In-Depth Look at 4X Strategy Monetization: Two Ways to Win

4X Strategy market hit $3.9B in H1 2025, up +28% YoY. But here’s the catch — half of that revenue comes from just five games. And with only 15% of the top 100 noscripts being new releases, newcomers face a tough battle 🫠

So, we teamed up with Duamentes to find out what it really takes to succeed in this market ⭐️

In our new article we uncover:
• The trends shaping 4X monetization right now
• How leading games stage their monetization
• The two monetization strategies dominating the genre
• Best practices to apply in your next project

In our breakdown you'll learn where 4X Strategy market is heading next and if there’re any new challengers to keep an eye on!

Read the full artcle.

Mobile Gaming Industry Must-reads of the Week (Oct 11 — Oct 17)

Last week, we started sharing our traditional Friday Must-Reads from LinkedIn here on Telegram — and today we’re back with a fresh selection to make your midday coffee even more enjoyable 😉

☕️ Click the link to explore the insights!

Two Reports To Read Today: 4X Strategy Monetization & LiveOps Tactics for Winter 2025

Last week our Content team went heavy on actionable insights for our readers — and two new articles are already live and waiting for you to dive in 👇

1️⃣ An In-Depth Look at 4X Strategy Monetization: Two Ways to Win

Quick spoiler: blend 4X-adjacent genres and balance aggressive monetization to get closer to the leading publishers with years of experience.

2️⃣ Get Ready For Winter 2025 — LiveOps Tactics That Worked

Quick spoiler: layer multiple event types such as Royal Match’s Winter Pass and Festive Collection, and make your events social, turning players into teammates.

That was just a little appetizer — the real insights are waiting for you in the full articles 😉

Top 10 Publishers by Games IAP Revenue in Q3 2025

The ranking we’ve all been waiting for! Let’s unpack the highlights 🔎

Tencent remains the undisputed leader this quarter, outperforming its closest competitor by more than 2.5×. Its top earners haven’t changed — Honor of Kings contributed 29% of total revenue in Q3 2025, followed by PUBG Mobile with 21%.

Century Games secures second place, continuing its active revenue growth thanks to its hit Whiteout Survival, which generated 59% of portfolio revenue, and the fast-rising Kingshot, responsible for 31% this quarter 🚀

Closing the top three is Scopely, powered by Monopoly Go!, which accounted for a massive 83% of its portfolio revenue in Q3.

Which game from the top 10 publishers have you played the most this quarter? 🤔

Explore the Top Grossing Games chart and spot all your favourite.

Top 10 Hybridcasual Games in Q3 2025

The highlight of our third-quarter wrap-up is, of course, the top Hybridcasual games. You’ll definitely want to read this one — revenue from the top 10 noscripts keeps climbing, showing a 114% year-over-year increase this quarter!

Q3 saw even fewer new noscripts entering the chart, but the veterans only got stronger — achieving both long-term stability and rapid growth 💪

Still, a few new names managed to break through. How? By offering something familiar yet fresh. For instance:

👉 Crowd Express refined Rollic’s signature formula with a gradual rollout of LiveOps layered over Parking Jam–inspired gameplay and Sort Puzzle mechanics.

👉 Coin Sort gave the classic “water sort” puzzle a twist — adding a more complex core loop and steady LiveOps that keep both ad and in-app revenues flowing.

But we won’t spoil all the fun! Learn about the rest of the Hybridcasual trends from the third quarter in our latest article.

Mobile Gaming Industry Must-reads of the Week (Oct 18 — Oct 24)

Days are getting shorter — and so is our energy supply. To help you save some battery, we’ve rounded up this week’s must-read insights for a quick catch-up 😉

Click the link to discover our selection!

Dream Games Reaches a New High of $7B in User Spending

The main star powering the portfolio’s revenue remains Royal Match, now accounting for 95% of the publisher’s total earnings.

In September, Royal Match’s IAP revenue was estimated at $107M, 16% down from September 2024. However, its year-over-year performance remains strong, showing a 7% increase in 2025 💪

We should also highlight the progress of Royal Kingdom, which reached $29M in monthly revenue this September — the second-best month in the game’s lifetime after August 2025!

