"Sensor Tower recently released a report called Cracking the Live Ops Code: How Mobile Games Can Leverage Live Ops Insights, following its acquisition of Playliner, a company focused on live ops intelligence. This report combines app analytics, event data, and revenue trends to offer a clearer look at what's really happening in the world of mobile game monetization through live operations."
"A key finding from the report is that most live ops games are not growing. In fact, 78% of the top 1000 live ops games by in-app purchase (IAP) revenue in 2024 saw a revenue decline in the first half of 2025. More than 500 of those games lost money year over year. Six of them dropped more than $100 million in IAP revenue. Most others lost between $1 million and $10 million. So, despite using live ops, most games still struggled to hold player spending."
"Seven games managed to grow their IAP revenue by more than $100 million in that same period. Three of those grew by over $200 million. These outliers, Whiteout Survival, Last War: Survival, and Gossip Harbor, stood out in terms of revenue gains, all having launched before 2024. These titles are also some of the highest grossing games globally. The common thread among them is disciplined live ops strategy. It's not just about running events, it's about running the right ones."
Live ops activity alone does not ensure growth for mobile games. Most top live ops titles experienced declines: 78% of the top 1,000 by IAP revenue fell in H1 2025, with over 500 losing money year-over-year and six dropping more than $100 million. A small number of outliers achieved large gains, driven by disciplined live ops execution. Live ops events fall into three categories: monetization (offers and bundles), progression (milestone rewards), and social. The difference between growth and decline often lies in planning, structure, and execution quality of live ops.
Read at App Developer Magazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]