Vietnamese puzzle, simulation and arcade games are most-downloaded in the world
| Date | Type | Companies Involved | Key Datapoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 1, 2026 | report | 4.9 billion downloads |
- Vietnamese games received 4.9 billion downloads in 2025.
- Simulation, puzzle and arcade games accounted for 3.3 billion.
Vietnam ranks among the world’s leading countries for games distribution capacity after games from the country's top publishers achieved 4.9 billion downloads in 2025.
As per GameGeek’s Vietnam Mobile Gaming Industry Overview Report 2025, this was the equivalent of 9,300 installs per minute. The figure helped Vietnam maintain its status as the second-strongest country globally in regards to game installs.
Vietnam’s simulation, puzzle and arcade titles specifically were world leaders, collectively accounting for almost 11% of all downloads in the genre globally. They outperformed games made in China, the US, Turkey and elsewhere, amassing 3.3bn downloads.
This meant that of the total 4.9bn downloads of Vietnamese games, these three genres accounted for 67%.
The report has released ahead of Vietnam Game Connect 2026, a B2B conference that takes place on July 16th.
Studios, games and monetisation changes
Key milestones from the history of games in Vietnam were highlighted in the report, including the establishment of VNG, Vietnam’s first games publisher, in the 2000s. Flappy Bird was also noted, a milestone in Vietnam’s "global production phase" back in 2014. The pandemic was noted as a peak for mobile games in 2020 and 2021.
Five years later, Vietnam currently has around 210 actively operating games studios, 38% of which were established between 2020 and 2023. Meanwhile, a further 36% have been operating for between five and 10 years, said to reflect increasing maturity of the country’s games ecosystem.
More than 27,000 Vietnamese games launched in 2025, while in-app purchases grew by 83% year-over-year. This shift came as 73% of studios moved away from an ad-dependent revenue model towards in-app purchases or a hybrid approach.
However, monetisation models, demands for live ops and global publishing capabilities have also grown more complex, and annual downloads have fallen from their 2024 peak of 5.4bn.
Studio closures and restructuring have also hit Vietnam as they have the rest of the industry, while a number of studios today lack access to international networks and the necessary connections to grow globally.