Dream Games is getting stronger day by day, taking a 4th place among the top-grossing publishers of 2025 by gaming revenue. Have a look yourself ✨

Time to Bid Farewell: Squad Busters Final Update

Last week Supercell has announced the final update for Squad Busters, with the game shutting down in H2 2026 😪

Being honest, we kind of saw it coming, even though we didn’t want to believe it:

👉 In our first breakdown, the game felt rather unpolished

👉 Even after the big rework, core issues remained

So, where did things go south?

1️⃣ Audience mismatch. Trying to serve both casual and midcore players, the game lost clarity — lacking the midcore tactical depth and the casual simplicity.

2️⃣ Unrewarding progression. Progression didn’t feel motivating enough to encourage long-term play or spending, with few standout heroes or cosmetics to chase.

3️⃣ Limited LiveOps depth. Despite strong IP collabs and frequent events, Squad Busters still revolved around just two core modes — far fewer than noscripts like Brawl Stars, making long-term engagement harder to sustain.

In the end, the metrics confirm: the game’s been dying for a while.

So, it’s time to say goodbye to the squad 👋

How Solo Developer of Ball x Pit Made $1M on Steam In a Day

Kenny Sun didn’t stop just there: his game since the mid October 2025 release already earned $9.8M. Good thing we can spot such success stories with our Steam Analytics to share with you 😉

Ball x Pit, an indie roguelike brick-breaker published by Devolver Digital, surely deserved a closer look. So, we broke it down in our latest article: 

— Key trends in Ball x Pit revenue and DAU dynamics
— How the game came together and who Kenny Sun is
— What does this game have to do with Habby’s early noscript PunBall

The piece is already live, don’t miss it!

Mobile Gaming Industry Must-reads of the Week (Nov 1 — Nov 7)

Days are getting shorter, but not our lists of weekly must-reads, because the industry never disappoints!

Here’re our picks ✨

AppMagic x Sensemitter Webinar: “Too Much Too Soon Trap” — November 20

Many games fall into the same trap: they show players a paid offer too early, before the user understands the value of the game.

Most players simply ignore it — and that early rejection leads to lower conversion later on. Their first impression becomes: ‘I don’t buy in this game’ 😅

To make sure you don’t fall for this trap, we teamed up with the Sensemitter to break it down in a webinar. We’ll cover:

— First-time user experience (FTUE) emotional readiness map
— Good vs bad first-session monetisation patterns
— FTUE deconstruction of 3 games (Monopoly GO!, Dice Dreams, Coin Master)

📍Save the date: November 20
🔗 Register via the link

See you there! ✨

New Sega Release Sonic Rumble Takes 5th Place in the Party Royale Genre One Week After Launch

The Party Royale genre has seen two clear leaders since its inception: Stumble Guys, later overtaken by Eggy Party. To date, the genre has generated $808M in lifetime revenue, with Eggy Party accounting for 65% of total earnings ☝️

On November 4, Sega released a new noscript that may shift the landscape. Sonic Rumble uses the Sonic IP, which fits the genre perfectly, since the main character is known for his high-speed running and agile jumping. The game blends the Sonic universe with obstacle-course gameplay and fast-paced multiplayer matches.

Just a week after launch, it has already reached 5th place among top-grossing Party Royale games in 2025, with daily revenue of around $14K 🚀

Do you think Sonic Rumble will stand a chance — or fade quickly like Netflix’s recent Party Royal noscript Squid Game: Unleashed? 😉

Explore top Party Royale games!

Match Villains Peaks at $4.5M Monthly IAP Revenue

Match Villains has been climbing steadily since its release in November 2024 — and it's now breaking into the big leagues.

In October, the game reached $4.5M in monthly IAP revenue and 4M downloads, placing it №13 globally among top grossing Match-3 noscripts 🚀

This marks the first major hit for Good Job Games. And with the studio closing a $60M Series A in August to fuel the game's growth, this is likely just the beginning!

What makes Match Villains stand out?

👉 Heist-themed narrative featuring a stylish, aristocratic thief family — Disney-like visuals with a slightly spooky, Wednesday-style mood.

👉 Elevated ad creative strategy by focusing on high-quality, humorous hooks that perform well in marketing campaigns.

👉 Story progression beats every ~50 levels, presented as “heist posters” that keep the meta engaging and progression meaningful.

