The latest mobile gaming industry reports from Liftoff, Singular, and Unity reveal that global average CPIs for mobile games have settled at approximately $1.47 across all genres, but genre-level variation is enormous: hyper-casual games command CPIs as low as $0.18 to $0.35, while RPG and strategy titles regularly exceed $3.50 to $5.80 per install. Meanwhile, Day 7 ROAS benchmarks for casual games hover around 12% to 18%, and mid-core titles see 8% to 14%, signaling that creative strategy and genre-specific optimization are more critical than ever.
Retention data shows a consistent pattern where Day 1 retention across all genres averages 25% to 28%, but the spread between the best-performing and worst-performing genres at Day 30 can be as wide as 8 percentage points, making long-term monetization planning inseparable from acquisition strategy. This post synthesizes findings from Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report, Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index, Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report, and RocketShip HQ’s own client benchmarks to provide the most comprehensive view of mobile gaming advertising performance available today.
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What is the average CPI by mobile game genre in 2025?
The following CPI benchmarks are compiled from Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report, Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report, and RocketShip HQ client data across 15+ gaming accounts. Global averages reflect worldwide campaign data, while US figures represent North American campaigns specifically. Understanding what constitutes a good CPI benchmark requires recognizing that gaming sits 40% cheaper than finance apps but shows enormous genre-level variation.
| Game Genre | Global Avg CPI (iOS) | Global Avg CPI (Android) | US Avg CPI (iOS) | US Avg CPI (Android) | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyper-Casual | $0.32 | $0.18 | $0.58 | $0.28 | –8% |
| Casual (Puzzle) | $1.05 | $0.52 | $2.10 | $0.85 | +5% |
| Casual (Match) | $1.85 | $0.78 | $3.20 | $1.25 | +12% |
| Simulation | $1.65 | $0.72 | $2.80 | $1.10 | +3% |
| Mid-Core (Action) | $2.40 | $1.15 | $4.10 | $1.90 | +7% |
| Mid-Core (Strategy) | $3.80 | $1.65 | $5.80 | $2.70 | +10% |
| RPG | $4.25 | $1.90 | $6.50 | $3.10 | +6% |
| Sports/Racing | $1.95 | $0.88 | $3.40 | $1.45 | +2% |
| Casino/Social Casino | $3.20 | $1.40 | $5.20 | $2.30 | +15% |
| Board/Card | $1.45 | $0.65 | $2.60 | $1.05 | +4% |
What are the ROAS benchmarks by game genre and time period?
ROAS benchmarks below reflect data from Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report for casual and hyper-casual genres, supplemented by RocketShip HQ client data for mid-core, RPG, and casino categories. IAA (in-app advertising) and IAP (in-app purchase) ROAS are broken out separately because monetization model fundamentally determines ROAS targets, with gaming typically requiring 3:1 to 5:1 ROAS due to high churn rates.
| Game Genre | D1 ROAS (IAA) | D7 ROAS (IAA) | D30 ROAS (IAA) | D7 ROAS (IAP) | D30 ROAS (IAP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyper-Casual | 18-25% | 45-65% | 85-110% | 1-3% | 3-6% |
| Casual (Puzzle) | 5-8% | 14-18% | 30-42% | 6-10% | 18-28% |
| Casual (Match) | 4-7% | 12-16% | 28-38% | 8-14% | 22-35% |
| Simulation | 3-6% | 10-15% | 25-35% | 5-9% | 16-26% |
| Mid-Core (Action) | 2-4% | 8-12% | 18-28% | 7-12% | 20-32% |
| Mid-Core (Strategy) | 1-3% | 5-10% | 14-24% | 10-16% | 28-45% |
| RPG | 1-2% | 4-8% | 12-22% | 12-18% | 32-55% |
| Casino/Social Casino | 2-5% | 8-14% | 22-38% | 15-22% | 45-70% |
| Sports/Racing | 3-5% | 10-14% | 24-34% | 5-8% | 15-24% |
| Board/Card | 3-6% | 12-16% | 28-40% | 8-12% | 22-35% |
Need help scaling your mobile app growth? Talk to RocketShip HQ about how we apply these strategies for apps spending $50K+/month on UA.
