AppMagic

Top 10 Trending Games of the Last Month 📅

One of the best habits for any game developer: start every week by checking trending charts.

It’s the easiest way to stay on top of what’s working across the industry. ✍️

And the best part? Anyone can do it:

🔹 Head to AppMagic → Top Trending
💡 Or just click this link: Trending Games – Last 30 Days
🔹 Choose your timeframe (week, month, quarter, etc.)
🔹 Filter by tag — start with Games or dive deeper into specific genres
✅ You can also switch to charts by Revenue for a different perspective

For this post, we looked at the Top Trending Games by Downloads over the past 30 days — to see which games moved up the fastest across the charts.

What stood out?

☠️ Two out of the ten trending titles are horror games — one adapted from PC, the other built around meme-favorite villains.

Not something you see every month, and definitely worth keeping an eye on. 👀

Feel free to explore by yourself👇

Trending Games – Last 30 Days

Merge-2 Genre in 30 Seconds 🧩

For over 3 years, Merge Mansion led Merge-2 with Complex Meta genre. But today, it’s been pushed to #4 by fast-growing newcomers.

Instead of fading, the team doubled down on LiveOps — and hit an all-time high monthly revenue. 📈

Read how the market evolved — and how Merge Mansion is fighting back here.

Top 10 Pakistan Publishers in 2024 🇵🇰

Pakistan’s mobile gaming market is booming: over the past decade, smartphone penetration has surged from just 10% in 2014 to nearly 78% in 2024. 🤯

To dig deeper into this fast-growing market, we teamed up with Tenjin to help compile data for their latest report on mobile games in Pakistan. 🤝

Here are some highlights:

🔹 Z&K Games leads the chart — 92% of its revenue comes from Scary Teacher 3D, with 39% of that from the US alone.

🔹 Nadeem Munawar follows with a more diverse portfolio: six games have crossed $100K in lifetime revenue, led by Drug Mafia – Grand Weed Gang (29% of total).

🔹 GameFit ranks third, with Superhero Car: Mega Ramp Games generating 55% of their revenue.

👉 Dive into Tenjin’s full report for more insights

Top 10 March Releases by Revenue 🔥

Remember last week when we showed how to spot top-performing new releases using Advanced Search? 😉

Now it’s time to put that to work — let’s take a look at last month’s new gaming releases and how they performed in Tier-1 West!

☑️ Just follow these steps:
Apps → Advanced Search
Release period → March 2025
Tags → Games
Geography → Tier-1 West

💥 A solid dose of inspiration — whether you’re building a product, crafting a UA strategy, or just staying sharp on market trends.

And while the image shows just the top 10, there were actually over 3,000 new releases in total!

This link takes you straight to the list.

How Original Games Boosted Average Transaction Value by 11% with Triple Offers 😎

🤝 Triple Offers
Three offers shown side-by-side that guide players toward a higher-priced option. Unlike Double Offers, they allow smaller steps between prices, making upgrades feel easier.

💡 The Upgrade
Building on the success of Double Offers, Original Games introduced Triple Offers, that encourage low spenders to gradually move up and improving overall monetization potential.

🏁 The Results
— 93% of buyers chose a higher tier than usual
— Average spend per purchase grew by 43%
— ATV was ~11% higher on Triple Offer days

Explore how Original Games refined their monetization strategy with AppMagic Monetization Intelligence 😉

Dreamy Room: Home Design With Puzzle Touch ✨

ABI Games Studio’s new hypercasual hit Dreamy Room has taken off—surpassing 7.2M downloads within its first month and attracting 309K daily active users (and counting!) 🚀

In the game, players are challenged to strategically arrange all the furniture, considering space layout and functionality to complete levels that progressively increase in difficulty 💪

To maintain engagement, developers are continuously adding new levels, daily challenges, progress tracking, and rewards 🏅

Try it out yourself!

How to find a new game idea or pivot direction? 🤔

1️⃣ Check trending games

The simplest way is to use AppMagic’s Top Trending!

How to find it:
— Apps > Top Trending
— Choose ‘Gainers’, the tag and the period.

Voila! You have the list of the hottest games in the chosen genre by downloads and revenue.

2️⃣ Find out which games are on decline

Why? This can offer you an insights which game mechanics and trends have outlived themselves.

3️⃣ Investigate what competitors are working on right now

Simply check the ‘New only’ box!

Thus, you can stay fully up-to-date and never miss the hottest market tendencies.

4️⃣ Learn geography of your audience and competitors

You only need to filter out by ‘Geography’ and ‘Publisher HQ’.

