Marketing will eat the market

The name of the game in 2026 will be doubling down on marketing. Marketing is currently more important than product itself in the mobile game industry, as getting volume of users requires either an enormously strong IP or the UA product funnel of Fake ads and Fake onboarding, which is driven mainly by the Chinese mobile juggernauts slowly conquering the market.

AI is actually already accelerating this, as currently the biggest impact of AI on the mobile game industry is ad creatives. We see the ratio between AI and non AI creatives in company portfolios constantly growing in favour of AI and we think that by the end of 2026, more than 50% of creatives will be either having an AI hook at the start or will be completely generated by AI.

The other biggest growth vector again supercharging this trend will be AI playables, or more precisely the explosion of speed of their creation, which again we already see happening in China. This means that by the end of 2026, mobile game studios will either adjust to these trends or they can continue making pretty much perfect mobile games, which won't be having any users as they will get stomped over by the ones executing this marketing strategy. Choose wisely 😊.

Jakub Remiar, Mobile F2P Games Consultant & Co-founder + Host of two and a half gamers

Welcome back, ad tech - may the next great platform please stand up?

Ad monetization and UA tech are “so back” in 2026. 

So much is bubbling in ad tech world. Aurion11 (the ex Outfit7 team), Playgap (ex Unity team) and iion (brand ads) are all building exciting things for 2026. But nothing trumped the huge move by the team that brought you MoPub and Max Ads: CloudX. Jim Payne & Dan Sack are back and finding ways of giving control back to publishers and add additional transparency to the bidding process using a healthy dose of AI. Will they go all the way this time and challenge Applovin properly… or will Applovin take them out again (as happened with Max Ads and MoPub). Pass me the chilli-flavored popcorn please. 

Mobile games’ sentiment will improve. 

Apps have been in the spotlight massively in 2025. In comparison to mobile games they are super fast to ship, thanks to gpt-enabled micro-teams. Even the famous Joakim Achren jumped on his own App Journey, vibe coding away from the VC world. 

Should there be even a medium AI bubble stock market *pop*, the longevity of apps’ business models will be put into question. Low barriers to entry will mean even further increased competition. In the meantime, mobile games have had a tough year. AI has created firing-hiring gloom for employees, but is yet to drive more than tactical productivity improvements for most companies.

But sentiment could soon change. Many mobile studios that are downsizing will find these people creating new teams, despite the current industry funding challenge. Because just like apps - you don’t need to raise $1-2m in seed funding to get a good prototype. Just don’t expect AI to find the fun for you, that’s still the hard bit. 

Will we get a new breakout Social Gaming Platform? 

Game distribution is becoming ever harder. Back in the day… as an up-and-coming developer you might get some featuring from Apple or Google… and benefit from chart position downloads. Now, unless you get seriously creative, you need to master creative UA algo-manipulation- particularly on Applovin. Isn’t it time for us to have a new breakout Social Gaming platform “in the West”. Facebook launched the likes of Zynga and King (who remembers when they used to be called Midasplayer?). Youtube’s HTML5 games never really took off; nor did TikTok’s version of it. Twitch, Kick & Youtube Live are great for watching, but there is nothing that enables mass-multiplayer. Jussi Laakkonen’s Noice made a valiant effort, but despite significant funding, it never took off. I hear Discord’s game platform struggles to monetise well at scale. 

Changes beckon at TikTok, where the US Government will be part of the consortium to soon run TikTok’s US operation. Will that create one of those unique moments that spawns a new platform? Could multiplayer (mobile) gaming be part of that story?

Pieter Kooyman, Founder & CEO, Half Moon Studios

Creators replace attribution

Mobile games will lean harder into creator driven awareness and community building as paid channels keep losing clarity. Games that integrate creators early in the lifecycle will grow faster because they can build trust, social proof, and demand before launch.

