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February 16, 2026
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2025 was an interesting year for mobile gaming. With revenue growing 2.1% YoY and downloads taking a 6.6% dip1, there has been a noticeable shift away from the efficacy of fresh UA to renewed focus on keeping existing users engaged. With monetization strategies being optimized to retain players and keep their attention in your games, 2026 is shaping up to be a year of fierce competition.
In 2025, we looked at some of the leading game trends that grew to define the year – many of which will continue to evolve into 2026. Now, as we get settled into the new year, we’re exploring the rising trends that are starting to influence the mobile gaming industry in an age of market maturity.
Let’s take a look at seven of these innovative gaming trends, from growing markets to the continued mainstream implementation of AI across the funnel.
*All figures in this article are in USD
👀 Related reading: 2025 Mobile Gaming Accross Markets Report
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There’s no denying that AI is an integral part of the mobile gaming industry. From the earliest stages of development to post-launch tracking, it has become deeply ingrained in development and publishing workflows. But with growing consumer dissatisfaction around the use of Generative (Gen) AI in mobile gaming, 2026 will be a year where publishers are forced to rethink how they navigate their current processes.
Gen AI has long been a controversial topic, especially since it broke into the mainstream with programs like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Google’s Nano Banana. These large language models produce complex text and images with just a single prompt, making them useful for saving time and resources during the creative process – but they remain controversial with a large segment of consumers due to their training on media from unsuspecting creators, writers, and artists.
A Quantic Foundry survey of 1,799 gamers found that 85% of respondents had a below-neutral attitude towards Gen AI use in video games, with ~63% feeling very negatively towards it. This echoes public sentiment seen online from gamers across platforms, with many calling out publishers3 for undisclosed use of Gen AI in games.
These strong opinions from users aren’t going unnoticed, with major gaming platforms like Steam4 already requiring that publishers disclose Gen AI use for any player-facing content. This puts them in the clear for the use of AI-powered efficiency tools, but may impact how the public views their titles if they contain AI-generated creatives or gameplay systems.
Despite these challenges, industry experts like Jakub Remiar (two & a half gamers) predict that upwards of 50% of mobile game UA creatives5 will be AI-generated by the end of 2026 – and will likely continue to bleed into other domains like LiveOps and in-game creatives. If these predictions come to fruition, it will force publishers to more deeply consider how and where they use Gen AI in their day-to-day operations to mitigate potential backlash from users.
👀 Related reading: The AI awakening: How artificial intelligence is revolutionizing mobile gaming
Personalization is becoming a must-have component when it comes to building and maintaining a successful mobile game. With less than half (47%) of mobile gamers being satisfied with the existing level of personalization available in games, publishers are beginning to go beyond the surface-level strategies seen in the industry up to this point.
Thanks in large part to the continued rise of AI, publishers have more tools at their disposal to take mobile app personalization to the next level – allowing for the rapid testing (and implementation) of fully customized campaigns and creatives, more engaging onboarding journeys, and targeted shop offers.
Many of these deeper personalization systems have been shown to increase revenue for mobile games. In fact, studies have shown that adding adaptive difficulty scaling can boost revenue by up to 71%6. Additionally, using data-driven player segmentation can help increase retention by as much as 20%7 – illustrating the real impact that unique experiences have in mobile gaming.
Players have also made it clear that they want these systems added to their favorite titles. Our 2025 Mobile Gaming Loyalty Index, which surveyed 4,500 mobile gamers from across Android and iOS, found that the top kinds of personalization that players want most include:
Choosing which systems to implement depends heavily on the type of game you have. Whereas casual gamers may benefit most from personalized shop offers, RPG players would prefer custom-tailored storylines and adaptive gameplay – enriching their already deep experiences.
Direct-to-consumer webshops have been around since the dotcom boom of the 1990s8, although restrictions have prevented mobile apps from leveraging them until recently. When the mobile app industry began to explode in the mid 2000s, in-app purchases (IAP) quickly became a dominant form of monetization – and with strict regulations keeping publishers from finding in-app revenue elsewhere, app store giants were free to take a significant cut.
In recent years, new legislation9 has loosened the grip that the Apple-Google duopoly has held, giving publishers the freedom to use alternative payment methods and avoid the steep fees10 taken by traditional third-party platforms. This has allowed DTC shops to gain more traction in the mobile app space.
When it comes to the global popularity of DTC webshops for app publishers, APAC has led the charge thanks to numerous behavioural and cultural factors, including:
Despite the positive impact these webshops have made in APAC, Western markets are still working to establish DTC as an effective form of mobile game monetization. Our 2025 Mobile Gaming Across Markets Report found that while 35% of Japanese and Korean users have already visited and made a purchase in a DTC shop, only 20% of US and UK mobile gamers have done the same, with a further 49% stating they are not interested to begin with.
This represents a significant opportunity for growth in Western markets, as DTC webshops have proven to be highly lucrative for publishers who build them. In fact, mobile game publisher Huuuge reported that around 27% of their total revenue in Q3 202511 came from their direct-to-consumer webshop, indicating that the demand is still there even in markets that haven’t yet hopped on the DTC train.
👀 Related reading: The race to web: How direct-to-consumer web shops are transforming mobile game monetization
The dominance of mobile gaming has been undeniable in recent years, with games accounting for 33% of all mobile app downloads and 49% of mobile app revenue in 202512. This impact has led publishers from across other app verticals to take note and begin implementing gaming offers straight into their core ecosystems.