What are the retention benchmarks by game genre at D1, D7, and D30?
Retention data is drawn from Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report (which aggregates data from billions of sessions across Unity-powered games), Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report, and RocketShip HQ’s internal benchmarks from client campaigns.
| Game Genre | D1 Retention | D7 Retention | D30 Retention | D1 to D30 Decay Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyper-Casual | 28-32% | 8-12% | 2-4% | 88-92% |
| Casual (Puzzle) | 30-38% | 14-18% | 6-9% | 76-80% |
| Casual (Match) | 28-35% | 12-16% | 5-8% | 77-82% |
| Simulation | 25-32% | 11-15% | 5-7% | 78-82% |
| Mid-Core (Action) | 22-28% | 10-14% | 4-7% | 75-82% |
| Mid-Core (Strategy) | 20-26% | 10-14% | 5-8% | 69-77% |
| RPG | 22-30% | 12-16% | 6-10% | 67-73% |
| Casino/Social Casino | 25-32% | 14-20% | 8-12% | 63-68% |
| Sports/Racing | 22-28% | 10-14% | 4-6% | 79-82% |
| Board/Card | 26-34% | 13-18% | 6-10% | 70-76% |
Which ad formats perform best for mobile game UA campaigns?
Ad format performance data below is sourced primarily from Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index, which analyzed billions of ad impressions across gaming campaigns, supplemented by RocketShip HQ’s internal creative performance data from over 10,000 ad creatives produced for gaming clients.
| Ad Format | Avg CTR (Gaming) | Avg CPI Impact vs. Baseline | Best For Genre | ROAS Lift vs. Static | Recommended Spend Allocation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playable Ads | 2.8-4.2% | –28% lower CPI | Casual, Hyper-Casual | +35-55% | 25-40% |
| Rewarded Video | 1.5-2.5% | –15% lower CPI | Mid-Core, RPG | +20-30% | 15-25% |
| Full-Screen Interstitial (Video) | 1.2-2.0% | Baseline | All Genres | Baseline | 20-30% |
| UGC-Style Video | 2.0-3.5% | –18% lower CPI | Casual, Simulation | +25-40% | 15-25% |
| Fail Ad (Intentional Misplay) | 3.0-5.0% | –32% lower CPI | Puzzle, Hyper-Casual | +40-60% | 10-20% |
| Static Banner | 0.3-0.6% | +40% higher CPI | Retargeting Only | –20-30% | 5-10% |
| Carousel (Social) | 1.0-1.8% | +5% higher CPI | RPG, Strategy | –5-10% | 5-10% |
| App Store Custom Product Pages | N/A (funnel) | –12% lower CPI | All Genres | +15-20% | Complementary |
How do CPIs for mobile games change by season and quarter?
Seasonal CPI patterns below are based on RocketShip HQ client data aggregated across 15+ gaming accounts over a two-year period, cross-referenced with trends identified in Liftoff’s 2025 report findings and Sensor Tower market intelligence on CPM fluctuations.
| Quarter/Period | CPI Index (Baseline = Q2) | Key Driver | Best Strategy | Avg CPM Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 (Jan-Mar) | 0.82x | Post-holiday demand drop, budgets resetting | Aggressive scaling, test new creatives | –15-22% |
| Q2 (Apr-Jun) | 1.00x (Baseline) | Stable competition, pre-summer | Optimize and consolidate winners | Baseline |
| Q3 (Jul-Sep) | 0.95x | Summer lull (US/EU), back-to-school | Scale in APAC, test in US/EU | –5-10% |
| Q4 (Oct-Dec) | 1.35-1.55x | Holiday season, eCommerce surge, iOS device sales | Front-load Nov spend, pause low ROAS | +30-50% |
| Black Friday / Cyber Monday Week | 1.60-1.85x | eCommerce bidding frenzy | Pause or reduce spend unless strong ROAS | +55-80% |
| Post-Christmas (Dec 26-Jan 5) | 0.70-0.80x | New device activations, low competition | Highest ROI window, scale aggressively | –25-35% |
| Major Game Launch Windows | 1.10-1.25x | Category competition spike | Differentiate creative, avoid head-to-head | +10-20% |
| Summer (Jul-Aug, APAC) | 0.88x | Lower competition in APAC markets | Geo-shift budgets to APAC | –12-18% |
Analysis
What do the 2025 industry reports tell us about the state of mobile gaming UA?
