Mobile puzzle growth shifted toward sort and merge games in 2025

AppMagic estimates that casual game downloads grew 8% in 2025 while revenue stayed near $21 billion, with sort puzzle and merge titles taking a larger share of growth.

Casual mobile games kept expanding their audience in 2025, but revenue growth was uneven. AppMagic estimates that casual game downloads increased 8% after growing 6.4% in 2024, while in-app purchase revenue remained roughly flat at $21 billion. Puzzle was one of the stronger segments, with revenue up 7.6%, while Casino and Simulation declined. Within Puzzle, the mix changed quickly. Sort Puzzle revenue grew 116% year over year, while Merge games increased their share of puzzle revenue from 14% to 20%. The category is concentrated: the ten largest Merge titles generated about 80% of segment revenue, and Gossip Harbor alone produced an estimated $550 million, or 33%. Leading Merge titles rely heavily on live operations to sustain monetization. The report also points to weakening long-term retention across casual segments, with the largest deterioration appearing around day 365. AppMagic's figures cover worldwide App Store and Google Play downloads and in-app purchases from 2023 through 2025. They do not include advertising revenue, third-party Android stores or every web payment channel, so total consumer spending will be higher than the IAP figures shown.