The mobile games industry trends that shaped 2025
- Chinese publishers are seeing increased global success, providing competition to Western publishers in their home markets.
- Regulation has opened up the App Store and Google Play to direct-to-consumer platforms and better profits for developers.
- Non-gaming has overtaken games for App Store revenue - we look at what that means for the industry and investment.
- Top UGC games like Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot broke player records this year - but is the business case there yet for major studi
The end of the year always marks a time for retrospective, and looking back, 2025 was a year that will shape the mobile games industry for years to come.
Last year we wrote about web shops, regulatory changes, layoffs, AI, cross-platform and web gaming. Some of these, like AI, felt like they were rumbling under the surface. Regulatory changes were still making their way through bureaucratic hurdles and endless legal challenges in the courts.
This year though, many of these trends, and others, came to a head. Below we’ve rounded a few of those that shaped 2025.
The rise of China
China’s games industry has long had an influential reach in the sector. Whether that’s its enormously lucrative home market, or giants Tencent and Netease expanding Westward.
This year, however, Chinese developers and publishers stamped their authority on the global market, while Netease retreated from overseas investments. Of the top 10 grossing mobile games, four came from China - Honor of Kings, Last War, Whiteout Survival, and PUBG Mobile. Century Games, meanwhile, ranked number one on the PocketGamer.biz Top 50 Mobile Game Makers 2025 list.
One of the main dramatic changes this year has been Chinese developers finding global success from homegrown titles - across platforms. Last year saw the launches of hit titles Black Myth: Wukong and Marvel Rivals. That’s continued into this year with cross-platform title Where Winds Meet.
We analysed the top new highest grossing mobile games of 2025 - just two of those were made outside of Asia. The top two, Century Games’ Kingshot and Tencent’s Delta Force, were developed in China.
Chinese developers are starting to dominate entire categories on the global stage. Microfun is the big winner of the merge genre thanks to Gossip Harbor and Seaside Escape, ousting former leader Metacore’s Merge Mansion. Century Games and FirstFun have propelled the so-called mature 4X strategy to new heights with Kingshot, Whiteout Survival and Last War.
One industry expert gave us a warning during RovioCon and Slush week - these companies will continue to grow and could kill the Western games industry over the next few years. They have more money, bigger teams and have fine-tuned the science behind mobile game design and user acquisition.
The Western games industry won’t cease to exist. But Chinese publishers are coming for global market share. On top of that, Southeast Asia companies, such as those in Vietnam, are also on the rise to provide fresh competition.
Regulatory developments
The regulations and court battles that had been simmering away for years saw real results this year. The US App Store was cracked open by a furious judge, enabling publishers to link out freely to their own stores and payment providers. It looks like Apple is getting a reprieve to allow for a “reasonable commission” - we’ll see how that one develops.
Epic’s court battle with Google also saw the Play store cracked open, though the two companies have surprisingly offered an amendment to a court injunction that would be applicable globally. The catch? For the first time ever, the changes would base the platform provider’s fee on monetisation type. The benefits to most mobile developers - except for Epic - are limited. The Judge appears unimpressed.
Over in Europe, the European Commission has gone quiet over Apple’s rule breaking. We wait to see if the App Store giant’s latest complex proposals - over 25,000 words long across multiple documents - will be accepted, as they reportedly have been. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said such a move would amount to “total capitulation”.
The move to direct-to-consumer, backed by regulation and court wins, is now in full swing. We broke down just how much more money publishers are making here.
Meanwhile, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen sounded the alarm that the EU’s proposed Digital Fairness Act and CPC guidelines could kill Europe’s games sector. The Mobile Mavens labelled the move potentially “catastrophic” and “another IDFA moment”. Arcanix CSO Oscar Clark and Flux Digital Policy director of policy and public affairs Celia Pontin gave a measured breakdown here.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Smartphone Act, enforced from December 18th, gives developers the chance to challenge the 30% app store fees. Then you have India's real-money gaming ban that wiped billions off the market, the UK’s Online Safety Act, Australia’s social media ban, and other child protection and privacy policies around the world shaping the tech sector. It’s a new world for regulation.
AI influence
Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is 2025’s big buzzword. But this time, unlike web3 and the metaverse, the impact is already real.
The tech is being used extensively to build creatives for user acquisition. Just rounding up our list of the top mobile games in soft launch, I’ve seen AI used countless times for early builds testing a title’s potential. Some companies are going all in, including Krafton, Starberry Games and AppsFlyer. Supercell is also investing heavily - we revealed its masterplan here.
Of course, there are many use-cases for AI that are simply hot air. During RovioCon, Deconstructor of Fun’s Michail Katkoff claimed that while more than a third of leaders have replaced workers with AI over the past year, the tech’s productivity promises have not materialised.
Just how useful it will be remains to be seen. But the fact is, AI tech is already making a difference to how games are made and marketed, whether publishers are being open about it or not.
Notable too, this year, are controversies around the use of AI in Arc Raiders and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. There is a loud audience that is not happy about AI being used to build in-game assets and replacing human voice-over work.
