The following analysis of mobile games marketing trends for September 2025 is based on advertising data from AppGrowing across 50 countries and regions, and 28 global media platforms.In the ranking of overseas mobile game advertising by category, casual, entertainment, and puzzle games occupy the top three spots.
Among new app releases, entertainment games maintain the lead, accounting for 48.11%. Casual games come second, with nearly 29.67% of new app releases. puzzle games account for 18.72%. Notably, although the overall number of arcade game ads is relatively small, new arcade apps constitute 24.09%, surpassing puzzle titles.
The top three in advertising volume are casual, puzzle, and role-playing games. However, when considering creative material count after de-duplication, puzzle games surpass casual titles.
In terms of Ad Creative Formats, video continued to dominate global mobile game advertising, accounting for 73.05%, while image assets made up 26.79%.Regarding video lengths, the 16-30 second segment remained the most prevalent in August, accounting for 49.80%.
01. Top Mobile Game Developers & Mobile Games
According to AppGrowing, the top ten game developers’ advertising rankings remain largely consistent with the previous period.
Oakever Games continues to dominate in September, maintaining the top spot, while Fried Chicken Games, which ranked 6th in August, dropped out of the current list.
Overall, the leading developers primarily focus on lightweight to moderate game genres.
Within the Top 30 product release list, "Jigsawscapes@" retains its top position, though its ad volume continues to decline, decreasing by 13.86% month-over-month. The second and third-ranked products, "Vita Mahjong" and "Tile Explorer," also remain unchanged, with their advertising volumes similarly declining.
The advertising volume change for the featured games in this period can be almost entirely described as "green," indicating reductions. The most significant decrease is seen with Oakever Games’ "Solitaire Classic Puzzle Game," which dropped by 40.25%. Most other titles decreased by less than 20%.
02. Top Pre-registering Games
In this period, the reservation rankings mainly feature products with reservations concentrated in East Asia, including Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Japan/Korea. Only 4399’s "Legend of Elements" is reserved in Western markets.Specifically, "Legend of Elements," a cross-platform idle RPG themed around natural elements, ranks first in both iOS and Android pre-registrations and officially launched in Europe, Canada, and other regions on October 12.Additionally, "Duet Night Abyss" , developed by Hong Kong Spiral Rising Technology, ranks third on the App Store and second on Google Play. It is scheduled for global multi-platform release on October 28.The release livestream featured a surprise announcement of major updates: removing character/weapon gacha and shifting monetization to cosmetics, overturning traditional genre business models.
Another noteworthy title is "星痕共鳴," adapted from Bandai Namco’s "PROJECT SKY BLUE" IP, set to launch in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia on October 23, distributed by HaoPlay. HaoPlay, founded by TapTap partner Huang Xiwei, has previously handled other ACG Games such as "GIRLS' FRONTLINE 2: EXILIUM," "Reverse: 1999," and "白荊迴廊."
Following a successful global pre-registration of over 5 million, it topped the iOS free charts and set a new Steam record in China with nearly 100k concurrent players at launch.
03. 4399 Global Advertising Layout
According to AppGrowing, 4399's idle RPG mobile game "Legend of Elements" performed quite well on its launch day, ranking 11th on the US iOS free charts. However, subsequent data showed a downward trend.
Based on the "Top Publishers" feature of AppGrowing, it is evident that in September, 4399 allocated more user acquisition budget to the US market, with advertising volume accounting for the highest share at 6.22%. Nonetheless, in terms of product investment share, 4399 primarily directed the budget towards the new release "Legend of Elements," which accounted for more than 29.35% of the ad volume.
Focusing specifically on the advertising strategy for "Legend of Elements," data from AppGrowing shows that the game increased its ad spend starting from September 12, with daily ad volumes generally exceeding 1,000 sets.
The game's ads, primarily AI-assisted, introduce its universe through story-driven narratives and in-game footage, sometimes with third-person live-action narration to highlight key features.
For example, one ad set opens with a character flying in a third-person view to emphasize speed and quality, listing ratings at the top to pique curiosity, then cuts to "hack-and-slash" combat scenes to showcase excitement.