Through gaming offerwalls integrated in apps across different categories, game advertisers can promote their titles to new audiences outside of traditional gaming channels. This presents mutually beneficial opportunities for both advertisers and app publishers, expanding ad reach and further deepening user engagement.
Finance, Shopping, and Food & Drink apps are particularly well-suited for gaming offerwalls. Thanks to their wallet-based ecosystems, they can easily integrate rewards that users can reinvest in-app – creating a win-win scenario for advertisers, app publishers, and users alike.
Some of the benefits from gaming offerwalls include:
With a collective 16.8B users1, these app verticals act as powerful channels for game advertisers to utilize. As offerwall strategies continue to be optimized, seeking out these additional avenues for expanding UA reach is a growing mobile gaming trend.
👀 Related reading: How gaming offers drive revenue for high-value app verticals
The ongoing rise in UA costs and stagnating installs have been felt across the industry. With traditional strategies no longer being as useful as they once were, many publishers are shifting towards rewarded UA to better monetize users, foster long-term retention, and drive stronger ROAS in their titles.
The use of rewarded ads has been growing steadily over the years. In 2024, rewarded ads held 11.5% of impression share, increasing to 17.7% in 202512. By incentivizing users to download new games, reach new milestones, and make in-app purchases in exchange for rewards, this form of UA (and continuous rewarded engagement) is helping publishers foster deeper player relationships and keep an edge on the competition.
LiveOps plays a significant role in this trend and functions as a tool for incentivizing game discovery and progression – and with AI becoming more deeply ingrained in all aspects of mobile development, publishers are further able to optimize campaigns, increase reusability, and personalize messaging.
At Mistplay, LiveOps campaigns are used to reengage users, boost spend, and create more opportunities for players to earn. Through limited-time events, seasonal challenges, and weekly campaigns, some of our partners have achieved results such as a 200% MoM increase in installs and 30% higher D30 ROAS.
“Every business comes to a point where getting more out of the users they acquire becomes a necessary investment for driving sustainable growth. Even with a massive UA budget, focusing solely on new user acquisition will only take you so far, especially if your players are barely making it past onboarding. Your long-term, loyal players are a key growth driver and formulating a hyper-personalized, rewarded retention strategy is key to driving that deeper gameplay and engagement.” – Victoria Lewin, Senior Manager, Lifecycle Marketing & LiveOps at Mistplay
We can expect rewarded UA to become even more dominant in 2026, thanks to the strong retention and revenue potential it has. With 82% of mobile game developers13 reporting that rewarded campaigns outperformed regular UA channels, this is likely to become a key source of mobile game growth and scale.
👀 Related reading: The History of Rewarded Advertising in Mobile Games
As mobile games continue to evolve, so do the communities surrounding them. We’ve already seen popular titles like Roblox and Clash of Clans grow to astronomical heights, thanks in large part to built-in social features and a focus on collaborative gameplay.
Community-based features are a strong retention mechanic for mobile game publishers to leverage. Around 66% of the top mobile games14 make use of some form of collaborative or competitive gameplay, from real-time player vs player (PVP) to team battles. In fact, between 32-34% of the top mobile games in the US use synchronous PvP systems to strengthen engagement.
At Mistplay, our team-based Buddy Quests give users a rewarding way to partner up with their friends, complete Daily Tasks, and work towards reward milestones together, while our Tournaments inject a bit of healthy competition to get players engaged and working towards a grand prize.
“The sweet spot for engagement lies at the intersection of competition and cooperation. Players feel the pressure of FOMO and the pull of team loyalty, creating a compelling reason to show up, play hard, and stay engaged.” – Jesse Feret, Senior Product Manager at Mistplay
Integrating collaborative and competitive systems is becoming a must-have for mobile game publishers, and we’re likely to continue seeing mobile games from across genres adopt features such as:
👀 Related reading: From acquisition to retention: How mobile game communities fuel growth today
Many Tier 1 markets have hit their maturity, and publishers are looking for new areas of potential growth. With regions like the US, UK, South Korea and Japan already being global heavy hitters in the industry, MENA (Middle East and North Africa) is making moves to catch up.
The region has seen rapid development in recent years, with a relatively young population, high smartphone penetration, and multiple rounds of investments (1.5B USD in Q1 2025 alone15). Much of this growth has been driven by Saudi Arabia, whose mobile gaming market alone is valued at $1.4B USD16. On top of this, the country accounts for nearly 57% of the region’s total revenue, with per capita user spend being triple that of neighbouring countries ($308 USD vs. MENA average of $102.4 USD).17
The following table shows market growth in each region,* with the Middle East showing strong growth:
*SensorTower Market Size Dashboard
MENA is expected to keep growing and making its mark on the world stage, with market value being projected to more than double to $3.4B USD by 2034.12 This represents a golden opportunity for global publishers to get in early on an up-and-coming region that shows lots of promise.
2026 is shaping up to be a year where publishers continue to refine what works and reject what doesn’t. With an increased focus on retention, promising new markets to explore, and a deep throughline of AI across the industry, only those who are able to carefully navigate the competitive landscape will come out on top.
Are you a mobile game publisher looking to harness the power of play-and-earn in your games? Or perhaps you’re an app publisher looking to supercharge your monetization efforts with gaming offers? Then check out our portfolio of game-based monetization solutions and leverage decade-proven systems that foster loyalty, drive retention, and boost user LTV in your app.
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