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MISTPLAY Industry Report

The 2024 Mobile Gaming Growth Report

As we approach 2025, mobile game publishers continue to deal with the same song and dance – an industry fraught with challenges like combatting the monopolies of Apple and Google and grappling with a UA black box ecosystem that is forcing publishers to innovate more intentionally to find new ways to grow in a red ocean marketplace. But what strategies are most effective in building a sustainable growth flywheel?

Mistplay's 2024 Mobile Gaming Growth Report delves into the essential early stages of the mobile growth funnel to map the dynamics of player acquisition, engagement, and monetization. Pairing mobile gamer sentiment with expert insights, this report sheds light on critical growth opportunities and pathways for differentiation to reshape strategic outlooks and fuel innovation within the industry.

‍"Marketing in 2024 is all about segmentation of the audiences and not having a one-size-fits-all approach. You need to understand your audience. You need to segment it. It is a necessity in this day and age to really speak deeply to a specific audience and adapt your message to something that they want to hear and not what you want to say.”

‍GUS VIEGAS
Vice President of Marketing, Cosmic Lounge

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3 predictions for 2025 in the report

1. Publishers will hyper-personalize the user journey to maximize LTV

Players crave personalization, proven by the fact that 49% face the challenge of finding a new game that actually matches their specific preferences. From UA ad creative to onboarding and LiveOps campaigns, every touchpoint with your brand being aligned to your player’s unique motivations and expectations will play a role in improving full-funnel results to drive LTV.

2. Brand marketing initiatives will enrich paid acquisition to reduce overall CAC

Today, player preferences lean heavily towards community sentiment, with 49% actively seeking reviews on and off app stores and 16% conducting pre-install online research. With 21% of gamers indicating that a game's brand significantly influences their decision to install, publishers must invest more in robust brand marketing efforts to bolster organic acquisition and increase conversion rates.

3. New monetization models will further grow in popularity to scale revenue

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) web shops stand out as a promising new strategy, with 26% of players expressing interest in them and 14% having already engaged. Subscriptions offer another opportunity to diversify monetization, with 17% of spenders purchasing a subscription within the last six months.