H1 2025 genre analysis: Mobile strategy games surge to $10.6bn as RPG revenue tumbles

• The strategy genre earned $10.6bn globally and $2.9bn in the US during H1 2025.
• Player spending in RPGs fell by 11% year-over-year.
• Game collections saw the strongest growth, up 138% despite remaining the smallest genre globally.
• Arcade games grew the most in the US, up 52%.

The strategy genre was mobile’s top-grossing category globally during the first half of 2025, achieving $10.6 billion in gross player spending.

The figure saw the genre take gold from RPGs, which generated $9.3bn over the first six months of this year.

As the top genre, strategy accounted for 24% of all player spending in mobile games during the period. It also saw the third-most growth of any genre on the mobile market, up 26% year-over-year.

According to AppMagic data spanning player spending on Google Play and the App Store, strategy’s top performer is currently Tencent’s Honor of Kings. The game generated almost $1.5bn alone over the first half of the year, or approximately 14% of the entire genre’s revenue during the period.

While Honor of Kings has long been a top-performing MOBA, Last War: Survival’s rise to prominence also played an important role in the genre’s success. After a strong 2024, this FirstFun title achieved record monthly revenue in early 2025 and has made $1.2bn over the first half of the year.

Century Games’ Whiteout Survival has also been a major driver of this year’s growth, making close to $1.2bn during the period and more than doubling its H1 2024 sales of $538.5 million.

In H1 2025, these top three strategy games generated 36% of all the genre’s revenue.

Global contenders

While strategy rose, player spending in the RPG genre fell by almost 11% Y/Y, down from $10.4bn to $9.3bn. Like H1 2024, HoYoverse had the two best-performing RPGs with Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact, which generated $340.6m and $307.6m respectively.

This means that Honkai: Star Rail, the highest-earning RPG, generated 23% of the revenue achieved by the highest-earning strategy game.

Meanwhile, the Chinese version of Nexon’s Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile was the third highest-grossing RPG in the first half of this year, achieved despite this version being available in just one country. Following its status as 2024’s most lucrative new release, the game generated $286.3m in H1 2025 on the App Store alone.

On the global stage, the top three strategy and RPG games were all developed in Asia.

Meanwhile, puzzle and casino genres also switched places in H1 2025, with the puzzle genre claiming bronze at $6.9bn in player spending. Its top titles were Dream Games’ Royal Match at $974.8m, King’s Candy Crush Saga at $776.9m and Playrix’s Gardenscapes at $365.8m.

Notably, even the third highest-grossing puzzle game outearned the top RPG, yet the genre as a whole fell short of the competition by billions of dollars. The top puzzle games took a larger share of their genre’s overall earnings, therefore, whereas spending in RPGs was more diverse.

In fact, these top three puzzle games accounted for 30% of the genre’s total player spending over the first six months of the year.

Despite remaining the smallest genre on mobile, game collections saw the most growth at an increase of 138% since H1 2024. The genre hit a record $4.9m in monthly spend this March, with MX Innovation’s TopTop Lite leading growth.

The title targets users in the Middle East with games like Jackaroo, Carrom and Ludo included in its collection, and it has generated 69% of its player spending in Saudi Arabia.

Arcade games are also growing fast globally, up 35% Y/Y. The genre is currently being led by Homa’s black hole title All in Hole and Tencent’s musical QQ Dance Mobile Game.

It's worth noting that in the modern mobile games market, some games adopt mechanics from other genres. Meanwhile, these estimates only include revenue generated from the App Store and Google Play, and do not include sales from third-party Android stores and web shops.

United States of play

While strategy games currently comprise the top genre globally, in the US it’s puzzle titles that are on top. In H1 2025, the genre made $3.5bn of its total $6.9bn from the US market alone, representing a 51% share.

As was the case globally, Royal Match and Candy Crush were the two most lucrative puzzle games in the States, though Gardenscapes was down in sixth place. Rather, Microfun’s Gossip Harbor: Merge & Story was the third-biggest puzzle game in the country, where it made $125.3m over the first six months of the year.

The genre as a whole grew by 11% in the US compared to 16% globally.

Casino games, meanwhile, slipped from top genre to second, with the starkest fall of any genre in the US. Down 25% Y/Y, the genre made $3bn in H1 2025 compared to $4bn in H1 2024.

Scopely’s multi-billion hit Monopoly Go continued to lead the charge, having made 84% of its lifetime player spending from the US and picking up another $756.8m over the first six months of the year, although spending through the App Store and Google Play in 2025 is far from its peak.

Moon Active’s Coin Master ranked second for the genre in the US, while SciPlay’s Jackpot Party - Casino Slots came third.

Strategy rounded out the top three genres in the country, below its global gold but still generating $2.9bn from the US - 27% of its total worldwide sum.

Players in the US concentrated their strategy spending into Last War: Survival, Whiteout Survival and Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, which has recaptured 90s nostalgia and outpaced even Pokémon Go to the $1bn mark.

Meanwhile, arcade games landed on top for Y/Y growth in the States. Though the genre made just $287.2m in this market, that represented growth of 52%. All in Hole was the genre’s biggest earner, as was the case globally.

Strategy games ranked highly once again, landing in second. Spending was up 28% Y/Y for the genre in the US, compared to 26% globally.

Kids’ games ranked third with 19% growth, marginally above an 18% global average. While the genre is far from a top contender overall - making just $190.9m in the US in H1 2025 - its rate of growth does reflect growing interest in games like Budge Studios’ Bluey: Let’s Play and the potential of various educational games.

Conversely, a genre like simulation may have ranked fifth overall with $1.1bn in US spending, but it still suffered one of the three worst falls of the period, down 11% Y/Y.