Introducing Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report
The mobile gaming market is steadily regaining ground after a slowdown in engagement throughout 2022 and 2023. According to Sensor Tower data, gaming spend grew 4% YoY, fueled by healthy growth across strategy, puzzle, and action categories. GameRefinery data finds that midcore-leaning casual games are becoming a staple in the industry, and the match 3 space is seeing a surprising revival after problems with saturation.
In a changing gaming landscape, UA strategies are also evolving. New ad formats offer more dynamic, personalized pathways for game discovery. While gaming ads displayed in game publishers still drive high install volumes, many UA teams are exploring other sources of supply, finding new players outside the mobile game ecosystem across utilities, entertainment, and social apps.
Finally, casual games now prioritize retention and sustainable revenue just as much as scale. The past 12 months saw innovations in tried-and-true game mechanics and new approaches to monetization. Hybrid casual models are becoming more popular, and developers are finding reliable ways to make IAA environments more player-friendly, offering audio ads and other less intrusive innovations to support the game experience.
Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report examines the latest cost, revenue, and engagement data and offers actionable insights to scale your game. We also dive into the top casual games of the past year according to GameRefinery data and the new mechanics and monetization strategies that are powering revenue growth.
Report highlights include:
- Cost and revenue benchmarks for casual games from Singular
- Liftoff data on where casual game installs are coming from
- The top casual games in the past 2 years, according to GameRefinery data
- The latest UA, monetization, and development trends across casual game genres, as identified by GameRefinery experts