This will help you to catch what is popular in the different regions to decided if and where to scale.

💡Spot your new hot idea straight away with Top Trending.

F4 Fund: How We Evaluate Mobile App Opportunities 🦄

Our good friend Joakim Achren shares how the F4 Fund team assesses early-stage mobile apps.

Here’re the key steps they always follow:

🧑‍💻Founder Assessment: Look at the founders’ past ventures, relevant experience, and clarity of vision.

📱Product Evaluation: The team tests the app themselves—checking UX, design, innovation, and monetization with AppMagic’s Monetization Intelligence.

📊Market Analysis: They identify trends, entry barriers, fragmentation, and regional scaling potential using AppMagic Tops and Market Segments.

💭User Psychology Assessment: They analyse retention hooks and engagement loops to gauge long-term user potential.

Joakim also shares a real-life example of how they evaluated AfterHour for a potential investment!

Check out how F4 Fund applies this framework automate outbound in the full article 🔥

How Merge Mansion Improved Its LiveOps to Boost Revenue by 50% 🎢

Remember how Merge Mansion lost its top spot in 2024? One of the key reason was limited LiveOps. Check out the chart below—see the event distribution gap between Merge Mansion and its competitors? 😮‍💨

To fix this, Merge Mansion went all in on LiveOps optimization:
— Increased event frequency and variety, narrowing the gap.
— Rolled out new formats inspired by top Merge-2 games—like Teatime Delight, Lucky Catch, and Supercharge.
— Expanded player motivations with PvP and collection events to engage broader audiences.
— Launched new monetization features, including the Merge it Up! weekly pass, offering more revenue paths and budget-friendly options.

The result? A record $11.97M in December 2024, nearly 50% higher in less than a year🔥

Dive deeper into Metacore’s top-performing LiveOps and its innovative mechanics in our deconstruction with Shilpa Gaur from GameMakers!

How to track new releases with Advanced Search 🚀

One of the best ways to spot the trends that can benefit your game’s metrics is to look at the best performing new releases 👀

In AppMagic you can do it in two steps using Advanced Search:
1️⃣ Choose the release period: March 2025
2️⃣ Select the tag: Games

💡If you want to narrow your search, select a specific tag:  Casual, Midcore, Puzzle, 4X Strategy, or 500 others.

In fact you can customize your selection using a bunch of additional filters, such as:
— Active users
— Retention
— Ad spend range
— Geography
— Publisher HQ: Official and Actual
— Stores & Category
— Localisation
— Raiting

And that’s only 8 filters out of 30! It’s called Advanced Search for a reason 😉

Try it out yourself!

Original Games Increased Transaction Price by 9.3% with a Double Offer Redesign 🤔

🤝 Double Offers

Side-by-side offers subtly nudge players toward the pricier option — especially with smart tricks designed to make the more expensive choice feel like the better deal.

🎯 The Problem

Original Games used Double Offers but weren’t making the most of them. The design didn’t fully highlight the value of the pricier option, leaving room for improvement.

✨ The Upgrade

To better communicate value, they:
— Increased the value gap between offers
— Kept only identical items in both packs
— Added more items to the premium pack
— Used a ‘Best Value’ badge to highlight the best deal
— Introduced a ‘Buy All’ option for purchasing both packs at once

🏁 The Results

+3.17% in transaction price (without ‘Buy All’)
+9.22% in transaction price (with ‘Buy All’)
30% more users chose the premium or ‘Buy All’ option

🤯 That’s only one of the upgrades Original Games introduced!

👉 Discover how Original Games refined their monetization strategy using AppMagic Monetization Intelligence — and see the results in the full article.

Top Grossing Games in Scopely Portfolio (2015-2025)

With Scopely acquiring Niantic’s gaming business—securing 76% of Location-Based market revenue—it’s time for a portfolio retrospective 🔍

From $178M total revenue in 2015, Scopely has now surpassed $7.8B!

The #1 game in Scopely’s portfolio has changed over the years, but with the arrival of Monopoly Go!—which accounted for 84% of total portfolio revenue and 67% of the Casual Casino genre’s revenue in 2024—it looks like its position is secured for the long run 💪

Scopely also found success in Midcore: Marvel Strike Force (RPG) hit $806M lifetime revenue, while Star Trek Fleet Command (4X Strategy) reached $668M.