Marion Balinoff, Influencer Marketing Consultant

Collaboration, community, and the new organic UA

Game Crossovers as Organic UA Levers: As traditional user acquisition channels face limitations, 2026 will see cross-game collaborations evolve from a pure monetization tactic to a key engine for organic growth. Developers will stop viewing partnerships as isolated events, and instead leverage them as opportunities to drive new engagement among untapped player segments – something we’ve seen firsthand through Subway Surfers’ collaborations with Crossy Road, Brawl Stars, and more.
Embracing Authentic UGC on Socials: In 2026, polished and informative social media content will take a backseat to authentic player-led storytelling, with studios actively incentivizing user-generated content that interprets game mechanics in unexpected ways. Games’ social media channels will increasingly shift from formal corporate messaging to amplifying community trends, turning unexpected gameplay moments and memes into lasting brand affinity.

Mathias Gredal Nørvig, CEO, SYBO

From apps to ecosystems - everyone will get to play a part

In 2026, I think we will see mobile games evolve from isolated apps into always-on, socially driven ecosystems. I think we will note a shift in how players participate, not just how they play. Creator-led content and livestreamed gameplay -already growing on platforms like TikTok-will become an increasingly important part of mobile game design, with games integrating tools for shareable moments, community challenges, and lightweight UGC.

AI will reshape the mobile experience even more aggressively than on PC or console. I would expect smarter personalisation: difficulty that adjusts in real time, dynamic content drops, AI-generated quests, and rapid creative iteration that lets studios test high numbers of ad and content variations weekly. This will make mobile games feel more tailored, fresh, and constantly updating.

Economically, rising UA costs will push developers toward loyalty mechanics, stronger social loops, and deeper connections between the game and a player’s wider digital life. Mobile titles will rely less on one-off downloads and more on long-term communities that boost retention through social belonging and creator influence.
In short, 2026 will likely be the year mobile games become more social, more personalised, and more co-created; built as living ecosystems rather than standard static apps we are used to."

Ada Mockute Jaime, CMO, Nordcurrent

2026 will reward studios who hold, not hunt

My top prediction is that 2026 will see a decisive shift in marketing focus, moving budgets from User Acquisition to Retention and Retargeting.

For years, rising CPIs have made traditional UA prohibitively expensive. The key driver for the 2026 strategy is simple economics: re-engaging a known user via RT is significantly cheaper than acquiring a new one.

Savvy gaming studios will embrace a "retention first" mindset, based on two core strategies: 

1. Lower cost, higher LTV: Retargeting users who have already shown interest dramatically lowers costs, simultaneously increasing the lifetime value (LTV) of the existing player base.
2. Smarter personalisation: Investment will flow into LiveOps and personalisation tools that use first-party data to build deep loyalty, moving beyond mass-market advertising towards highly tailored, in-game user journeys.

This shift represents not just a trend, but a strategy for sustainable growth in what we know to be an extremely competitive market.

Vera Manhoso, Gaming Account Director, RTB House 

UA moves from installs to value

From my perspective, I am not seeing any radical change coming in 2026. It will largely be an extension of what we have witnessed in 2025. The market will continue maturing, with consolidation favoring larger studios that have the resources to invest in quality development and diversified global distribution.

The dominance of Google Play and Apple App Store in game distribution has been questioned extensively throughout 2025. This trend will continue into 2026, with alternative and direct distribution channels growing in importance. I expect traditional players to take more drastic measures to counter these emerging threats to their market control.

User acquisition strategies in 2026 will evolve further with a strong focus on player retention instead of simply chasing install volumes. Developers will prioritize maximizing lifetime value through more personalized and gameplay-focused acquisition campaigns. This shift will drive higher engagement and deliver better returns on investment for studios."

Ahmad Shaquib, COO, GamingonPhone

The ad stack goes adaptive 

Studios will continue moving toward an integrated growth loop, where UA, monetization, and retention work as a single system rather than separate functions. The priority is shifting from pure acquisition to deeper activation, sustained engagement, and maximization of lifetime value.

Hybrid monetization will keep maturing and strengthen its position as the core model for sustainable mobile revenue. Rewarded video will remain the most stable and high-performing format. In parallel, immersive in-game advertising is expected to grow as brands increasingly explore native integrations that don’t interrupt gameplay and can even enhance realism.

AI adoption in AdTech will accelerate, especially in bid-floor automation, dynamic pricing, fraud and ad-quality control, and churn prediction. This will enable more efficient revenue tuning, reduce wasted impressions, and improve overall player experience.