The latest data from Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report, Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index, and Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report confirms several trends we have been tracking at RocketShip HQ across our gaming client portfolios, and introduces a few surprises worth unpacking in detail.
First, the CPI compression in hyper-casual has reached what looks like a floor. According to Liftoff and Singular’s casual gaming report, global hyper-casual CPIs sit at $0.18 to $0.35, virtually unchanged from 2023/2024 levels. This tells us that the market for cheap installs has matured and that the real battleground in hyper-casual is now entirely about retention-driven monetization efficiency rather than acquisition cost. As Matej Lancaric discussed on the Mobile User Acquisition Show, broad targeting with audience sizes of 20M+ per ad set keeps these CPIs in the $0.10 to $0.12 range when optimized aggressively on Facebook, which remains the primary scale channel for hyper-casual.
Second, the iOS vs. Android gap continues to widen. Based on industry benchmarks compiled by RocketShip HQ across our client accounts, iOS CPIs now run 1.8x to 2.2x higher than Android across every genre, up from roughly 1.5x to 1.8x two years ago. This reflects post-ATT signal loss continuing to push iOS acquisition costs upward, even as Apple’s Apple Search Ads and SKAdNetwork 4.0 improvements have partially offset the damage. Based on our experience managing campaigns across 15+ accounts post-ATT, install-optimized campaigns actually show stronger downstream CPAs than AEO campaigns unless you can consolidate to 128+ installs per day per campaign.
Third, the ROAS bifurcation between IAA (in-app advertising) and IAP (in-app purchase) monetization models is now starkly visible. According to Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 report, hyper-casual titles see D30 IAA ROAS of 85% to 110%, meaning most well-run hyper-casual campaigns pay back within a month on ad revenue alone. But based on RocketShip HQ client data, RPG and strategy titles show D30 IAP ROAS of 32% to 55%, requiring 60 to 120 day payback windows. This has profound implications for how you structure budgets and cash flow.
Fourth, retention curves tell a story about product-market fit that directly connects to acquisition efficiency. Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report found that casino and social casino games retain 8% to 12% of users at Day 30, which is 2x to 3x better than hyper-casual (2% to 4%). That retention delta is exactly why casino CPIs can sustain $3.20+ globally and still generate positive ROAS, while hyper-casual games need sub-$0.35 CPIs just to break even. The reports collectively underscore that evaluating acquisition cost relative to retention and monetization requires genre-specific context rather than universal benchmarks.
Fifth, per Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index, playable ads and fail ads have emerged as the clear winners in ad format performance. Playable ads drive 28% lower CPIs and 35% to 55% higher ROAS versus static formats. Fail ads, which show intentionally bad gameplay, generate the highest CTRs (3% to 5%) and the biggest CPI reductions (32% lower) of any format. This aligns with what we see in our own creative production: the tension created by watching someone fail triggers an emotional response that compels users to download and “do it right.” At RocketShip HQ, we frame this through our 3C Principle: Context (a game scenario the viewer recognizes), Clarity (what the player is trying to do), and Curiosity (the open loop of “I could do better than that”). All three are naturally embedded in a well-crafted fail ad.
Sixth, seasonal CPI fluctuations remain dramatic and predictable. Based on RocketShip HQ client data corroborated by Sensor Tower CPM trend analysis, Q4 CPIs spike 35% to 55% above baseline, with Black Friday week pushing CPMs 55% to 80% higher. Conversely, the post-Christmas window (December 26 through January 5) is consistently the highest-ROI period for gaming UA because of the flood of new device activations combined with the sudden drop in eCommerce advertising competition. The data shows CPIs dropping 25% to 35% below baseline during this window, making it the single best time to scale aggressively.
