Unity (NYSE: U), a real-time 3D content creation and growth platform, has released its ‘2025 Mobile Game Trend Insights’, which contains the mobile game industry outlook for 2025. This insight contains predictions on the major trends in the mobile game market that Unity experts have focused on, advertising monetization strategies that will act as growth engines in the mobile game market this year, and changes in developers.
Unity experts presented six insights, including: △ expansion of rewarded marketplaces, △ increased use of rewarded ads, △ the importance of long-format playable ads, △ accelerated adoption of advertising models in subscription apps, △ the revival of mid-market games, and △ accelerated global expansion by developers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Eyal Hendleman, Senior Director, Head of Business and Strategy, Offerwall at Unity, analyzed that in recent years, many apps and networks have been offering rewarded experiences, and advertisers who are feeling the impact of rewarded advertising are investing more in advertising budgets, which is continuing to grow rapidly. In particular, he predicted that this year, the rewarded marketplace will expand beyond games and mobile to non-game apps and the web. He also explained that advertising strategies are changing as hybrid casual games are expected to lead the mobile game advertising market.
Samantha Benjamin, Director, Growth & LiveOps, Supersonic at Unity, emphasized that hybrid casual games will become a key advertising channel because they have the scale, quality, and variety to simultaneously secure both a large game scale and a quality audience, and advertisers will actively utilize rewarded video (RV) ads that enable immersive storytelling for better performance. She added that as the popularity of hybrid sub-genres such as puzzle, simulation, and action games grows, differentiated advertising campaign strategies will be introduced according to the characteristics of the user base. She predicted that long-format playable ad creatives will be the key to expanding the user base in puzzle games.
“While typical short-form ad formats might get users to the store after a few clicks, long-form playable ads are all about keeping users engaged throughout the moment, encouraging them to download when they’re deep in the game, just before they complete a specific challenge or beat a level,” says Svitlana Matlay, Design Team Lead and Creative Consultant at Unity. “AI-powered creative generation will play a key role in maintaining that level of engagement throughout the experience.” Video ads up to 60 seconds (or up to 120 seconds on some networks) can be effective at capturing user attention and engagement, while playable ads with 20+ interactions or one- to two-minute playables can also provide a natural immersion by presenting clear objectives and challenging gameplay while giving users a chance to experience the game’s core mechanics.
The trend of actively adopting advertising models in subscription apps is also expected to accelerate. Sandra Amir, Unity’s Senior Director, Growth Partnerships, analyzed that the profitability of subscription models is gradually slowing down due to market saturation and consumers’ increasing price sensitivity, while consumers are increasingly preferring to receive subscription discounts or additional features in exchange for watching ads. Accordingly, she predicted that more subscription apps will introduce a freemium model that provides basic services for free while charging for advanced features to secure additional revenue sources and achieve long-term growth.
In addition, Stuart Knox, Senior Director, Partner Success, Games at Unity, explained that the mid-market PC and console game market is becoming more vibrant, and is continuing to experiment and challenge itself between mega-blockbuster games and indie games. He said that many developers are focusing on creating high-quality game content with deep worldviews and elaborately composed content that takes gamers’ tastes into account, and expressed anticipation for various new mid-market games that will be released this year.
Finally, Eric QI, Unity Grow APAC GM (General Manager, APAC, Grow), delivered a positive message about the global expansion and influence of APAC mobile game developers. He analyzed that developers from China, Korea, and Japan are growing their presence in the global mobile game market beyond their domestic markets, and this trend is expected to expand further in the future. He also said that innovative approaches such as the latest game mechanics, immersive storytelling, and advancements in AI-based gameplay technology are setting new standards for the industry, and more developers are expected to grow in the global market.
Unity’s ‘2025 Mobile Game Trend Insights’ can be found on the official website (link) .
