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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Valorant, Honor of Kings, Clash Royale star in Tencent earnings
Tencent noted in its latest financial report that the launch of Valorant Mobile in China was the market’s biggest mobile game launch of 2025, as measured by “first month DAU and gross receipts”. After that mobile launch in August, Valorant franchise MAU “more than doubled” and exceeded 50m, said Tencent.
The Chinese giant also said that Honor of Kings DAU reached 139m in October, its 10th anniversary, and gross receipts are up year-on-year. Mobile shooter Delta Force was also a highlight, ranking in the top three by billings domestically and hitting 30m DAU, with 10m of those players on PC.
Internationally, Supercell’s Clash Royale saw gross receipts rise more than 400% YoY, and monthly DAU hit all-time highs thanks to its new Merge Tactics mode and Trophy Road. PUBG Mobile revenue was also up YoY.
Google Play’s European and MENA turnover hit $3.36bn in 2024
Google Commerce, the Ireland-based tax entity that manages a good chunk of Google revenue, had a turnover of €2.9bn ($3.36bn) in 2024, The Irish Times reports. That figure is effectively flat year-over-year, says the newspaper.
The company’s accounts include Google Play transactions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and also records retail sales of the Google Pixel mobile phone range, likely a small part of the earnings overall. Google Commerce saw pretax profits fall 44% year-over-year to €14.1m ($16.3m). It paid €2.7m ($3.1m) in taxes in 2024.
Mobile games revenue topped $4.8bn in October
Mobile game revenue hit $4.83bn in October, according to Sensor Tower data published by The Game Business.
That was up 5% from $4.6bn recorded in both October 2024 and September 2025. Last War Survival was the market leader with $148.7m in consumer spend, followed by Honor of Kings with $129.4m and Royal Clash – the China-only version of Clash Royale – with $122m.
3.78bn mobile games were downloaded in October. That was down 8.3% from 4.12bn downloads in October 2024, but up 2.2% from 3.7bn downloads this September.
SuperGears secures $2.1m seed funding
Turkish mobile game studio SuperGears has completed a $2.1m seed funding round. Portfolio management company Hedef Portföyled led the round, with participation from APY Ventures, Krafton, and existing investors.
SuperGears was founded in 2022 and completed a $1.5m pre-seed investment round the following year. Its first game, Racing Kingdom: King of Drag, was released globally for iOS and Android in June and has attracted 1.6m players.
Mobile game IAP revenue topped $57bn in the year to September
Mobile games market IAP revenue for the 12 months ended in September 2025 was up 3.4% YoY to $57.1bn, according to Appmagic data.
The App Store generated $36.8bn worldwide during the period, which was up 5.46% YoY, while Google Play revenue was down 0.12% to $20.3bn.
Revenue from midcore games was up 2.99% YoY to $31.9bn in the 12 months ended in September, while casual games revenue grew 2.26% to $19.9bn.
By far the greatest growth came from hypercasual titles, which saw revenue rocket 87.8% YoY, albeit to a relatively low $688.8m.
The top 10 countries by revenue during this period were unchanged from the previous year. The US led the way with $18.2bn (-3.47% YoY), followed by China with $10.3bn (-8.54% YoY) and Japan with $7.9bn (-7.09% YoY).
While most eastern markets experienced YoY revenue declines, most western countries in the top 10 showed growth. These included Germany with revenue of $1.93bn (+1.78%), the UK with $1.6bn (+9.68%), and Canada with $1.1bn (+1.06%).
The strongest revenue growth was observed in Latin America, Russia, the Middle East and western Europe. Argentina led the way, with revenue growing 21.97% YoY to reach $57.3m. Revenue in the United Arab Emirates was up 16% to $245.2m, and revenue in Russia grew 15.5% to $210.6m.
Worldwide revenue for strategy games during the 12 months ended in September was up 25.5% YoY to $13.5bn, with the App Store generating over two thirds of the total.
The greatest YoY growth among strategy subgenres was for card battlers, which saw revenue jump 213.12% to $1.4bn. The leading subgenre, 4X strategy, saw revenue rise 25.84% YoY to $6.9bn, while MOBA revenue fell 4.9% to $2.1bn.
The RPG market saw revenue decline by 15.35% YoY to $11.6bn, a drop of 13.6% on Google Play and a decline of 16.44% on the App Store. Most of the decrease occurred in eastern markets, with China experiencing the largest decline of 25%.
Tactical RPGs showed the biggest YoY growth, with revenue up 55.79% to $419.8m. Puzzle RPGs saw the greatest YoY decline, with revenue dropping 28.17% to $682.2m. The leading subgenre was team battlers, which brought in $3.3bn despite a 14.39% YoY decline.
The puzzle game market saw revenue jump 14.72% YoY to $8.8bn. The highest revenue growth was in Tier-1 countries like the UK (+28%) and Ireland (+24%). Match 3 was the dominant subgenre, with revenue up 4.13% YoY to $4.6bn. Block puzzle games saw the biggest YoY growth, with revenue up 911% to $156m, while ‘find the difference’ titles experienced the biggest decline, with revenue falling 42.56% to $2.2m.
Revenue for the casino games market was down 7.55% YoY to $7.2bn, with most of the decrease coming from Tier-1 countries, including the sharpest drop in the US (-11%).
Slot games were the biggest subgenre, generating $2.6bn in revenue, which was down 10.66% YoY. Plinko games revenue was up 1061.09% YoY to $888k, while pachinko revenue dropped 39.66% YoY to $750k.
Simulation game revenue was up 11.24% YoY to $4.8bn, driven by a 15.79% App Store rise. Sandbox was the largest subgenre, with revenue up 26.9% YoY to $1.4bn. Job simulator games experienced the biggest YoY growth, with revenue up 107.12% to $14.5m, while fishing simulator titles saw the biggest decline, with revenue down 40.26% to $41.8m.
Revenue for the hybridcasual market was up 87.98% YoY, from $389.8m to $732.7m in the 12 months ended in September.
