Summary
In June 2024, Honor of Kings by Tencent surged to #2 in worldwide downloads growth thanks to its global launch on June 22, gaining 21 million downloads outside China. Manage Supermarket Simulator by Zego Studio topped breakout downloads with 28.6 million total downloads. Free Fire remained #1 in absolute downloads.
On the revenue side, Dungeon & Fighter Mobile led breakout and absolute revenue growth, generating $251 million in China alone. 三国：谋定天下 ranked #2 in revenue growth. Honkai: Star Rail had top in-app events.
The MOBA subgenre generated $1.2 billion in Q2 2024, showing strong market performance.
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SensorTowerTop 10 Worldwide Mobile Games By Revenue and Downloads in September 2026
September mobile gaming softened overall but delivered clear live-ops wins. Global consumer spending hit $6.13B, down 7% MoM, with the US at 28.7%, China iOS 15.7%, and Japan 12.4%. Downloads reached 3.56B, down 5.2%, led by India at 16.2%. ROBLOX topped downloads and revenue growth; Honor of Kings stayed strong via seasonal content; Candy Crush and Pokémon GO used music, celebrity, and event-driven engagement. For ad ops, prioritize event-aligned UA/retargeting, IP collaborations, seasonal battle passes, and localized creatives for US/India/Brazil. Monitor launch spikes from Bus Fever Party!, Honor of Kings Chess, and Brain Puzzle 3 to time bids and creative refreshes.
Liftoff(Vungle)The Casual Gaming Insights Mobile Marketers Need to Know in 2024
Casual gaming UA costs doubled to $2.17 CPI, with iOS at $4.83 vs Android $0.65. LATAM has lowest CPI ($0.44) but lower ROI. New genres like 3D Match and monetization trends like web stores are emerging.
AppsFlyerThe marketer’s guide to first-party data
First-party data, collected directly from users with consent, is crucial for marketers due to privacy regulations limiting third-party data. It enables accurate personalization, compliance, and cost savings. Key steps include ethical collection, maintaining clean data, and using it internally for product/marketing optimization and externally via commerce media networks.
AppsFlyerCreative optimization: Why your best video ad fails as a static image
AppsFlyer’s 2026 creative data shows video and static image ads reward opposite creative qualities, so ad ops teams should plan, budget, and test them separately. Video spend is concentrating: gaming’s top 2% of video creatives captured 60.7% of spend, up from 53.5%, while image spend spread out. Top spenders are testing far more variations, widening the testing gap. Action/Strategy and Puzzle/Lifestyle show format-specific tone and social-proof reversals; Finance is the exception. Teams should use AI-assisted variation, analyze video winners deeply, keep broad image testing, and measure performance at attribute level.
MintegralMaking the Most of Non-Gaming Marketing Opportunities
Non-gaming apps can reduce CAC by advertising on gaming platforms, reaching 3.3 billion monthly players. Creative formats like playable and rewarded video ads boost conversions. Key challenges include identifying high-value users and allocating sufficient budget for algorithm optimization. Successful examples include Buddy AI and food delivery apps.
AdjustThe sports betting app playbook for marketers | Adjust
Sports betting apps face high acquisition costs and ad saturation. Success requires unbiased attribution via MMP, cross-channel cohesion, and off-season engagement through personalization and gamification. Avoid ad fraud and optimize ATT opt-ins.
AdjustTop Halloween app trends and strategies for maximum impact | Adjust
Halloween boosts app usage across gaming, shopping, and entertainment. Marketers can leverage themed visuals, ASO, in-app events, and omnichannel campaigns to drive growth and re-engage users.
AppsFlyerWeb Gaming: The untapped path to lower CPI and boost ROAS
Mobile CPI and app store fees are eroding ROAS, making web gaming a viable acquisition channel. Full Unity-to-HTML5 ports now deliver 30-50% lower CAC and avoid 15-30% store revenue cuts via web payments. Measurement parity is here: AppsFlyer enables independent attribution, conversion signals, and unified reporting. Retention can improve; one strategy title jumped from 6-7 minutes mobile to 70+ minutes web. Best fit: deep RPG, strategy, puzzle, story games, not hypercasual. Action: audit catalog, pilot web ports, link accounts cross-platform, and use owned media to drive high-intent web users.
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