Looking ahead, we expect to see a shift from static ad rules to dynamic, personalized ad intensity. AI can help predict a player's ad tolerance, churn risk, optimal ad timing, and preferred formats – ultimately enabling individualized ad strategies instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.

Katerina Maliaran, Head of Ad Monetization, Burny Games

The year monetization becomes modular: rewards scale, bundles win, AI builds the tools

1. Rewarded Play Expanding

In 2026, rewarded play shifts from a niche monetisation add-on to a more mainstream component of mobile game economies. There is a growing cohort of users  that are enjoying exchanging their time for real world value in a fun way. At our studio, doubling down on rewarded design has helped double our revenue in 2025 and we have bigger expectations for 2026.

2. Hybrid Monetization Evolves Into Reward Bundling

For most, the future isn’t ads OR purchases - it’s both. Rewarded videos, subscriptions, offerwalls, streak rewards, and soft-currency boosts now work together as a unified system. This “reward bundling” approach expands monetisation to every user type, from ad-first players to light spenders, lifting overall LTV without harming UX.

3. AI Tool Building

Would be daft not to mention AI as a trend. I think most would talk about the way it helps with art/code to produce games, but for me I'm excited by the reality of it already helping us build internal tools that would usually take months or extra hiring to do. e.g. we have built a build tracking web app that measures the roll out states of each build, plus an AI chatbot tool that improves our support function. AI is allowing creative thinkers to build things themselves, which I am really bullish on.

Paul West, Founder, Fumb Games 

Personalisation becomes the product

Mobile monetization will shift from rewarding progress to rewarding individuality.

We’ll see more personalized offers based on player interests and spending patterns, and the biggest revenue drivers will come from self-expression rather than power. Players will pay to stand out — not to outscale others, but to be unique, recognizable and true to their own playstyle.

Maksim Amosov, Head of Monetization, Nekki 

2026 isn’t a monetization reinvention - it's a tightening

In 2026, I don’t expect any radical upheavals in the mobile games market. Major players will maintain their positions, while the barrier to entry will continue to rise: the battle for user attention, traffic costs, and increasingly high product-quality expectations make launching new projects ever more resource-intensive.

Alternative payment systems may capture 25–30% of the mobile gaming market.

I expect to see the first projects created primarily with generative AI — from content and assets to game balance. The share of AI-generated ad creatives will grow significantly, enabling studios to test hypotheses and optimize UA faster and at lower cost.

Classical ad monetization will remain stable, and the overall balance of power is likely to persist, though unexpected mergers in the spirit of Unity+IronSource or AppLovin+MoPub are still possible.

My main expectation is explosive growth of the intrinsic in-game ad format. After Google AdMob’s entry into this segment, the format may finally achieve mass adoption.

As a result, 2026 is more likely to be a year of consolidating the current market model than the beginning of a new era.

Daniil Sadykov, Head of Ad Monetization, MY.GAMES

Your game can earn more… if it annoys players less

Whether a studio wants to increase player loyalty to grow LTV, raise awareness to launch a web shop presence or build brand partnerships to cash in on the opportunities where community and commerce converge, studios will have to demonstrate they know, understand and respect their audience best. It starts with data, and in 2026 this is where AI will take its cue from players’ behaviorial and contextual signals to deliver smarter segmentation across the journey. It’s valuable insight that elevates the experience, driving more frequent interactions and more opportunities to turn player focus into positive outcomes for studios and their business partner ecosystems.

But achieving sustainable growth in 2026 will not only require more inventive monetization models fed by more advanced models. It will demand studios take more responsibility for the ad experience their app delivers. When data shows that exposure to one bad ad will drive 1 in 5 players away from the game, it’s clear that enforcing policies to control harmful (translated: misogynistic), annoying (translated: unskippable) and malicious (translated: scams) ads is a must to keep players playing and brand partners committed.

In 2026, studios that stay in the game will be the ones that do more than evolve. They expand their definition of what a game is, what a game does, and what a game owes the player.

Peggy Anne Salz, Content Strategist & Founder, MobileGroove 

The AI LiveOps divide: architects vs. spreadsheet survivors

In 2026, AI will unlock unprecedented liveops capabilities: predictive LTV, churn modeling, offer personalization, dynamic difficulty adjustment, real-time pricing, and economy balancing will all be within reach. But 'within reach' is not 'turn-key.' The tools will exist. The APIs will be accessible. The difference will be in who knows how to wield them.