Learn more about the Match Villains’s metrics on its AppMagic Public Page!

Oops! They Did It Again: Clash Royale's Boosted Its Revenue 5.7x

Remember how in May 2024 Supercell pushed Brawl Stars to a new all-time revenue high of $70.5M per month? A wild achievement for a 7-year-old noscript.

Well… they did it again — this time with Clash Royale. The game hit a record-breaking $6.6M daily revenue, which is 35% higher than its previous post-launch peak. And it wasn’t a one-day miracle: revenue climbed from $12M in February to $67.8M in September, marking an impressive 5.7× growth 🚀

Downloads also exploded, reaching their highest lifetime spike with 12M installs in October 2025!

How did Supercell pull this off?

1️⃣ Reduced reward inflation, creating a steadier sense of progress and improving long-term retention.
2️⃣ Created a healthier gameplay balance to ensure fairer progression that nudges players to upgrade, spend, and stick around.
3️⃣ Whoops, will we seriously end here?

Of course not! Learn two more points and deeper insights in our latest article!

💡 This article was featured, along with other pieces, in our biweekly AppMagic Newsletter from November 5, 2025. Subscribe to receive insights like this first.

Mobile Gaming Industry Must-reads of the Week (Nov 8 — Nov 14)

They say there’s no word for “cozy” in southern languages because they didn’t have harsh winters when those languages were formed. Good thing we have it in English! So here’s our selection of must-reads for your cozy Friday evening 🕯️

Here're our picks

AppMagic x Sensemitter Webinar on FTUE Monetization Secrets | this Thursday, November 20 at 14:00 CET

A quick reminder: our joint webinar with Sensemitter is happening this Thursday, where we’ll break down the “Too Much Too Soon” monetisation trap: showing paid offers before players are emotionally ready.

Many games still push a paid offer in the first session, before the player understands the value of the game. Most players ignore it, and that early no drags conversion down later as well.

During the session, we’ll cover:
— FTUE emotional readiness map: when players are actually ready to see an offer.
— Good vs bad first-session monetisation patterns.
— FTUE deconstruction of three Coin Looter hits: Monopoly GO!, Dice Dreams, and Coin Master.

If you work on monetisation, UA, or product — this is a good one to join before planning your next round of tests.

📍 This Thursday, November 20 at 14:00 CET

🔗 Register via the link

See you there! ✨

Disney Magic Match 3D enters the Top 3 in the Match 3D genre. But is it a success? 🤔

Earlier in November, Jam City released its new Match 3D noscript set in the Disney universe. The familiar clutter of things is here, but with a unique Disney touch: Mickey’s shorts, Buzz Lightyear’s jetpacks, and Moana’s necklaces for you to sort.

The game is currently generating around $30K–37K in IAP net revenue every day, placing it third in the genre. A solid result, but the gap between the leaders is massive.

1️⃣ Match Factory! by Peak generated $9.7M since the start of November, capturing around 65% of the genre’s revenue.

2️⃣ Triple Match 3D, one of the founders of the genre, earned $2.7M. Though much lower than the genre leader, it is still several times more than Disney Magic Match 3D

Despite exceptional production quality and one of the world’s most recognizable IPs, the game shows that these factors alone aren’t enough for an immediate breakout in mobile.

Do you think the game will gain momentum and push past its early ceiling? And what might be holding it back at this stage?

Here is the game’s page at AppMagic to make your analytics easier.

Mobile Gaming Industry Must-Reads of the Week (Nov 15 — Nov 21) 🍂

The industry didn’t have a wild week. No surprise hits, no sudden pivots. But it did bring a handful of thoughtful reads: smart economy tests, sharp level analytics, hybridcasual insights, and a few noscripts on the rise. Here’s what’s worth your time.

Monetization Report 2025 is out now!

We’ve prepared 60 pages packed with actionable insights to help you navigate this year’s monetization shifts and keep your revenue performing at its peak.

Inside the report, you’ll find:

1️⃣ Analysis of global monetization trends: from $0.99 to $99 IAP offers
2️⃣ Breakdowns of six major genres: Strategy, RPG, Puzzle, Casino, Simulation, and Hybridcasual
3️⃣ Best practices and key takeaways to sharpen your monetization approach

We won’t keep you any longer — dive right in!