How have mobile game CPIs changed year-over-year?
According to data from Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report and RocketShip HQ’s internal benchmarks, CPIs across most genres have risen 2% to 15% year-over-year, with the steepest increases in casino (+15%) and match-based casual games (+12%). These increases are driven by increased advertiser competition in high-LTV genres and the ongoing impact of privacy changes that reduce signal quality and force platforms to rely on broader, less efficient targeting. The one exception is hyper-casual, where CPIs have actually declined 8% year-over-year, reflecting both market saturation and a shift by major publishers toward hybrid-casual models that offer stronger monetization but compete in a slightly different cost tier.
The US market continues to be the most expensive geography for gaming UA, per industry benchmarks compiled by RocketShip HQ. US iOS CPIs for RPGs have reached $6.50, nearly 1.5x the global average. For teams setting UA budgets, this means that a US-first strategy in mid-core or RPG requires daily budgets of $3,000 to $5,000 per campaign just to generate enough conversion volume for algorithmic optimization. We have seen firsthand that campaigns running below 50 conversions per week on Meta struggle to exit the learning phase, and at $6.50 per install, that means roughly $2,300 per week minimum per campaign before you can even evaluate performance.
Android CPIs have risen more modestly (2% to 7% across most genres) because signal loss is less severe and the competitive landscape for Android gaming UA is less concentrated. AppsFlyer’s 2025 Performance Index self-attributing networks for gaming installs, noting that Android install volumes for gaming grew 11% year-over-year while iOS volumes remained flat, suggesting that more advertisers are shifting budgets toward Android to capture efficient scale.
What ROAS should mobile game developers target by genre?
Your target ROAS depends entirely on your monetization model and payback window tolerance. Based on Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 casual gaming benchmarks, for IAA-driven games like hyper-casual, target D7 ROAS of 45% to 65% and D30 ROAS above 85%. For IAP-driven games like RPGs or strategy, based on RocketShip HQ client data, target D7 IAP ROAS of 10% to 16% and D30 ROAS of 32% to 55%, with the understanding that full payback may take 60 to 120 days.
The critical nuance across these industry reports is the distinction between blended ROAS and channel-specific ROAS. As we have discussed extensively, blended channel-level CPAs are more reliable than campaign-level data in the post-ATT environment. SKAdNetwork conversion values, even with the improvements in SKAN 4.0, still introduce noise at the campaign level. You need to evaluate ROAS at the channel level and validate against your MMP’s modeled attribution data from tools like AppsFlyer’s SKAN solution or Adjust’s conversion hub.
For hybrid-casual games (the fastest-growing segment according to data.ai market estimates), we see D7 blended ROAS targets of 20% to 35% performing well based on RocketShip HQ client data. These games combine IAA with light IAP mechanics, and the dual revenue stream creates a more forgiving payback curve. At RocketShip HQ, we use our Weighted Anomaly Scoring framework to monitor ROAS fluctuations: we weight metric changes by business impact using the formula abs(% change) x sqrt(spend). This means a 15% ROAS drop on a campaign spending $5,000 per day gets flagged immediately, while a 40% ROAS drop on a $200 per day test campaign does not trigger a false alarm. This approach eliminates over 70% of false alarms in our monitoring systems and keeps our gaming clients focused on the signals that actually matter.
One benchmark that consistently surprises new entrants: casino and social casino games show the strongest D30 IAP ROAS in the entire gaming vertical at 45% to 70%, per RocketShip HQ client benchmarks corroborated by Liftoff’s data. This is why casino CPIs can sustain $3.20+ globally. The LTV curves for engaged casino players are exceptionally strong, with top-decile users generating $200+ in lifetime revenue. If you are evaluating genre selection for a new studio, the ROAS data strongly favors casino, RPG, and strategy from a pure unit economics perspective, though the creative and product complexity is correspondingly higher.
