The following analysis of mobile games marketing trends for July 2025 is based on advertising data from AppGrowing across 50 countries and regions, and 28 global media platforms.
In July’s ranking of new game launches by genre, Casino, Casual, and Puzzle took the top three spots.
Casino titles saw their share of new launches rise further to 45.27%, far ahead of other categories.
Casual followed with nearly 30%, while Arcade titles accounted for 26.26% of new launches.
By ad volume, Casual, Puzzle, and Role-Playing ranked in the top three.
Puzzle titles recorded fewer ads than Casual games, but the gap in the number of unique creatives was relatively small.
In terms of creative formats, video continued to dominate global mobile game advertising, accounting for 71.8%, while image assets made up 28.02%.
AppGrowing has also added a new 31–45s video length segment for more granular insights. The most common length remained 16–30 seconds, representing 51.69% of all video creatives.
01.Top Mobile Game Developers & Mobile Games
According to AppGrowing monitoring, Oakever Games retained its position as the top advertiser by developer.
Except for Playrix, all other publishers in the top 10 either maintained or improved their rankings from June.
Overall, the leaderboard continues to be dominated by publishers focusing on light-to-midcore genres.
In the Top 30 products by ad volume, Braindom remained No.1 despite a 37.38% MoM decline in ads. Jigsawscapes® and Vita Mahjong ranked second and third, both posting modest MoM increases.
Several newcomers broke into the chart, with five titles—Tiles Hop EDM Rush Music Game, Annoying Uncle Punch Game, Ride Master, Merge Mutants-monster master, and Bakery Stack—posting MoM ad growth of over 100%, all within light-to-midcore genres.
02.Top Pre-registering Games
In July's Pre-registration Ranking, most titles focused on East Asian markets—primarily Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Taiwan of China, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea—with only three targeting Europe and North America.
Leading both iOS and Android was 戰靈異聞社, a cyberpunk-meets-Chinese-folklore RPG. According to AppGrowing's Top Pre-Register, the title officially launched on August 12 in Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Taiwan of China, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Ranking in the top five across both platforms was Seal of Fate (命运圣契), developed by 极致互动 and published global by Ujoy Games, with pre-registration focused on North and Latin America.
This anime-style RPG had already launched in Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Taiwan of China in February, reportedly grossing nearly 20 million TWD in its first week.
Other notable entries include Kingnet Network's 超虾大作战 and Garena's 新月同行. The former has already launched, topping the Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan of China free charts, and breaking into the top 30 grossing ranks.
03. Garena Global Advertising Layout
新月同行, a supernatural-themed, turn-based anime RPG developed by 烛薪网络, debuted in China in November last year and was one of the stronger-performing new titles from a small studio.
Garena handles its global release, with the game launching on August 7 in Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Taiwan of China, Japan, and Korea.
Pre-registration marketing is a core tactic for anime titles. AppGrowing's Top Publishers shows that in July, Garena—while sustaining investment in flagship titles like Free Fire—allocated more resources to 新月同行, making it one of the month's top three products by ad spend.
Advertising strategy data reveals that from July 10, Garena significantly ramped up UA investment for 新月同行, with daily ad volume exceeding 800 creatives at its peak. This was paired with social media campaigns leveraging pre-registration rewards, fan art contests, and endorsements from well-known voice actors.
From a creative standpoint, 新月同行 ads leaned heavily on visual art and narrative elements to highlight thematic differentiation and high-quality illustration.
Some creatives also emphasized “low-grind” gameplay and character progression, while incorporating meme culture popular in Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan of China for added engagement.
One example: the opening three seconds focus tightly on a female character to instantly capture attention, paired with the provocative hook, “Ever played a game where you get stronger just by sleeping?”
The ad then transitions to a showcase of the game's simulation-management mechanics, using popular cat memes for humor. Finally, it demonstrates upgrading characters with resources produced offline, ending with a rapid montage of diverse, visually distinctive characters to drive further player interest.
