December 2025 Gaming and Adtech News Recap
With the year drawing to a close, it is time for the annual moment of reflection and projection. New reports, rankings and performance breakdowns are in, offering a clearer picture of how games and adtech performed in 2025, from top-grossing mobile titles and monetisation shifts to market confidence across key regions. Alongside these insights, major partnerships, acquisitions and platform moves are setting the tone for what’s next, giving the industry plenty to digest as it looks ahead to 2026.
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GAMING
Industry:
Read the 2026 gaming forecast, with insights from industry professionals. The predictions include that 2026 will be shaped by continued global expansion into emerging markets, a shift toward multi-platform experiences and analytics, wider adoption of direct-to-consumer distribution, and AI-powered tools boosting development and LiveOps, with smaller teams thriving alongside big studios as the market evolves.
Germany’s games industry is heading into 2026 with renewed confidence, as sentiment improves sharply after three difficult years. Nearly 29% of companies now expect positive industry development, up from 17% last year, while pessimism has dropped significantly, with only 31% anticipating negative growth compared to 45% a year ago — signalling a clear shift in outlook as confidence returns to the market.
2025’s top-grossing mobile titles feature Honor of Kings, Last War: Survival, Whiteout Survival and Royal Match.
Games:
Ubisoft acquires Amazon’s upcoming MOBA March of Giants.
Sega brings Godzilla to Sonic Rumble in month-long crossover.
Netflix partners with FIFA to launch football simulation game ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
ADTECH
The AppsFlyer Performance Index 2025 was released and we’re very proud to share exmox’s incredible results this year. Some highlights from the 2025 Ranking include: #3 on Android – Global Casual Gaming, #4 on iOS – Global Casual Gaming, #8 on Android – All Categories, Global (higher than any other rewarded network worldwide).
Netflix moves to acquire Warner Bros., then Paramount launches rival $108B bid.
AppMagic released their Monetization Report 2025. It shows modest market growth of 3.4% year-on-year, driven primarily by the App Store, while Google Play lags behind. Revenue expansion is increasingly concentrated in Strategy, Simulation and Hybridcasual, with growth shifting toward emerging markets such as LATAM, MENA and Eastern Europe, even as mature regions like the US, Western Europe and Japan slow but retain high ARPPU. Monetisation is becoming more top-heavy, with over 40% of revenue coming from the largest offers, simple and hybrid formats gaining traction, and D2C and alternative payments up 46%, though still adopted by a minority of leading games.
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