In Solitaires, Tiki Solitaire TriPeaks ranked #2 in the genre, generating 16% of total market revenue in 2024 ⭐️

Explore Scopely’s portfolio! A major market shift is coming 🚀

How  Merge Mansion Increased Its Revenue by 50% Trying to Reclaim Its Top Spot 🏆

Merge Mansion ruled the Merge-2 genre for 3.5 years—until 2024, when Gossip Harbor, Travel Town, and Seaside Escape pushed it down to fourth place 📉

One key reason for losing its position was a significant lag in LiveOps: Merge Mansion fell behind the competitors in both the frequency and variety of events.

But soon after losing its leadership, Merge Mansion started catching up! While it hasn’t reclaimed the top yet, the game boosted its revenue by 50% and hit an all-time high in monthly earnings 🚀

In our new article with Shilpa Gaur from GameMakers, we dive into this case, exploring:
— LiveOps trends and standards in Merge-2 with Meta
— How event frequency and diversity fueled Merge Mansion’s revenue growth
— What new events Merge Mansion introduced and why they stand out

That’s a major lesson we all need to learn, so don’t spend another minute—get into it straight away!

I Am Security: From VR to Mobile 📱

Ranked №1 among the Top Trending Free Games last month, I Am Security by New Folder Games has already surpassed 11M downloads since its February release—and it's still climbing, with over 450k daily installs 💣

Originally launched as a VR experience on Meta Quest, the game has now made its way to mobile, which is not a very typical case for this type of games!

In I Am Security, players take on the role of a bouncer, scanning guests for prohibited items and ensuring they adhere to the club's dress code before allowing entry 🔍

The game’s viral success can largely be credited to YouTube and TikTok, where creators have showcased the many ways to "abuse" their power as a bouncer—yes, there are quite a few questionable interactions you can have while checking guests 😈

Curious about what those are? See for yourself via the link!

How Original Games Increased Conversions by 40%? They Added 1+1 Offers 💡

We recently conducted a case study with Original Games, exploring how they boosted key metrics through monetization optimization using AppMagic’s Monetization Intelligence.

✏️ 1+1 Offers
Our analysis of top Merge-2 games revealed that 1+1 offers are quite effective in the genre.

💪How they work
These offers provide players with a bonus of equal or similar value when making a purchase, significantly enhancing perceived deal value. Key features:
— Visually distinct bundles, reinforcing the feeling of getting something extra.
— FREE claim button, making the reward more satisfying.
— Limited item variety (4 types), allowing quick deal evaluation.
— Attention-grabbing titles like “BUY 1 & GET 1 FREE!” to ensure visibility.

😎Result
A new 1+1 Offer type, Spooky Deal, achieved up to 40% higher conversion than regular single-item offers of the same value.

Read more in our case study 📚

Top 10 Shooters by Revenue

In 2025, the genre’s monthly revenue surpassed $350M for the first time since 2021, fueled by PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile 🚀

The top 3 revenue leaders remain stable: in the past year PUBG Mobile holds 36% of the market, followed by Call of Duty Mobile (10%) and Cross Fire (7%), together making up over 50% of total revenue, not including regional versions of games!

Only one game crossed $1B in annual revenue last year, with just five others exceeding $100M 🏁

While most YoY changes were mild, newcomer Hunting Sniper surged 292% YoY 🎯

Do you see a new contender breaking into the top 10 this year? Explore the dashboard to find the one 🔍

How Original Games Boosted Merge Inn's ARPDAU by 13% with AppMagic Monetization Intelligence 🚀

🎯 Goal
Original Games aimed to boost revenue without altering the game’s core. Market research pointed to optimizing in-game offers as the best strategy.

🔑 Key Improvements
Using AppMagic’s Monetization Intelligence designed to analyse the most effective IAP offers, Original Games decided to implement the following changes:
— Double Offers Redesign
— Triple Offers Introduction
— 1+1 Offers Revamp

💰Results
A mix of monetization optimization and seasonal promotions allowed to enhance key US metrics:
— ARPDAU (IAP): +13.3%
— Conversion: +9.28%
— ATV: +1.74%

👉 Read the full case study for a deep dive into the analytical methodology and monetization strategies

Monetization Intelligence by AppMagic 🪄

One way to boost your game’s revenue is by integrating trending IAP strategies and effective live pricing tactics.

To help you find the perfect offer combo, we created the Monetization Intelligence tool 💡

With a library of 80+ top-performing casual and midcore games, we ensure you make the right decision that will help you improve:

⭐️ ARPU/ARPPU
⭐️ Conversion Rate
⭐️ Average Transaction Value
⭐️ Purchase Frequency

Check out a quick example below, and find the full guide here 😎