AppMagic has not too long ago revealed that the worldwide informal video games market generated $12 billion in internet in-app buy (IAP) income in H1 2025, rising 0.8% year-over-year regardless of more durable person acquisition and monetization situations.
Nearly all of this income is concentrated in simply three genres, Puzzle, On line casino, and Simulation, with Puzzle alone constantly setting trade benchmarks.
Market Overview: Three Genres Rule
- Puzzle + On line casino = 72% of all income
- Including Simulation raises the full to 80%
- Out of the Prime 100 Grossing Informal video games in H1 2025:
- 41 On line casino titles
- 32 Puzzle titles
- Almost half of the highest video games launched between 2015 and 2020, proving the resilience of veteran titles.
Puzzle: Nonetheless the King of Informal
Puzzle video games earned $4.6B in H1 2025 (+13% YoY), led by three main subgenres:
- Match-3: $2.7B (+7% YoY) Royal Match and Sweet Crush Saga dominate, accounting for over 50% of income.
- Merge-2 with Advanced Meta: $850M (+94% YoY) Wealthy LiveOps and deep meta techniques drive development, however the style is hard for newcomers to crack.
- Match-3D: $193M (-12% YoY) After peaking in 2024, the style has slowed considerably.
Rising Development: Hybridcasual Puzzle codecs, Block, Screw, and Type, are displaying explosive development (Block Puzzle x12 YoY) by mixing addictive Hypercasual cores with deeper Informal monetization.
On line casino: From Monopoly GO! Growth to New Regular
On line casino stays the second largest Informal style, with $4B income in H1 2025 (-15% YoY):
- Slots: $1.6B (-7% YoY)
- Informal On line casino: $1.2B (-33% YoY) after Monopoly GO!’s 2024 peak
- On line casino Card Video games: $455M (+6% YoY)
Whereas total development slowed, On line casino mechanics (like Plinko and cube rolls) at the moment are frequent in different genres’ LiveOps. Plinko alone noticed 36× YoY development in 2025, hinting at rising subgenre potential.
Simulation: Farming Retains Rising
Simulation video games earned $1.1B (+5% YoY), with Farming titles contributing $560M (+3% YoY).
- Township leads with $237M in H1 2025, hitting document month-to-month revenues 6 years post-launch.
- Success is pushed by dense LiveOps calendars and cross-genre occasions (like Match-3 mini-games inside Farming titles).
Key Takeaways for Builders
- Focus is excessive — 80% of income comes from simply three genres.
- LiveOps is important — Common, event-driven content material retains outdated titles aggressive.
- Hybridcasual is the longer term — Video games mixing easy cores with deeper monetization are breaking income information.
- Style veterans are resilient — Prime video games from 5–10 years in the past nonetheless dominate income charts.
- Innovation usually spreads cross-genre — On line casino mechanics are influencing Puzzle and Simulation LiveOps.
2025 Rising Stars to Watch
- Royal Kingdom – Dream Video games’ follow-up to Royal Match, already nearing $100M income.
- Gossip Harbor – Merge-2 chief with adaptive LiveOps.
- Dice Busters – Block Puzzle hit from Spyke Video games.
- Wool Craze – Screw Puzzle title using the “wool” pattern.
- Coin Automobile Video games: Simulator – Blends Informal On line casino with automobile restoration meta.
- Goodville: Farm Sport Journey – A contemporary Farming title rising steadily.
H1 2025 exhibits that whereas the Informal Video games market is extra concentrated than ever, innovation is flourishing inside subgenres and hybrid codecs. Builders aiming for long-term success want to mix confirmed retention methods with contemporary monetization fashions—and hold a detailed eye on the rise of Hybridcasual Puzzles.
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