Direct-to-consumer sales hit record levels again in Q4

• Playtika reported $250.1 million in D2C revenue in Q4.
• Modern Times Group D2C sales hit 32% of revenue in Q4.
• Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said its mobile D2C business delivered its strongest quarter on record.

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For the last few quarters we’ve been regularly tracking direct-to-consumer revenue at the top public companies.

Between July and September, publishers were reporting record D2C sales. So did that continue into October to December?

Playtika reported $250.1 million in D2C revenue in Q4, accounting for 36.8% of sales in Q4. This was up 19.5% from the previous quarter and 43.2% year-over-year. Meanwhile, it ended 2025 with approximately $1 billion in annualised D2C revenue.

There was a 9.9% decline in third-party platform revenue Y/Y to $428.7m in Q4, which has been in decline every quarter in 2025. Overall sales were only up 4.4% overall. It’s worth noting again that market intelligence companies do not track D2C spend, raising question marks on directional accuracy. We understand Sensor Tower is working on providing estimates for these sales.

"This marks a clear shift in how we engage with players and process transactions," said Playtika CEO Robert Antokol. "We are building a multi-channel D2C strategy and we are consistently optimising those channels to improve unit economics and strengthen our business over time."

Publisher Stillfront said D2C sales now make up 45% of total bookings, an increase from 34% in Q4 2024. This has helped increase margins to 27% from 24% the year prior. Worth noting that user acquisition costs ate up 26% of revenue, which was down Y/Y, though the company said this was due to a focus on profitability.

Modern Times Group was another publisher reporting strong D2C sales. It hit 32% of revenue, which includes browser, in Q4, up from 19% the year prior. Total UA costs accounted for 38% of group revenue in Q4, compared to 40% in 2024, though the publisher noted marketing costs had actually increased.

Ten Square Games said from Q1 2026, sales from its TSG Store and other external links will be reported together as D2C platform sales as it expands to take advantage of alternative payment methods in the US. It expects further growth in D2C sales, which were actually down on its store to an 18.7% share of revenue in December - the third lowest of the year.

Elsewhere, SciPlay saw D2C account for a record 25% of sales in Q4 2025, or $48m, up from 13% the year prior. Huuuge Games welcomed a record 37% share of D2C sales, hitting approximately 41% in February 2026. G5 Entertainment, meanwhile, saw G5 Store revenue increase 20.1% Y/Y and 2.7% sequentially, helping drive profitability.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said its mobile D2C business, which of course stars Zynga, delivered its strongest quarter on record. He did note, however, that operating expenses for the business are expected to grow by 3% Y/Y - with UA investments to support “robust performance” in the company’s mobile portfolio a factor.

"We have introduced recent enhancements that enable more personalised offers, flexible pricing, reduced payment friction, and alternative payment methods," said Zelnick. "With the regulatory environment becoming even more favourable to us, we view direct-to-consumer as a meaningful growth driver that will help accelerate net bookings, margins and profitability."

Publishers are clearly enjoying lower revenue shares in some key regions and the loosening or even removal of anti-steering measures - like we’ve seen in the Epic and Google settlement. The elephant in the room though on how this ultimately impacts profitability in the long-term is rising user acquisition costs.

As industry analyst Matthew Ball estimated in his State of Video Gaming in 2026 report, UA expenses have exceeded app store fees on consumer spending since 2020. By 2027, ad exchange fees on ad revenue could pass them, too, he claimed.

Learn about the direct-to-consumer space and how publishers are taking advantage at our upcoming events like PGC Summit Malmö on May 27th to 28th and PGC Barcelona on June 15th to 16th. Newsletter readers can get a 10% discount on tickets. Subscribe here.