How do retention benchmarks vary by mobile game genre?
According to Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report, casino and social casino games lead retention at every interval, with D30 retention of 8% to 12%. Hyper-casual games trail significantly at 2% to 4% D30 retention, a finding consistent across both Unity’s data and Liftoff and Singular’s casual gaming report. This is why hyper-casual’s entire business model depends on aggressive IAA monetization in the first few sessions.
The retention data from these reports is critical for UA teams because retention is the single best predictor of whether a game will scale profitably. If your D1 retention is below 25% for a casual game or below 20% for a mid-core game, you almost certainly have a product problem, not a UA problem. No amount of creative optimization or bid strategy adjustment will compensate for a leaky retention funnel.
The decay rate from D1 to D30 tells an equally important story. Per Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report, RPGs and casino games show decay rates of 63% to 73%, meaning they retain roughly 30% to 37% of their D1 cohort through Day 30. Hyper-casual games show decay rates of 88% to 92%, retaining only 8% to 12% of D1 users to Day 30. This massive difference in decay explains why RPG and casino developers can afford to pay 10x to 20x more per install: the users who stick around are worth dramatically more.
For teams struggling with retention, the path forward is usually product optimization before UA scaling. We have seen gaming clients at RocketShip HQ improve D7 retention by 2 to 4 percentage points through changes to first-time user experience (FTUE) flow, tutorial pacing, and early reward mechanics, and those retention improvements translate directly into 15% to 25% improvements in ROAS without changing a single ad or bid. If you are evaluating whether to invest in building a growth team focused on product-side optimization versus purely UA hiring, the retention data in these reports makes a strong case for the former, especially in mid-core and RPG where the D30 retention delta between top-quartile and bottom-quartile games is 4 to 6 percentage points.
One additional dimension worth calling out: AppsFlyer’s recent reports on retention show similar patterns across non-gaming verticals, confirming that the relationship between early retention and long-term ROAS is universal. Gaming just has more granular genre-level data to work with.
Which ad formats drive the best results for mobile game UA?
Per P25 Mobile Ad Creative Index analysis, playable ads and fail ads are the top-performing formats, driving 28% to 32% lower CPIs and 35% to 60% higher ROAS than standard video interstitials. Static banners should be deprioritized entirely except for retargeting.
The Liftoff creative index data on ad format performance aligns perfectly with what we produce and test at RocketShip HQ, where we have created over 10,000 ad creatives for mobile apps. Playable ads work exceptionally well for casual and hyper-casual games because they give users a taste of the core gameplay loop before downloading. The interactive element creates a self-selection effect: users who complete the playable experience and still install are significantly more likely to retain, which is why ROAS lifts (35% to 55%) exceed the CPI reduction (28%). You are not just acquiring cheaper users. You are acquiring better users.
Fail ads deserve special attention because they have become the dominant creative format in puzzle and casual gaming UA, according to Liftoff’s creative index. These ads work by showing intentionally poor gameplay, triggering a psychological response where the viewer thinks “I could do better” and downloads the game. The Liftoff data shows fail ads achieving CTRs of 3% to 5%, which is 2x to 3x higher than standard video formats. When we apply RocketShip HQ’s 3C Principle to fail ads, we see why they are so effective: the Context is immediately clear (it is a simple game anyone can understand), the Clarity is obvious (someone is trying and failing at a basic task), and the Curiosity is intense (the open loop of “how would I solve this?”). All three C’s fire simultaneously, which is why fail ads outperform virtually every other format in casual gaming.
UGC-style video has also emerged as a strong performer, particularly on TikTok and Meta Reels placements, per Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index. These ads achieve 2% to 3.5% CTRs and 18% lower CPIs than polished studio-produced video. The authenticity signal matters: platform algorithms favor content that looks native to the feed, and users engage more with content that does not immediately register as an ad. For gaming, this often means recording someone reacting to gameplay on their phone, or creating a screen-recorded walkthrough with voiceover.
