AppMagic‘s Casual LiveOps Report H1 2025 explores how LiveOps strategies have evolved across Casual, Puzzle, Casino, and HybridCasual segments. It breaks down key trends across genres and approaches, making it easier for anyone involved in LiveOps planning and design to tap into relevant insights and leverage them to boost their own product growth strategies.
We have compiled the top headlines from the casual, LiveOps, puzzle, and hybrid-casual segments for you.
Casual Market Overview
Key Takeaways
- Casual supergenre continues to grow: Global revenue grew by 3.6% and downloads by 6% compared to last year.
- Significant shifts in the ranking of top-grossing countries: Japan showed a 20% revenue growth compared to H1 2024.
- Top countries by downloads have changed: Brazil dropped out of the top 3 countries in terms of downloads, giving way to Indonesia.
- Casino segment saw a drop in revenue: Among the top 3 Casual genres by revenue, only Casino showed a 15% decline in revenue, despite an 8% increase in downloads.
- Casual Strategy games market is growing: The genre’s revenue in H2 2025 grew by 120%, while downloads increased by 80% compared to H1 2024, driven by several titles.
- Most revenue remains concentrated in older titles: Only 11% of the 2023-2025 releases made it into the top-gropssing games for H1 2025.
- Hypercasual games continue to evolve: The Hypercasuals showed a 111% increase in revenue due to the deepening of meta mechanics and increased monetization.
Source: AppMagic
Casual LiveOps Overview
Key Takeaways
- Number of LiveOps Events is growing rapidly – On average, 10% more events were held in Q2 compared to Q1.
- Plinko events: the ones to watch – The Plinko mechanic continues to gain popularity, expecially in Puzzle and Casino games.
- IP collabs: a LiveOps essential – Over 25% of tracked top games featured at least one IP collaboration this year.
- Casino is the most demanding LiveOps genre – The Casino genre hosts 1.6 times more events than the Casual segment on average.
- Race is Casual’s top mechanic – Race is present in 70% of the top Casual games: an absoulute record for LiveOps mechanics.
- Few games remain that haven’t celebrated holidays – 96% of games have already celebrated at least one event this year.
- Popular mechanics continue trending – The following mechacings showed steady growth: Lava Quest (up 29%), Win Streak (up 25%), and Digging (up 20%).
- Love, everybody! – Valentine’s Day is the most popular short holiday, featured in 66% of Casual games.
- The end of the Fishing mechanic – Fishing mechanics failed to gain popularity and are no longer introduced in the new top games.
- Releasing new events is an essential part of any LiveOps – 82% of games have launched at least one event this year.
- Holiday and IP event schedules are inversely aligned – While holidays are mostly celebrated in January, February, and April, the number of IP-related events grows in April, May, and June.
Source: AppMagic
LiveOps in Puzzles
Key Takeaways
- Clear pattern in the segment’s event scheduling – Short and Daily events peak on Fridays and weekends, while events of Medium duration are more common early in the week.
- Album mechanics are noe present in 50% of puzzle games – Albums have become a key part of the LiveOps strategy and continue to appear in the new games.
- Some event duration types show month-on-month growth – Notable growth since the beginning of the year was recorded in Hourly events (+19%) and Daily events (+15%).
- Mechanic to watch: Merge – The Merge mechanic has become more common in games and, for many, is now part of the regular event schedule.
- Competitive elements are the foundation on the LiveOps – On average, 45% of LiveOps events in the genre include competitive elements.
- There is always a reason to celebrate – Alongside major holidays, over 20% of games also celebrate less popular ones like Mother’s Day.
Source: AppMagic
LiveOps in Hybridcasual
Key Takeaways
- LiveOps focus is growing, but schedules stay steady – Few experiments appear in schedules, with the focus centered on Daily and Medium-length events.
- LiveOps keeps the player focused on the core game – Over 50% of events are aimed at main gameplay engagement.
- Number of events is growing slowly – The highest growth was recorded in Daily and Hourly events (around 18%).
- Event complexity is higher than it seems – Most events can’t be compleded within the given timeframe without active play or spending.
- Race is a top mechanic in the genre – Over 40% of all events and 60% of games feature the Race mechanic.
- Holiday events remain rare – The genre celebrates only the most popular holidays, ignoring niche and local occasions.
- IP collaborations are extremely rare in the genre – Only a few games have participated in IP collaborations, but these can last up to a year.
Source: AppMagic
The full report is available for download here.
