The gaming chapter, slide by slide. Numbers from Sensor Tower's data file.
| # | Publisher | Top app |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Azur Interactive Games | Worms Zone .io |
| 2 | Miniclip | Subway Surfers |
| 3 | Onesoft | Cookingdom |
| 4 | Voodoo | Hole.io |
| 5 | SayGames | My Perfect Hotel |
| 6 | Supercent | Pizza Ready! |
| 7 | ironSource | Bridge Race |
| 8 | Outfit7 (Jinke Culture) | My Talking Tom 2 |
| 9 | BabyBus | Game World: Life Story |
| 10 | Embracer Group | Lamar |
| # | Publisher | Top app |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tencent | Honor of Kings |
| 2 | Scopely | MONOPOLY GO! |
| 3 | Century Games | Whiteout Survival |
| 4 | Microsoft | Candy Crush Saga |
| 5 | Dream Games | Royal Match |
| 6 | Playrix | Township |
| 7 | FUNFLY | Last War: Survival |
| 8 | Take-Two Interactive | Toon Blast |
| 9 | Supercell | Clash Royale |
| 10 | Moon Active | Coin Master |
Simple, one-thumb games understood in seconds. Money from ads, not IAP. Highest install volume, lowest retention.
Polished mainstream games — match-3, merge, light sims. Easy to learn, layered progression, frequent small spends.
The hypercasual hook plus casual-style meta-progression. Ad acquisition with IAP retention. The only tier where revenue grew.
Deeper, longer sessions — strategy, RPGs, shooters. Heavy progression and competitive loops. Highest D7 (~21%).
eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate. Shared-map kingdom-builders with PvP. Drove the 2025 strategy boom.
Randomized character/item draws paid in premium currency. Backbone of mobile RPGs; one of 2025's growing live-ops formats.
Stacked battle-pass tracks (free + premium tiers, plus events). Long-horizon monetization the report names as 2025's other live-ops shift.
Running a game as a service — events, seasons, offers, balance updates. The report's main reason winners outgrew losers in a flat market.
In-app purchases — currency, gacha pulls, passes, cosmetics. When the report says "revenue," it means gross IAP. Ad revenue is separate.
User acquisition — paid marketing for installs. CPI = cost per install. ROAS = return on ad spend. Costs stayed elevated in 2025.
Share of installers still active 7 days later. Standard early benchmark. Casual fell from 18.5% to 14.9% over four years.
Progress between sessions — profile levels, permanent unlocks, base-building, collections. The thing that turns a hook into retention.
Three of the report's genre buckets. RPG: gacha-driven, mostly Asia-led, declined in 2025. Casino: small ad share, big IAP. Puzzle: match-3 + block; ad exposure +40%.
Rewarded: opt-in ads in exchange for in-game items. Playable: 15-second mini-game inside another app. The report's "high-attention" formats.
All numbers from the report's published data file. Slide titles, tier figures, the seven-year IAP timeline, 48-month retention curves, and Top 10 publisher lists match the report exactly.