Monetisation trends to watch in 2026: "Player expectations have changed"

• Crackle's Jaivir Nagi, Merso.io's David Perez-Iturralde, gamesconsulting.net's Nick Murray, Fumb Games' Paul West, and Reactional Music's Matt Connors spoke on a panel at PGC London.
• They discussed the balance of ads, in-app purchases, and monetisation opportunities in 2026.

Panellists at Pocket Gamer Connects London took to the stage last week to decode monetisation trends, exploring what’s worked in the past, the current landscape, and what to expect in 2026.

Speakers included Crackle co-founder Jaivir Nagi, Merso.io CEO David Perez-Iturralde, gamesconsulting.net F2P design and product consultant Nick Murray, Fumb Games CEO Paul West, and Reactional Music CEO Matt Connors.

They discussed monetisation from both an ads perspective and in-app purchases.

Among last year’s trends, the panellists noted how streaks were popular in 2025, how focus shifted to long-term value, and that increasing efforts were made to consider ads like a core game mechanic. Nagi suggested the shift from hypercasual to hybridcasual was largely responsible for the latter, as companies need to retain users for longer in this newer genre.

"Should they be before a level or after a level?" he posed, discussing optimal ad placement. He argued the best time for an ad is before a level, before the user has had a chance to play, as placing one after the level could lead to more churn.

All about ads

Nagi, Murray and West debated the right balance of ads and the quality of them to earn revenue without aggravating users. Nagi argued that annoying users with ads or even featuring deceptive ads is a dangerous game in an environment where UA costs are so high, because they may be driven to the point of uninstalling - generating no more money for the game.

West said that Fumb Games spends around $2 million per month on UA, for example.

Users decide whether a game respects their time in three to five play sessions, Nagi believes, and they can tell when an app is "breaking their trust". He warned they will uninstall if they don’t feel respected.

"I think you make a really important point about fairness, and I think player expectations have changed over the years as well," Murray added.

But West highlighted that it isn’t always down to the publisher to decide what ads to show - that they may have partners who are choosing to present certain types of ads with high click-through, even if this doesn’t lead to an install.

"They’re terrible UX. They obviously work for the conversion and the click, sliding or attribution - however you want to define it. But we ask them to be taken down and it’s like, ‘Yeah we’ll look into it’," he explained.

"So, do you turn off your biggest partner until they turn it off? It’s a tricky one to solve."

"You’re bang on. I think you’re absolutely correct," Nagi agreed. "But advertisers are getting smarter: they know that this engagement is not of value to them. And users are getting smarter: they know when this is not a game they want to spend time on."

Spending incentives

The panellists also discussed in-app purchases and player spending as a source of revenue, with talk of ads leading the conversation to the paid removal of ads, too. West shared that Fumb Games used to offer a one-time purchase option to remove ads from a game, but has shifted monetisation models to a subscription.

He’s found this keeps player spending ongoing, as users continue to pay for an ad-free experience rather than buying their removal outright. He suggested the older model for ad removal, or even a purchase whereby players buy and keep something in-game, are going out of date.

Murray raised another prevalent model: battle passes. He said that every developer is using them now and that they’ve become "ubiquitous" in games, to the point that players can’t keep up with all of them. So, Murray believes players won’t pay for more than one or two at a time, and thus they’re unlikely to be a major trend in 2026.

He added that players are also more aware of "what it means" to purchase a loot box than they were a decade ago.

On the other hand, a potential trend for 2026 is fragmented payments. Perez-Iturralde highlighted the prospects of offering players a spread-out purchase to reduce the barrier to entry, making it easier for them to spend and receive something in-game while paying for it in instalments.

Whether fragmented or a more traditional purchase, he noted the importance of reducing friction in in-app purchases.

Finally, Connors raised music as an "untapped" personalisation feature, and as an ad form that hasn’t been fully utilised by games.

Pocket Gamer Connects London also saw a group of panellists provide an industry health check, assessing the state of the post-pandemic games sector from AI to direct-to-consumer.

Tickets are now available for Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco.