In the past, we always thought that mobile phones were only for playing games, and the App Store revenue charts were dominated by games like "Honor of Kings" or "Genshin Impact" for many years. However, according to the latest data released by research firm Sensor Tower...2026 Action Market Report (State of Mobile 2026) points out that 2025 will be the "Year of Divergence" for the mobile market. Although global mobile game revenue has grown slightly to US$818 billion, consumer spending on non-game apps has surged by 21% to US$856 billion, officially achieving a golden cross.
No new games joined the "billion-dollar club".
The report points to a warning sign: no new game release will generate over $10 billion in revenue by 2025.
While 18 apps generated over $10 billion in revenue last year, with games and non-games each accounting for half, the game category's revenue was mainly supported by familiar faces. In contrast, in the non-game sector, ByteDance's video editing software CapCut, Tencent's WeTV, and OpenAI's ChatGPT performed exceptionally well.
ChatGPT's in-app purchase revenue has exceeded $30 billion, indicating that users' payment habits have shifted from "entertainment" to "productivity" and "AI tools".
However, Sensor Tower also highlighted a potential star – Pokémon TCG Pocket, predicting that it is expected to break the $10 billion revenue mark in 2026.
Hybrid casual and strategy games are growing against the trend.
In terms of game genres, casual and mid-core games remain the main revenue drivers, but the "hybrid casual" genre saw the largest growth, with an annual growth rate of 17.1%, reaching a value of US$42 billion.
Strategy games also saw significant growth in downloads across Asia, North America, and Europe, largely thanks to the blockbuster titles Funfly's *Last War: Survival* and Century Games' *Whiteout Survival*. These two games are also among the highest-grossing games globally, alongside Dream Games' *Royal Match* and Scopely's *Monopoly Go*.
In terms of publisher rankings, Tencent remains firmly in first place with in-app purchase revenue approaching $80 billion, followed closely by Scopely and Century Games.
Bypassing platform commissions? Web Store becomes the new battleground.
Another noteworthy trend is the rise of the "Web Store". Roblox captures 75% of the traffic to all game publisher websites, demonstrating the strong stickiness of its ecosystem. However, if we look at the traffic of the "Web Store" alone, Supercell is the biggest winner, with its official store attracting a staggering 15 billion visits. This shows that more and more major game companies are trying to bypass Apple and Google's 30% commission by building their own payment systems and stores, keeping the profits directly in their own pockets.
Analysis of viewpoints
The 2025 data reveals two important signals:
• The era of "making money while lying down through mobile games" is over:With apps like TikTok and ChatGPT vying for users' screen time and wallets, mobile games are no longer the only preferred form of entertainment. It has become more difficult for new games to break through (especially to reach a revenue scale of $10 billion), while established IPs and long-term operation have become a lifeline.
• The battle over "platform tax" intensifies:The success of Supercell's online store proves that with sufficient incentives (discounts or virtual items), players are willing to leave the App Store or Google Play Store and make in-game purchases through the game's official website. This is a worthwhile path for developers who have long been struggling under the pressure of platform commissions, and we may see more major companies follow suit in the future, promoting the decentralization of "payment scenarios."
