Liftoff(Vungle)Must-Know Highlights From the 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report
The Liftoff 2025 Casual Gaming Report reveals important mobile gaming market dynamics.
Android shows higher Installs Per Mille (IPM) with broader audience appeal, while iOS has higher acquisition costs but delivers significantly better Day-30 Return On Ad Spend (ROAS), especially for sports and kids games.
Approximately half of casual game installs come from hypercasual and puzzle games, with non-gaming apps like utility and entertainment providing new audience opportunities.
Key trends include the rise of hypercasual/puzzle hybrids, growing popularity of live events for engagement, and innovative monetization through audio ads, temporary ad removal offers, and customizable in-app purchase bundles.
You Might Also Like
AppsFlyerWinning mobile banking users – your ultimate guide to trust and growth in the age of privacy
Banking apps are essential digital channels that combine core banking services with mobile convenience. They face unique challenges including strict privacy regulations, fraud prevention, and complex customer journey measurement. Success requires granular analytics, personalized experiences, and compliance-focused marketing strategies to drive engagement and retention.
Liftoff(Vungle)What Mobile Game Developers Can Learn from the Winners of the 2025 Mobile Appdev Awards
The AppDev Awards highlight top mobile games in five categories: Diablo Immortal's WoW collaboration, Wild Rift's Arcane social event, Merge Mansion's casino minigame, Pokémon TCG Pocket's collecting focus, and Brawl Stars' successful evolution through collaborations and updates.
Liftoff(Vungle)Top Monetization Trends in the Mobile Games Market
Header bidding is rising in mobile gaming, shifting pricing power to networks. Hybrid models combining ads and purchases are popular. Future trends include direct-to-consumer stores and AI's potential role.
SensorTowerTop 10 Worldwide Mobile Games By Revenue and Downloads in April 2026
Honor of Kings led April 2026 revenues with Season 43, cross-promotion with its spinoff, and Ne Zha 2 event. Last War: Survival Game ranked second via Easter Celebration. Download leader Block Blast! remained top, while Arrows Puzzle Escape and Arrows GO! led growth.
SensorTowerCross-Platform Gaming: Bridging Mobile and PC/Console
The 2025 gaming market balances mobile's global reach with PC/console's premium depth. Mobile drives mass discovery, while PC/console delivers high revenue per unit. Winning strategies use mobile to feed premium ecosystems, maximizing cross-platform growth.
UnityBreaking down the completely destructible world of Deliver At All Costs
Far Out Games created a fully destructible 1950s world in Deliver At All Costs, using custom pipelines, aggressive culling, and particle effects to maintain 60 fps. Cars and buildings break into hundreds of parts, ensuring unique destruction each play.
Liftoff(Vungle)Leveraging User Motivations to Drive Engagement with AppRefinery and GameRefinery
AppRefinery and GameRefinery provide motivational frameworks and user archetypes to understand app user behavior. Tailoring ad creative to these motivations improves engagement. Successful apps like Instagram and Gardenscapes use motivational features to retain users.
AdjustFIFA World Cup 2026 mobile app trends for marketers | Adjust
World Cup 2022 data shows app installs surged 131-204% in the first week, especially on November 22. Engagement peaked around national team matches, with significant growth in sports news and streaming apps. Non-participating markets like China saw massive interest. Marketers should focus on real-time adaptation for 2026.
More from Liftoff(Vungle)
A Year of Spend Shifts: Inside the 2026 Finance & Crypto App Benchmark
The 2026 Finance & Crypto App Performance Benchmark reveals a 47% increase in UA spend and 2.15x re-engagement spend in ...
Apps and Trends to Watch: AppRefinery’s consumer app trends shaping 2026
Three trends for 2026: social features as retention drivers, advanced mechanics like streaks and collections, and AI as ...
PEPr: Structured experimentation that scales
Structured experimentation in performance marketing requires clear hypotheses, controlled tests, and validated outcomes ...
Mobile madness: Advertiser lessons from peak event days
Structured preparation and real-time optimization enable advertisers to scale aggressively during major events like the ...
Apps and Trends to Watch: Engagement strategies fueling Learna and Pengu’s rise
Learna and Pengu succeed by applying proven engagement mechanics to new contexts. Learna uses streaks for AI tutoring; P...
Apps and Trends to Watch: Prediction Markets Go Mainstream with Kalshi, Polymarket, and Myriad
Prediction market apps blend finance, social, and gamification to drive engagement. Leaders like Kalshi and Polymarket u...