, but hybridcasual games saw revenue jump 20% YoY to $4.2bn.
Driven by the success of Last War: Survival and Whiteout Survival, strategy games saw the biggest 2025 revenue gains across major regions, while puzzle games posted strong gains, most notably in Europe and North America.
Worldwide mobile game downloads declined by 7.2% YoY, falling to 50.41bn in 2025.
Downloads declined across casual (-19.5% YoY to 14.35bn), midcore (-10.2% YoY to 5.48bn) and hybridcasual (-10.6% YoY to 6.09bn), while hypercasual downloads increased (+2.2% YoY to 22.05bn).
Strategy was the sole genre to increase downloads across Asia, North America and Europe. All other genres saw downloads fall across major regions, particularly lifestyle, simulation and puzzle.
In terms of engagement, total hours spent playing increased 0.9% YoY to 444.63bn.
Time spent playing declined when it came to casual (-8.2% YoY to 124.88bn) and midcore (-0.6% YoY to 225.65bn), but rose for hybridcasual (+7.4% YoY to 27.49bn) and hypercasual (+29.4% YoY to 66.28bn).
Time spent increased in the US and Japan following declines in 2024, and also rose in the UK. France was flat, while Germany and mainland China fell.
Video commanded a 53.7% ad type impression share in 2025, ahead of image (33%) and playable (13.3%).
Rewarded placements continued to grow worldwide last year, with the rewarded ad impression share up from 11.5% in 2024 to 17.7%.
Instagram was the leading social media platform with a 35.6% ad network impression share, ahead of Facebook (33.6%), TikTok (12.7%) and YouTube (12%).
When it came to in-app advertising, AdMob commanded a 33% ad network impression share, followed by AppLovin (27.3%), Mintegral (16%), Unity (10.2%) and Vungle (4.9%).
30% of mobile gaming CEOs predict double digit IAP growth in 2025
Investment bank Aream & Co has published the results of its second annual gaming CEO survey, which canvassed the thoughts of approximately 80 top industry execs from leading gaming companies.
Asked for their outlook on mobile gaming IAP revenue in 2026, 30% of mobile CEO respondents predicted double digit growth, 70% said they expected it to be more or less stable, and 0% forecast a decline.
When it came to in-app advertising revenue, the forecast was slightly less positive, with 23% predicting double digit growth, 68% not expecting much change, and 10% forecasting a decline.
In terms of the biggest growth opportunities for the mobile gaming industry this year, 58% of respondents identified DTC / webshops improving margins. Just behind in second place, 55% picked AI-driven workflows enabling faster iteration, while 40% predicted more breakout mobile hits.
Respondents suggested the biggest challenges for the market in 2026 would be a challenging UA / marketing environment (73% of respondents), competition for user attention from other forms of media (63%), and content saturation / oversupply (38%).
ZBD raises $40m
Fintech company ZBD has secured $40m in Series C funding from Blockstream Capital Partners, which will be used to develop its payment stack for games.
It said the funding will allow it to scale embedded rewards in games, extend its payments infrastructure into the broader creator economy, and bring payments innovation to PC and console.
ZBD also plans to expand global licensing and its commercial reach across North America, Europe, LATAM and APAC.
Last War tops December’s revenue chart with $136m
Last War was the highest earning mobile game worldwide for a third consecutive month in December 2025, according to Appfigures estimates.
Funfly’s 4X strategy game earned $136m last month (+14.3% MoM) to top the rankings ahead of Monopoly Go, which brought in $121m (+8% MoM) for Scopely.
Dream’s Royal Match held the number three spot with $103m (-9.6% MoM), ahead of Century’s Whiteout Survival with $101m (-12.2% MoM) and King’s Candy Crush with $76m (-3.8% MoM).
December’s top 10 generated $865m after platform store fees (-3.5% MoM).
Block Blast leads December’s download chart with 30.4m
Block Blast held off Roblox for the third month running to retain the top spot on the monthly download chart in December 2025.
Based on Appfigures data, last month Hungry’s game hit 30.4m downloads (+7.3m MoM), while Roblox was downloaded 20.4m times (+1.3m MoM).
The top five was completed by Pizza Ready with 16.5m downloads (+2.3m MoM), Subway Surfers with 15.5m downloads (-0.4m MoM), and Vita Mahjong with 12.7m (-0.1m MoM)
The combined top 10 racked up 150m downloads in December (+16m / +12% MoM).
Mag Interactive net sales up 3% for Q1
Mag Interactive’s Q1 net sales rose 3% YoY, totalling SEK 70.75m ($7.9m) between September and November 2025. Its adjusted EBITDA came in at SEK 14.16m ($1.58m), marking a 22.5% YoY drop.
The QuizDuel, Wordzee and Crozzle maker’s ARPDAU for Q1 increased 35% YoY to 9.3 US cents. Meanwhile, its DAU fell 15% to 0.9m and MAU decreased 17% to 2.2m.
Dino.io 3D surpasses 10m downloads
Dino.io 3D has topped 10m downloads worldwide since its release in 2022, according to publisher Fusee.
