Puzzle accounts for 44% of casual mobile earnings in H1 2026

• Of puzzle's $4.9 billion net player spending, $2.5 billion came from match-3.
• Merge games made $1.3 billion in H1 2026.

Puzzle games accounted for more than 44% of all player spending in the casual mobile genre during the first half of the year.

According to AppMagic’s Casual Games Report H1 2026, puzzles' "grip is only tightening". The genre made $4.9 billion in net player spending during H1 with 51% coming from match-3. That segment made $2.5bn, a slight decline, falling by less than 1% year-over-year, meanwhile downloads grew by 10%.

Merge games contributed $1.3bn to the puzzle genre during the first half of the year, up 74% while downloads grew by 24%.

Select match-3 games are growing despite broader stagnation in the segment, while certain publishers like Century Games and Moon Active are doubling down on merge-2.

Match-3 and merge

AppMagic’s report claimed that, despite the scale of match-3 games, the chances of a new app succeeding in the space are very low. Categorising success as a game "reaching $100,000 in monthly revenue at least once in H1 2026", only one out of 120 new match-3 games met the criteria. That’s equivalent to a 0.8% success rate.

"Matching new projects to today’s genre standards is challenging even for the industry giants, and for newcomers, it's even harder. Still, the next shake-up in the rankings may be just around the corner," the report stated.

It’s well-established games like Royal Match, Royal Kingdom, Candy Crush Saga and Gardenscapes powering match-3’s majority share of puzzle earnings. Royal Kingdom saw the strongest growth rate among the top 10 match-3 games, up 188%. Dream Games’ follow-up title has actually been outperforming Royal Match when compared to its global launch.

With a years-long lead, however, Royal Match remains on top in the category, King’s Candy Crush Saga ranked second this H1, but AppMagic speculated that if Royal Kingdom’s trajectory continues, it may overtake Candy Crush and Dream Games could "soon" have the two most lucrative match-3 games.

Match Villains by Good Job Games was highlighted as a relative newcomer rising up the rankings, in 11th place during H1 2026. Like Royal Kingdom, the title launched globally in 2024. Both developers are also based in Türkiye.

Elsewhere in the report, AppMagic called merge-2 "the fastest-growing among the big genres", continuing to build momentum in H1 2026. Monetisation was considered the greatest strength of this segment, with player spending growing faster than downloads.

Microfun’s Gossip Harbor has been the top performer since October 2024. In March 2026, it surpassed $100m in net monthly earnings for the first time and it made more than half a billion overall during H1.

Meanwhile, Century Games’ Tasty Travels has risen from seventh place to second over the past year, with $127m net earned during the first six months of 2026. That’s still around 4.5 times smaller than Gossip Harbor, but the report considered "it could close the gap much faster than expected". AppMagic attributed much of Tasty Travels’ rise to UA.

The full report also explores hybridcasual.

PocketGamer.biz conducted an analysis of multiple genres this H1, during which time puzzle games rose above RPGs in player spending.