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September 4, 2025
In today’s mobile landscape, apps from every category compete for the same scarce resources: user attention and share of wallet. For modern publishers, growing engagement and monetization has become increasingly difficult as traditional strategies like IAP, subscriptions, affiliate offers, and ads reach saturation, while an over-reliance on any specific model can sacrifice your user experience.
However, one category has grown and continued to dominate mobile revenue and engagement year after year: gaming. But why does that matter to the non-gaming app crowd?
What’s often overlooked is that the line between “gamer” and other app users is thinner than ever. Casual mobile games like Words With Friends or Solitaire have turned everyday people into mobile game players to some degree, and mobile gaming now reaches across demographics once considered outside the “gamer” profile. And that overlap is creating an important opportunity for mobile apps: by introducing game-based features and reward models, publishers can capture more of their users’ time, strengthen loyalty, and open up new monetization streams.
In this article, we’ll explore why and how mobile apps are borrowing from gaming’s playbook, why gaming-based monetization is such a strong fit for non-gaming verticals, and how you can leverage such a solution to unlock the same kind of revenue growth that’s made gaming apps such a dominant force.
This article also features insights from industry veterans Marc Bearman, GM of LoyaltyPlay, and Anthony Ortolan, Senior Manager of Business Development & Partnerships. Bearman is a seasoned ad tech veteran who built Unity Ads in EMEA, led X’s MoPub business through its $1B AppLovin acquisition, and scaled Fetch Play as GM of Gaming. Ortolan brings over a decade of sales and ad tech experience across mobile gaming, e-commerce, and loyalty, with past roles at PayPal, Honey, and Tapjoy. Now, they’re sharing their insights on the gaming and rewards opportunity for apps in today’s competitive mobile landscape.
Let’s dive in.
⭐ Curious about how gaming offers might fit into your app ecosystem? Check out our latest article on how they drive revenue for verticals like Shopping, Finance, Travel, and more.
On mobile, the old distinction between who is a “gamer” and who isn’t is fading fast. While not everyone may call themself a gamer, the fact is that over 65% of US adults ages 18-54 play mobile games at least once a week – whether it’s competitive titles or casual favorites. With numbers that high, it’s more than likely that a large share of your app audience is already playing mobile games in their spare time.
In fact, according to Unity, 70% of mobile users enjoy playing games the most compared to other mobile activities, and they play at all hours of the day – 74% play while they watch TV, and 30% check their mobile games as the last thing they do before bed.
The reality here is simple: your users are already playing games somewhere. The question is whether they’re doing it in your app ecosystem or someone else’s.
“Almost everyone these days is playing mobile games. As an app publisher, the question is – do you want them to do it off-platform from your app, or do you want to be part of that value exchange?” – Marc Bearman, GM of LoyaltyPlay
Mobile apps of all categories have already embraced this shift from user to gamer in the app ecosystem, and the traditional barrier between mobile games and apps is coming down. Now, more apps are looking for ways to bring the power of gaming—whether through gamified features, gaming-based monetization, or otherwise—into their app ecosystem.
And for good reason: mobile gaming remains the single largest revenue driver in the app economy. In 2024, mobile game IAP revenue accounted for more than $80 Billion USD, with all non-gaming categories combined accounting for just $69 Billion, showing just how dominant the mobile gaming category has become when it comes to driving monetization.
That’s why we’re starting to see so many modern mobile apps introduce gaming into their ecosystem to capitalize on the revenue potential. From daily puzzles in The New York Times app to Duolingo’s streak-based learning model, brands are borrowing proven mechanics from gaming to keep users coming back. Even professional platforms like LinkedIn have rolled out casual daily games, tapping into users’ competitive instincts and FOMO (fear of missing out) to drive repeat visits.
Ultimately, this reflects a shift in how apps are thinking about engagement. In the past, high-utility apps – like rideshare, finance, or e-commerce – relied on users returning only when they needed the service. Now, the winning strategy is to give users a reason to open the app every day, even when they’re not looking to complete the primary function.
As Anthony notes, gaming fits seamlessly into this shift, offering users a fun, low-friction reason to engage, while the rewards model provides an immediate and tangible benefit. Gaming offers (through a solution like LoyaltyPlay) is simply the most direct, monetizable way to join the movement.
“Users are rarely going to go into an app to buy something every single day. Gaming offers open up a non-transactional way for users to engage with an app more frequently, grow their wallet to spend in the app’s economy, and grow the overall value and functionality of that app to the user.” – Anthony Ortolan, Sr Manager of Business Development & Partnerships
Mobile gaming has long set the standard for driving engagement and revenue at scale. By treating performance marketing as a core growth engine, gaming studios have been able to innovate quickly, monetize effectively, and command some of the largest budgets in the app economy. But while gaming companies are looking for new audiences to sustain that growth, apps from other verticals are searching for fresh ways to monetize and retain users.
“For more than a decade, top gaming studios have treated performance marketing as an essential lifeblood for success. They’ve innovated, moved fast, and built products that monetize really well. Budgets are effectively uncapped because they monetize so well – now, they really just need new users. That’s the opportunity for other app publishers that have built large captive audiences – particularly those with loyal user bases like shopping, finance, or cashback.” – Marc Bearman, GM of LoyaltyPlay
One of the clearest opportunities both sides can leverage here is gaming offers in apps. At its core, the model is simple: users install and play mobile games, and in return, they earn rewards directly inside the host app’s ecosystem – whether that’s points, cashback, credits, or loyalty currency. Put simply, it’s a plug-and-play way for mobile apps to harness the proven engagement and monetization power of gaming – without having to design new gamified features or build games themselves.
The real power of a monetization solution like LoyaltyPlay lies in its balance: it delivers clear, immediate value to users while unlocking scalable, incremental revenue for publishers.
For users:
For publishers:
The result is a system where users feel rewarded for their time and attention, while apps capture incremental revenue that would otherwise flow elsewhere. For app publishers under pressure to both monetize and retain their audiences, gaming offerwalls represent one of the most scalable, low-friction ways to do both.
This is exactly what LoyaltyPlay is built to do, allowing app publishers like you to monetize your entire user base and generate a consistent revenue stream by introducing a gaming reward hub where you get paid per game install.
👀 Related: Unlock gaming-powered revenue with LoyaltyPlay
The days of “free loyalty” are over. With economic pressures and endless alternatives, users now expect a fair value exchange for their time and attention. Brands that can’t meet this expectation risk losing share to those that do.
“The days of free loyalty are over, it’s equitable loyalty now. App publishers have to give their users something of value to keep them, and gaming rewards are one of the clearest ways to do that.” – Marc Bearman, GM of LoyaltyPlay
First movers in a vertical often reap outsized rewards. Waiting until your competitors have proven the model may mean playing catch-up with a user base that’s already engaged elsewhere.
With LoyaltyPlay, app publishers like you can plug into the proven economics of gaming rewards today – without building new games, overhauling your product, or taking on unnecessary risk. It’s a fast, scalable way to capture new revenue, strengthen retention, and deliver the win-win value exchange today’s users expect.
Reach out to us today to start capitalizing on the untapped revenue potential of gaming for your app.
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