Studios with AI-fluent liveops teams—people who understand how to leverage AI and in what ways—will compound their advantages. They'll optimize their games better, reduce costs, and speed up development.

Studios without that expertise will adopt the same tools and get mediocre results. They'll blame the models or worse—ship automations that damage their games. The AI skill gap will become the new liveops capability gap.

The real unlock isn't the technology. It's orchestration: AI agents that manage entire workflows end-to-end—scheduling events, populating battle passes, rotating storefronts, triggering contextual offers—collapsing what once required a team of operators into a single PM's strategic oversight. This is still emerging, but the studios building toward it now will be ready when it matures.

The liveops role won't shrink. It will bifurcate. PMs who master AI will operate as architects: designing systems, running bold experiments, and shaping player journeys with ambition the old operational grind never permitted. Those who don't will find themselves automated into irrelevance—or left managing the spreadsheets their competitors have long since abandoned.

Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games 

Adaptive LiveOps will take over

In 2026, I believe a dramatic reshaping of UA and Liveops in the games will take place. AI can help enable real-time personalisation, offers, and UA creative rotation based on user intent signals.

The biggest shift likely won’t happen in terms of how UA is being run but from the abilities to dynamically retain and re-engage high value users using behavioural data, contextual targeting, and predictive churn scores.

Stefana Pesko, Director of Performance Marketing, Product Madness 

2026 belongs to LiveOps: hybrid-casual gets deeper, smarter, and always-on

I expect 2026 to be shaped by bite-sized hybrid-casual games with deeper engagement loops and a stronger emphasis on always-on live ops. AI-driven personalization and segmentation will play a bigger role across the board, factoring in not just payer behavior but difficulty, progression, and a wide range of in-game interactions.

Revenue will continue shifting toward DTC web shops as teams look for more efficiency in an increasingly mature market. Real growth is likely to come from emerging markets, as the US and EU become more saturated.

The ad networks will keep most of the power in an already concentrated ecosystem, though we’re finally seeing early attempts to reduce that dominance.

Alexey Gusev, Head of Growth, Softgames

Faster tests, smarter games: 2026 favours AI-driven creators

By 2026, mobile games will evolve into far more adaptive and player-centric experiences. At Hungry Studio, our Block Blast! development philosophy has always been rooted in rapid iteration and evidence-based design. With AI, this approach will accelerate dramatically: A/B testing will become significantly more efficient, monetization will adapt to each player’s behavior in real time, and creative production for UA will scale faster than ever.

The studios that can combine strong product intuition with AI-driven experimentation will define the next generation of global hits.

Jason Wang, VP of Brand Marketing, Hungry Studio

Stores open up, regulators close in

An exciting year is behind us! App stores have opened up and in more than one way! We already saw the effects and the rise in DTC. That will only continue in 2026. On the other hand, regulators keep pushing the industry towards the edge. Apple and Google will start with age verification in the US states, Texas, Utah, and Louisiana, from 1st January 2026, and they have already announced they will pass this info onto publishers (this might become a norm in more states and/or the EU moving forward). 

Judging by the lack of response from the industry, publishers intend to do nothing with that information - in the context of adapting their content, IAPs or ads in line with the age information they receive. At least for now, or until regulation is enforced further.

Božo Janković, Head of Ad Monetization, GameBiz Consulting

Goodbye static levels, hello living worlds

By the end of 2026, I think mobile games could start to feel “alive”. Characters react to how you play, every time you open the app the world will have changed, and it’s possible that the use of AI generates dynamic difficulty that can adapt in real time. We may start seeing that it will be more about games that can grow with us in our skill level.

Tina Shaw, Creative Director, Activision

From cohorts to individuals - personalisation finally gets real

In 2026, I would love to see how hyper-personalisation is finally becoming a thing. This has been advised for many years now, but with the current boom of generative AI, this next step for mobile games and apps could become reality. Imagine an onboarding experience that was just made for you. Paywalls, messages, and every form of communication that is not only based on hard-coded rules anymore but tailors the experience to each user individually.