The Liftoff creative index also highlights that rewarded video inventory (where users opt in to watch ads in exchange for in-game rewards) remains a strong channel for mid-core and RPG titles. This format self-selects for engaged gamers who are already comfortable with ad-supported experiences, making them higher-quality prospects for games with similar monetization models. The 20% to 30% ROAS lift versus standard interstitials confirms this quality signal.
For teams deciding which paid channels to prioritize, the ad format data suggests matching your creative strength to your channel choice. If you can produce playables at scale, Unity Ads offers the deepest playable inventory. If your strength is video, Meta and TikTok provide the broadest reach. Past purchase behavior outperforms contextual targeting as a signal, which is why self-attributing networks like Meta and Google, which have deep behavioral data, should typically be your first channels before expanding to ad networks.
When should you scale and when should you pull back? Seasonal CPI strategy for gaming UA
Scale aggressively in Q1 and the post-Christmas window (December 26 to January 5), when CPIs drop 18% to 35% below baseline based on RocketShip HQ client data. Pull back or tighten ROAS targets during Black Friday week, when CPMs spike 55% to 80% per Sensor Tower CPM analysis.
The seasonal CPI data across these industry reports is one of the most actionable dimensions for UA managers. Q4 is consistently the most expensive quarter, with CPIs running 35% to 55% above baseline according to industry benchmarks compiled by RocketShip HQ. This is driven almost entirely by eCommerce advertisers flooding the same ad inventory with holiday shopping campaigns. Gaming advertisers are competing against Amazon, Walmart, and thousands of DTC brands for the same Facebook, Google, and TikTok impressions.
However, within Q4 there is a critical nuance: the post-Christmas period is actually the cheapest and most efficient time to acquire mobile gamers. New device activations spike (Apple regularly sets sales records in the holiday quarter), eCommerce advertising drops off a cliff after Christmas Day, and users are actively browsing app stores for new content. Based on RocketShip HQ client data, CPIs drop 25% to 35% below baseline during this window, combined with higher install-to-retention conversion rates because new device owners are in a discovery mindset. At RocketShip HQ, we advise gaming clients to reserve 15% to 20% of their Q4 budget specifically for this post-Christmas surge.
Q1 offers the second-best efficiency window. Advertising budgets across all industries reset in January, creating a temporary demand drop that pulls CPIs down 15% to 22% according to our internal data. This is the ideal time to test new creative concepts, launch new campaigns, and scale winning ad sets from Q4. Early-stage apps should concentrate their budgets on one or two self-attributing networks during this period rather than spreading thin across four or five channels, because the favorable CPIs create an opportunity to build up conversion volume quickly and train algorithms faster.
Q3 presents an interesting geographic arbitrage opportunity. While US and EU markets show a slight CPI dip (5% to 10% below baseline) during summer, APAC markets see more pronounced discounts (12% to 18% below baseline) based on RocketShip HQ client data, because Western-focused advertisers tend to reduce APAC spend during their summer planning cycles. For gaming studios with global audiences, shifting 20% to 30% of budget toward APAC during July and August can yield significant efficiency gains.
How should you apply these benchmarks to your gaming UA strategy?
Use these benchmarks as diagnostic tools, not as targets. If your CPI is more than 30% above the genre benchmark, investigate creative quality and audience targeting first. If your ROAS is more than 20% below benchmark, investigate product retention before adjusting UA tactics.
The most common mistake we see gaming studios make is treating benchmark data as a prescription rather than a diagnosis. When a casual puzzle game is paying $3.50 CPI against a $1.05 global benchmark from Liftoff and Singular’s report, the answer is rarely “bid lower.” It is almost always one of three things: (1) the creative is not resonating (apply the 3C Principle to audit your hooks), (2) the audience targeting is too narrow for the platform’s algorithm to optimize (broaden targeting to 10M+ audience sizes), or (3) the campaign structure is too fragmented, preventing any single campaign from accumulating enough conversions to exit the learning phase.
