Reports of the week:
AppMagic: Top Mobile Games by Revenue and Downloads in August 2025
AppMagic: Mobile Casual Games in H1’25
AppMagic provides revenue data net of store commissions and taxes. Revenue from Android stores in China is not included.
Honor of Kings returned to the #1 spot. In August, the game made $169.9M. 97% of all revenue came from China.
PUBG Mobile entered the top 3 with $129.1M. This is the game’s best result since January 2023. These numbers do not include revenue from the Indian version of PUBG Mobile, which is operated by KRAFTON.
Pokémon GO grew further in August, reaching $69.7M. The game climbed 5 spots to enter the top 10. This is the best revenue result since July 2024.
Kingshot continues to scale, hitting $64.8M in August. Almost half of this revenue comes from the US, which is the game’s biggest market. South Korea comes second, followed by Japan.
Fate/Grand Order keeps proving its incredible longevity (it launched 10 years ago). In August, it generated $53.6M, the highest revenue since August 2022. The game’s anniversary is celebrated in August, and it looks like both developers and players went big for the 10-year milestone.
Downloads charts this time have fewer new things than usual. The top 15 doesn’t include any new titles, with the usual leaders on top: Roblox (38.3M downloads), Block Blast! (22M), Subway Surfers (17.4M).
Worth noting – FPS Strike Ops: Modern Arena has been consistently pulling strong install numbers throughout 2025 (over 10M). The developer’s account also features 9 other shooters in different settings.
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AppMagic counts only Net Revenue from IAP. Web shops and Android sales in China are not included.
72% of total revenue ($12B) comes from two genres – Puzzle and Casino. Simulation is the third by revenue (8%).
73 out of the top-100 grossing casual games in H1’25 belong either to Casino (41) or Puzzle (32).
Revenue growth driven mainly by Royal Match ($788M, +15% YoY) and Candy Crush Saga ($602M, +11% YoY).
In fact, Candy Crush Saga set an all-time IAP revenue record in H1’25 (since data collection began in 2015).
These two titles account for more than half of the total Match-3 revenue. Without them, Match-3 revenue growth would be just +1% YoY.
Growth is fueled by product improvements and heavy UA spend from Dream Games. Downloads spiked to 4.6M in April (from 2M in March), peaking at 10.4M in May. In April, a high-profile celebrity campaign featuring LeBron James, Shakira, and others was launched.
However, after the UA push, RPD dropped from $3.18 in March to $2.65 in June. AppMagic explains this as higher install volume from low-LTV regions, while US RPD remained stable.
Only 3 new projects in H1’25 crossed $100k monthly revenue out of 213 launches. Match-3 Success Rate = 1.4%.
Games to watch: Austin’s Odyssey (Playrix), Matching Story: Puzzle Games (Vertex Games), Match Villains (Good Job Games).
Revenue rose +94% YoY to $685M in H1’25.
Installs up +32% to 147M. RPD rose from $3.2 (H1’24) to $4.7 (H1’25).
Top ranks show no newcomers breaking through: none of the 91 launches in H1’25 surpassed $100k monthly Net Revenue.
Still, some shifts at the top: Tasty Travels: Merge Game and Merge Prison: Hidden Puzzle entered the top-10 for the first time.
AppMagic highlights Gossip Harbor’s strong live ops strategy, securing #1 revenue spot in H1’25.
Merge Mansion tripled event frequency to boost decline, spiking revenue by up to +50%. But recent efforts are less effective; revenue reverted to early-2024 levels. The reason, probably, is in the fact that players got used to constant content drops.
Hyped in 2024, underperformed in 2025. Revenue fell -12% YoY to $193M, installs down -34% to 49M. None of the 97 new projects hit $100k monthly.
Match Factory! leads with 56% share, hitting $19M monthly revenue – a record for Match 3D.
Triple Match 3D: 22% share; all others combined: 22%.
Games to watch: Blitz Busters (Spyke Games), Toy Match 3D: Triple Match (PLAYNEXX) – RpD in US are $13 and $27 respectively; plus interesting newcomer Box Jam! – 3D Puzzle (Playoneer Games).
Aside from the main topic, AppMagic prepared a useful IP collaboration map on Figma with 50 collaborations that took place in 2025. Have a look!
❗️Ad monetization plays a bigger role here, so AppMagic notes the $100k IAP benchmark isn’t as relevant.
Over 2.5K projects launched across these subgenres in H1’25 (376 Screw Puzzle, 2,000+ combined Sort & Block).
Revenue growth outpaces installs: Block Puzzle installs +71%, Screw Puzzle +27%, Sort Puzzle +14%.
Games to watch: Cube Busters (Spyke Games; rising), Knit Out (Rollic; top-5 revenue), Wool Craze – Yarn Color Sort 3D (SparkWish).
AppMagic highlights an interesting trend: casino mechanics (dice, slots, Plinko) increasingly used in live ops across non-casino genres, and sometimes even spun out into standalone games.
Revenue -33% YoY to $1.2B, mainly due to Monopoly GO!. In H1’24 alone, it earned $1.26B (more than entire subgenre in H1’25).
Playtika has reinforced its position in social casino. It acquired InnPlay Labs (Animals & Coins) in Sep 2024 and SuperPlay (Dice Dreams) in Nov 2024. By H1’25, combined brought in $136M (+5% YoY).
However, Playtika lost one long-running top-10 hit (Pirate Kings fell out). It was replaced by Coin Car Games: Simulator, targeting “male slots” with inspiration from Chrome Valley Customs.
Out of 14 new 2025 launches, none surpassed $100k monthly Net Revenue.
93% of revenue is concentrated in top 3 titles.
Social casino may not grow much in revenue but still influences other genres. As an example, Carnival Tycoon blends tycoon with social casino, already at $40M lifetime.
Plinko = gameplay where a ball drops onto a peg board and bounces into prize slots at the bottom.
For years, Plinko Galaxy was the only monetizing title. In H1’25, revenue hit $316k (+3,600% YoY), installs x6.5 to 65M.
That said, the subgenre’s growth isn’t coming just from new casual players suddenly drawn to the mechanic. One notable newcomer, Drop Balls x1000: Drop & Win, is a straightforward Plinko game and looks a lot like Plinko Galaxy. But they’re targeting different player bases: Drop Balls x1000: Drop & Win goes after India and Pakistan, while Plinko Galaxy is positioned primarily for the UK and Australia.
Subgenre likely won’t get huge, but still viable for steady earnings in niche markets.
Simulation ranks #3 in IAP revenue among casuals: $1.1B in H1’25 (+5% YoY).
Largest subgenres:
Farming: $560M (+3% YoY), 151M installs (-10.5% YoY)
Time Managers: $85M (-2.6% YoY), 261M installs (-2.6% YoY)
Life Sims: $80M (+30% YoY), 148M installs (-3% YoY)
1411 sim projects launched in H1’25, but only 55 were farming games (the dominant revenue driver). Just 0.4% of new games hit $100k monthly revenue.
8 of top-10 farming titles launched between 2012–2020.
Township dominates with $237M in H1’25 (42% of total). In January 2025, it also hit a personal monthly record: $43.6M.
Hay Day hit $12.6M in April 2025 – best since 2017.
AppMagic analysts note that success is tied to aggressive live ops. Township frequently integrates Match-3 events (a natural move for Playrix).
Only 1 of 55 new farm sims in 2025 passed $100k monthly Net Revenue.
Games to watch: Goodville: Farm Game Adventure (Goodville AG; steadily growing), Sunshine Island: Farming Game (Goodgame Studios; launched in 2023, recently reaching $1M monthly revenue).
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