Picture a subscription app that adjusts its pricing page to highlight the exact features you care about most or a fitness app that builds a weekly plan based on your real behavior instead of averages. Even content feeds could reorder themselves in real time so every user sees the version of the app that matches their goals, habits, and motivation.

And in mobile games, imagine levels that change layout, enemies, and rewards based entirely on how you played the last session, so every run feels uniquely yours.

Sven Jürgens, App Growth Consultant & Advisor

More stores, more control, more meaningful growth

Looking ahead to 2026, I am confident that mobile games will continue to lead global entertainment. The industry is shifting toward more intentional growth: stronger product quality, better retention loops and a clear focus on long-term player value. I see studios moving away from chasing scale at any cost and prioritising sustainable, measurable growth instead. This mindset is reshaping the approach that everyone will be taking in the upcoming year (or even years).

Store diversification is becoming a core strategic pillar. The expansion of third-party and regional stores are providing developers with more choices than ever. It brings additional complexity, but it also unlocks new audiences, new promotional opportunities and more control over distribution. This direction will define how studios think about scaling in 2026. Non-traditional user acquisition will be one of the main growth engines.

Creator-led funnels, cross-brand collaborations and experiential marketing have big potential for growth in the upcoming year. These approaches not only improve performance but also build community and emotional connection with players. In a landscape where classic performance channels are less predictable, this blend of creativity and data will set successful studios apart.

Elizaveta Savenkova, Chief Business Development Officer, ZiMAD

Ad network mediations on top 

In 2026, I think we will see a lot of exciting innovation around ad network mediations.

CK Wang, Co-founder & CEO, Kooapps

D2C graduates to main character in 2026

In 2026, we’ll see D2C shift from side experiment to core infrastructure. The playbook is emerging: design it into onboarding from day one, model conversion rates into your UA strategy the same way you track retention gates, and segment your approach.

Studios executing on this are recapturing significant revenue per paying player and feeding it directly into LTV, which unlocks more aggressive UA. By the end of 2026, that structural advantage will separate the winners from everyone else.

Spencer Tucker, Chief Product Officer at Stash

2026 looks like a year of refinement and optimization rather than disruption.

Based on my experience in mobile gaming BD, growth, and monetization, here are my predictions for 2026:

1. AI will gradually enhance live-ops and personalization
Studios won’t replace teams with AI, but they will increasingly use it to support segmentation, content testing, and decision-making.

2. Hybrid monetization will continue to gain traction
More developers are exploring mixes of ads, IAP, and subscriptions, not as a radical shift, but as a steady, data-driven evolution.

3. Cross-platform play will expand where it makes sense
We’ll likely see more titles connecting mobile with PC or cloud versions, especially in mid-core and social genres.

4. Community and creator influence will keep growing
Short-form video, user-generated content, and niche creators will remain important discovery channels.

Overall, 2026 looks like a year of refinement and optimization rather than disruption.

Melanya Laz, Head of Growth, Elevatix 

 FUN > ad spam

2026? We will get our FUN back. 🤞🏻

HC Ad-spam era is almost dead. Joy-revolution incomin' for devs & players. Innovative hybrid titles are bringing it on. Copycats will be there, though! Globalisation is pushing us in a good way!🦧

Ömer Yakabagi, Founder, Gamigion

Mobile becomes cross-media IP

In 2026, mobile gaming will evolve from a companion experience to a central hub of entertainment ecosystems. With Europe’s mobile gaming market expected to generate $33.1 billion in revenue in 2025, mobile-first studios are poised to drive the next wave of transmedia franchises, blurring the lines between games, film, music, and social platforms. We’ll see more mobile-led IPs that expand across media formats, driving both narrative and commercial growth.

This isn’t just gamification, it’s the redefinition of how stories live and evolve. With the rise of 5G, cloud gaming, and AI-driven personalization, mobile platforms will rival consoles not only in performance but in cultural influence. Next year, mobile gaming won’t just connect players - it will connect industries, reshaping what a franchise means in the era of interactive, always-on storytelling.

As policies evolve and new regulations open doors for mobile studios, developers now have greater opportunities to engage directly with players, doing so with higher profits and less complexity. This shift will lead to more games delivering value and creating unique, enriching experiences for their audiences.

Berkley Egenes, Chief Growth Officer, Xsolla