For teams evaluating manage UA in-house or with an agency, the complexity revealed in this data is worth considering. Optimizing across 10 genres, 8 ad formats, 4 seasonal windows, and 2 platforms requires pattern recognition that comes from managing diverse portfolios. At RocketShip HQ, having managed over $100M in mobile ad spend, we have seen enough genre-specific patterns to know that a mid-core strategy game’s CPI spiking 10% in October is normal seasonal behavior (not a cause for panic), while the same spike in February is a genuine anomaly that demands investigation.
Our Weighted Anomaly Scoring framework is particularly valuable here. When you are running campaigns across multiple genres and geos, raw percentage changes in CPI or ROAS create noise that obscures signal. Weighting by abs(% change) x sqrt(spend) ensures that meaningful shifts on high-spend campaigns surface first. A 12% CPI increase on your $8,000 per day RPG campaign (anomaly score: 12 x sqrt(8000) = 1,073) gets immediate attention, while a 25% CPI increase on a $300 per day hyper-casual test (anomaly score: 25 x sqrt(300) = 433) gets reviewed in the weekly audit. This prioritization is what separates reactive UA management from proactive optimization.
Finally, benchmark data should inform your budget allocation decisions at the portfolio level. If you are a multi-genre publisher, the ROAS and retention data makes a clear case for concentrating budgets where the unit economics are strongest, then expanding into adjacent genres as you build creative and optimization capabilities. The data from these reports confirms that genre selection is the single highest-leverage decision in gaming UA: the difference between a well-run hyper-casual campaign and a well-run RPG campaign is not execution quality but fundamental economics.
What do the CPI and ROAS benchmarks mean for different monetization models?
IAA-dependent games must target sub-$0.50 CPIs and D7 ROAS above 45% to be viable, according to Liftoff and Singular’s casual gaming benchmarks. IAP-dependent games can sustain CPIs 5x to 10x higher but require payback windows of 60 to 120 days and sufficient cash reserves to fund the gap, based on RocketShip HQ client data.
The monetization model comparison across these industry reports reveals why the mobile gaming industry has been shifting toward hybrid models. Pure IAA games (primarily hyper-casual) face a ceiling: with D30 ROAS of 85% to 110% per the Liftoff and Singular report and CPIs that cannot compress much further, the path to growth requires either massive volume (which requires ever-larger creative production pipelines) or a shift toward incorporating IAP mechanics. This is exactly the hybrid-casual trend that has produced hits like games that combine simple casual mechanics with deeper meta-game IAP layers.
Pure IAP games (RPGs, strategy) face the opposite challenge: strong unit economics on a per-user basis, but high upfront acquisition costs and long payback windows. A $6.50 iOS CPI for an RPG in the US (per RocketShip HQ client benchmarks) means you are investing $6.50 today and may not see full payback for 90 to 120 days. At scale (say, 1,000 installs per day), that is $6,500 in daily UA spend with a cumulative $585,000 in unrecouped investment before the D90 cohorts start paying back. This cash flow dynamic is why many RPG publishers work with comprehensive UA strategies that carefully balance acquisition pace with available capital.
The data.ai State of Mobile Gaming report corroborates these dynamics, showing that hybrid-casual games grew consumer spend 28% year-over-year while pure hyper-casual declined 15% in total market share. The benchmarks from Liftoff, Unity, and RocketShip HQ reflect this transition: simulation and casual puzzle CPIs have risen 3% to 5%, partly because more advertisers are competing for these users as they pivot toward hybrid models.
How should you structure creative testing based on these ad format benchmarks?
Allocate 60% to 70% of creative production to your top two performing formats (typically playables and video), 20% to 25% to emerging formats (UGC, fail ads), and 10% to 15% to experimental concepts. Rotate creative every 7 to 14 days to combat fatigue, per Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index recommendations.
The ad format performance data from Liftoff’s creative index should directly inform your creative production pipeline. If playable ads drive 28% lower CPIs and 35% to 55% higher ROAS, it is difficult to justify allocating most of your creative budget to standard video production. Yet many studios still produce 10 video concepts for every 1 playable, largely because video is cheaper and faster to produce—even though produce more creative variants per week achieve 40-60% lower CPIs by maintaining systematic creative diversity.
