Sensor Tower reveals the hidden impact of D2C revenue in mobile games

Sensor Tower shared a glimpse of the hidden impact of direct-to-consumer revenue in mobile gaming.

Speaking at the State of Gaming Summit 2026, Sensor Tower SVP for gaming and entertainment Chirag Ambwani revealed how some mobile games are reaching 30%+ in D2C sales.

Sensor Tower is preparing a new feature for its platform that will provide estimates and insights on web store revenue. Looking at the top five genres by web store revenue share in the US during H1 2026, casino topped the list. Of the major top 100 casino titles, about 30% of revenue now stems from outside the app stores.

RPG was a close second, while tabletop also had a large share of web store sales. Strategy and particularly puzzle had a low share of D2C sales. Casino had the highest number of web store apps in the US, surprisingly followed by puzzle, despite its lack of D2C revenue compared to IAP.

Highlighting Monopoly Go, Ambwani said that while it has looked like Monopoly Go revenue is on the decline from App Store and Google Play estimates, web store sales are said to have grown substantially to around a third of its revenue.

In terms of how web stores generate their traffic, direct (users who reach a site by typing in the URL, using a bookmark or clicking a saved link) and social are the primary channels worldwide.

For Supercell, 56% of web store traffic was estimated to be driven directly, while social accounted for 37%. The Clash Royale and Brawl Stars developer works closely with its creator community on its titles, with teams dedicated to supporting these efforts.

Monopoly Go, Call of Duty: Mobile and Zynga Poker saw the vast majority of traffic driven through direct channels.

Raid: Shadow Legends saw 47% driven directly, while 49% was actually driven by social. Ambwani noted how Plarium is using Facebook and TikTok social campaigns to drive its web stores.

Sensor Tower did not give a headline figure for how much the D2C space is currently worth. In H1 2026, IAP revenue stood at around $40bn, marking a 2% decline year-over-year. It’s been around the same level for the last three years in a row. These estimates only include store revenue and not D2C, however.

Previously, an Appcharge report estimated that the D2C market could be worth as much as $17 billion or more. We’ve been tracking how much public games companies are making from their D2C strategies over recent quarters, with some companies generating around 40% or more off-store.