“2026 Overseas Game Market Insights” Report: Global mobile games and PC/console games break the $1,100 puzzle mobile game become the highest-grossing category overseas

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Sensor Tower released the “2026 Overseas Game Market Insights” report. From the second half of 2025 to the first half of 2026, the total number of downloads of mobile games, PC and console games worldwide reached 48 billion times. Among them, mobile downloads account for 95.6%, covering a large number of popular users, thanks to the high penetration rate of smartphones; the PC and console download share is only 4.4%, but the stability of users in this segment is higher, and the monetization efficiency of single-person payments is far ahead. It is a key position to accumulate core users, dig deeper into long-term revenue, and shape the influence of game brands.

In the same statistical period, global mobile game purchase revenue and PC/console buyout game sales revenue exceeded 110 billion US dollars. Among them, mobile in-app purchase revenue was US$80.9 billion, which still firmly occupied the overall revenue market; as the industry became more mature, the mobile game revenue growth rate gradually slowed down and the overall trend was stable. PC and console game sales revenue continued to rise, generating $29.6 billion in revenue in the past year, demonstrating the strong resilience of the racetrack's market against cycles.

Looking at overseas markets, mobile game revenue climbed to US$35.2 billion in the second half of 2025, a record peak. Entering the first half of 2026, due to the impact of many leading products entering the operation adjustment period, overseas mobile game internal purchase revenue declined slightly, down 6% from the previous month to US$33.1 billion.

The downward pressure on customer acquisition continues: the overall download volume of overseas mobile games continued to shrink, falling 4% month-on-month in the first half of 2026, to a total of 22.2 billion times. However, the overall market has shown clear structural resilience, and the total length of time spent playing mobile games by overseas users has remained stable.

Puzzle games have become the mobile game category with the highest revenue overseas, and the binary category has grown most prominently

The growth momentum of puzzle-solving mobile games continues to be realized: in the first half of 2026, its overseas purchase revenue increased 7% month-on-month to reach 7.9 billion US dollars, setting a record high, officially surpassing strategic mobile games and becoming the mobile game category with the largest overseas revenue scale.

Strategic mobile games peaked at an overseas revenue of 8.4 billion US dollars in the second half of 2025; this cycle fell 12% month-on-month, mainly due to major blockbusters entering a period of steady phased adjustment after experiencing the previous round of explosive growth.

The anti-cycle properties of leisure tracks are prominent, and the market is very resilient. Total overseas revenue for the first half of 2026 was close to US$15 billion, with only slight fluctuations; at this stage, the volume of overseas revenue has almost reached the same level as medium to heavy mobile games.

The mixed leisure category grew the fastest, with overseas revenue surging 18% month-on-month to US$2.2 billion in the current period. The casual base integrates diverse gameplay and a complex monetization system, and has become a popular growth paradigm in the mobile game industry today.

Focusing on mobile game segments, 4X Strategy is still the segment with the highest overseas revenue volume, with overseas revenue of nearly 5 billion US dollars in the first half of 2026. The two-in-one circuit increased its revenue by more than 500 million US dollars, with a 37% month-on-month increase, topping the current overseas mobile game segment track growth list.

Ranking and puzzle racing also ushered in explosive growth. Overseas revenue soared 130% month-on-month, and revenue growth reached 320 million US dollars. Benefiting from the concentrated launch of major new titles such as “Tomorrow's Ark: Endland” and “Alien Ring”, the open world adventure mobile game's overseas revenue rose sharply by 70% month-on-month, increasing revenue by 200 million US dollars, and ranked third in revenue growth in all segments.

Mobile game advertising monetization revenue in 19 core markets around the world has exceeded 11 billion US dollars in the past year

From the second half of 2025 to the first half of 2026, based on Sensor Tower's 19 core global market statistics including ad monetization monitoring: total mobile game advertising revenue exceeded 11 billion US dollars, and the overall average eCPM (revenue per thousand effective displays) was about 51 US dollars.

The two major advertising platforms, AppLovin and AdMob, together cover more than 60% of the total monetization revenue from mobile game advertising. Looking at regions: Within the US market, AppLovin's advertising revenue share reached 41%; in South Korea, India, and Southeast Asia, AdMob's advertising revenue share all exceeded 40%.

In the first half of 2026, Sensor Tower covered ad monetization data in 19 core markets around the world, the cube puzzle hypercasual mobile game “Block Blast!” With advertising revenue of 150 million US dollars, it ranked as the top ad monetization revenue. The average monthly advertising revenue in the past year was close to 26 million US dollars.

Sales revenue for buyout games on the Steam platform has risen rapidly in recent years, leading the average revenue per download

In the context of the gradual stabilization of global mobile game revenue as a whole, sales revenue of buyout games on the Steam platform ushered in rapid growth: the revenue scale climbed from US$4.55 billion in 2019 to US$10.7 billion in the 2025H2-2026H1 statistical period. The average revenue per download on the platform has remained high for a long time, reaching an average of $14 over the past five years, which is 9.3 times that of mobile games. The above data fully confirms that cross-platform products have always been very attractive to players around the world.

In the first half of 2026, the animation category firmly topped Steam's revenue list. Although the overall sales volume of this category fell 7% month-on-month, buyout revenue bucked the trend and rose 13%, and the scale rose to US$2.02 billion, covering 40% of the platform's total revenue. Relying on the premium premium space brought by 3A blockbusters, action game revenue has bucked the trend and is Steam's core revenue base.

High-frequency, multi-level parallel operating activity system effectively boosts game revenue and long-term retention

In the first half of 2026, the top eight mobile games with overseas domestic purchases had an average of 235 online and operating activities per month; a single game offered an average of 56 different themed events per month, covering 29 event categories.

A high-frequency operation system with multiple levels and multiple activities in parallel can effectively drive game flow and user retention. In the first half of 2026, the synthetic mobile game “Mystery Town”, which combines puzzle solving and town building, reached $1.3 ARPDAU, which is 4.6 times that of the competitor “Merge Mansion” and 5.2 times that of “Travel Town”, respectively. Intensive and diversified operating activities, combined with a complex monetization structure, are the core support for achieving ultra-high monetization efficiency.

According to Sensor Tower Playliner's operational activity insights, the game launched 237 events in June 2026, including 63 events with different names (only 1 event with the same name that was launched multiple times within a month). Thanks to this set of efficient operating strategies, in May 2026, “Mystery Town”'s internal purchase revenue was close to US$15 million, surpassing “Merge Mansion” in scale.

Headgame continues to innovate in operational activities. “Whiteout Survival”'s new card draw campaign “Dead Shot” innovatively combines a “strategic” unboxing mechanism with a flexible multiplier betting mode, which greatly stimulates players' participation and consumer enthusiasm, and the campaign revenue increased by 71%.

The “Meteorite Iron War (Meteorite Iron)” campaign launched by “Last War: Survival” innovates in multiple dimensions in classic tournaments. This cross-service tournament uses a combination strategy of “extreme time compression+free high-frequency transmission+zero real battle loss” to drastically reduce players' participation threshold and battle loss anxiety, and make SLG games feel comfortable in a single game of e-sports. The development team also cleverly introduced a “high-risk loot loot loot loot + safety box guarantee” mechanism similar to “Escape from Tarkov”, which not only guarantees a tense “hunting and treasure hunt” experience among heavy PvP players, but also protects the participation benefits of ordinary players through a guarantee mechanism. The “red and yellow zone” risk isolation design of the event allows players to self-screen through “profit and risk leverage”, creating an extremely healthy internal ecosystem.