For all the bluster about how AI won’t replace jobs and that it will empower staff to do more, Krafton’s voluntary redundancy plans and the SAG-AFTRA 11-month long strike on the matter don’t strike confidence in that future. If 2025 was the year AI started taking over, the next couple of years will be the reckoning of an AI-led future and what that means or companies rebuilding from overhyped buzz.
Non-gaming’s growth
This year, non-gaming app revenue on the App Store took over games, according to AppMagic estimates.
But games is still a big industry, so what does that mean? Here’s what I noted in our RovioCon and Slush takeaways.
One investor source we spoke to said while they continue to fund games, they are expanding into non-gaming. They noted, for example, the fast-growing micro drama space as an area for investment, while highlighting AI firm Perplexity was recently valued at a 100x multiple. Katkoff said while games companies generally sell at a 1.5x to 3x multiple, app companies can sell at 10x.
From simply a returns perspective, that could be one reason why game founders are struggling to raise or find an exit compared to other industries.
Duolingo has become the poster child of non-gaming’s adaptation of game mechanics, in this case pulled into its learning platform. There’s a reason why the former developers at Space Ape / NextBeat are heading up Duolingo’s first European HQ in London. The recent Genshin Impact crossover is likely just a taste of what’s to come.
Discover more about the non-gaming space and join companies like Duolingo at the Apps Business Summit during Pocket Gamer Connects London 2026 on January 19th.
Transmedia trends
One of the big trends of the past few years, transmedia continues its march. New Sonic the Hedgehog movies are on the way, the Super Mario Galaxy Movie and the Angry Birds Movie 3 release next year, while there are Call of Duty and Legend of Zelda films in development.
The fourth highest grossing movie of 2025 was A Minecraft Movie, picking up $958 million at the box office.
It’s clear that movie studios are clamouring for gaming IP and their established audiences as the popularity of superhero flicks dies down. But what are the benefits for games companies?
In theory, the promise is bringing games to new audiences and providing further touchpoints for brands. Interesting, though, that for all the buzz, Netflix co-CEO Gregory Peters, when commenting on its acquisition plans for Warner Bros., said he didn’t attribute any value to the company’s games business at all. Even when Hogwarts Legacy has sold 40m copies.
Game Economist Consulting’s Phillip Black had some interesting thoughts on the matter:
“Just a reminder: that future already exists! It’s called anime. Japan solved the ‘shared IP across TV, film, and games’ problem decades ago because its audience actually wants it. Demon Slayer didn’t accidentally do half a billion at the box office; it did it because anime fans reliably follow the IP wherever it goes.
“Meanwhile, the McKinsey consultants are still workshopping pitch decks about how Fallout's $200M TV budget will drive $50k in marginal game revenue. Or, better yet, Riot's CEO justifying IP narcissism on how Arcane's Emmy was worth the $250m budget.
“I've become increasingly convinced that the transmedia thirst trap is driven by Western worship of Hollywood celebrity culture, which is why the Eastern execution of this is ignored.”
Discover more about this trend and join the likes of the BBC and Rovio at the Transmedia Summit during Pocket Gamer Connects London 2026 on January 20th.
UGC update
Earlier this year I wrote about the UGC revolution the games industry is clueless about.
For all the concern about mobile gaming's recognition at the big awards shows, what about the games built within Roblox and Fortnite?
Grow a Garden amassed some 21.3m concurrent users to become a global sensation. Steal a Brainrot hit a record 25.4m concurrents.
Roblox reported it had 151.5m daily active users in Q3, up 70% year-over-year. Meanwhile it claimed to have 35.8m monthly unique payers, a rise of 88% Y/Y.
Fortnite continues to hit huge player numbers, too. It reached a peak of 9.7m players in November, according to Fortnite.gg, its highest of the year.
For all the numbers and success stories though, it all really boils down to the true opportunity for games businesses. How much money can they make? Revenue share has historically not been as favourable as the app stores, which themselves faced a reckoning on the 30% fees they charged.
With some recent changes, will developers on other platforms make the move in 2026?
M&A continues
Despite mass layoffs over the past few years and a lack of investments in games, major acquisitions continue to take place. Highlights include Scopely’s purchase of Pokémon Go developer Niantic’s games business for $3.5 billion, the Saudi-led purchase of EA for $55bn, and the battle between Netflix and Paramount for Warner Bros. putting the future of its games business on the line.
What’s interesting about some of the recent mega deals is how influence is moving East. Saudi Arabia’s heavy investment in games sees it as the owner of Monopoly Go developer Scopely, one of the biggest mobile games companies in the world, and now potentially EA, one of the largest console game publishers.
Meanwhile, Western megadeals like Netflix don’t even value games.
Of course, there are different motivations for each purchase. But influence has, over the years, steadily shifted Eastward. China’s top companies have led the charge, while Saudi Arabia is spearheading the Middle East’s rise.
All the trends and developments of 2025 point to a very different future for the games industry in the years ahead.
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