The math argues otherwise when you account for typical creative production costs relative to the CPI savings available during this period. If a playable costs $2,000 to $5,000 to produce but delivers 28% lower CPIs at scale, the ROI on that creative investment pays back within 48 to 72 hours for any campaign spending more than $1,000 per day. Compare that to a video ad costing $500 to $1,500 that delivers baseline performance. The creative investment ROI on playables is 3x to 5x higher.
For fail ads specifically, the production economics are even more favorable. A well-constructed fail ad can often be created from existing gameplay footage with simple editing, making it one of the cheapest formats to produce. When you consider the 32% CPI reduction and 40% to 60% ROAS lift reported by Liftoff, high-performing mobile ad elements are present in abundance. We recommend every casual and puzzle game studio have at least 3 to 5 fail ad variants in rotation at all times.
Creative fatigue remains one of the most underappreciated factors in gaming UA performance. Per Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index, even top-performing creatives see CTR declines of 15% to 25% after 10 to 14 days of continuous delivery. For accounts experiencing declining performance, creative fatigue is often the first culprit we investigate. The solution is not just making more creatives but making systematically diverse creatives: varying hooks, gameplay segments, art styles, and emotional triggers so that each new ad feels genuinely different to the algorithm and the audience.
What do these reports mean for the broader mobile gaming UA landscape going forward?
The 2025 reports from Liftoff, Singular, and Unity collectively confirm that mobile gaming UA has entered a mature phase where creative quality, genre-specific optimization, and monetization model alignment are the primary levers for competitive advantage. CPI inflation across most genres (2% to 15% year-over-year per industry benchmarks compiled by RocketShip HQ) means that teams relying on cheap installs without corresponding improvements in retention and monetization will see margins compressed. The winners will be studios that treat UA as an integrated function spanning acquisition, creative production, product optimization, and monetization, not a siloed media buying exercise.
The reports also signal that the ad format landscape is evolving faster than most studios’ creative capabilities. Per Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index, playable ads, fail ads, and UGC-style content are no longer experimental. They are the baseline. Studios still primarily running 30-second polished video trailers are leaving 25% to 45% of their potential ROAS on the table. Understanding the difference between UA and growth marketing is increasingly important: pure UA (buy installs at a target CPI) is table stakes, while growth marketing (optimize the full funnel from impression to lifetime value) is where competitive advantage lives.
For the industry as a whole, Unity’s 2025 mobile gaming trends analysis and the Liftoff reports point toward continued consolidation around a few key trends: hybrid-casual as the dominant new genre, playable and interactive ad formats as the creative standard, and seasonal budget management as a core competency. Studios that align their strategies with these benchmarks, rather than fighting against them, will be best positioned to scale profitably through 2026 and beyond.
What This Means For You
What should you do with these benchmarks right now?
Start by auditing your current CPIs against the genre-specific benchmarks from Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report and the tables above. If your iOS CPI for a casual puzzle game exceeds $2.50 in the US (against a benchmark of $2.10), investigate your creative portfolio first: are you running playable ads and fail ads, or relying primarily on standard video? Based on Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index data, switching 25% to 40% of your creative mix to playables could reduce your CPI by 20% to 28% within two to three weeks.
Next, evaluate your ROAS targets against your monetization model. If you are running an IAA-dependent game and your D7 ROAS is below 45% (the threshold identified in the Liftoff and Singular report), the problem likely sits at the intersection of retention and ad monetization, not acquisition. Check your D1 retention against the genre benchmarks from Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report. If you are below the 25th percentile, pause scaling and invest in FTUE optimization.
Build a seasonal budget plan that front-loads Q1 spending and reserves 15% to 20% of Q4 budget for the post-Christmas window. Based on RocketShip HQ client data, the 25% to 35% CPI discount during December 26 to January 5, combined with new device activations, creates the single highest-ROI acquisition window of the year.
Implement creative rotation on a 7 to 14 day cycle, per Liftoff’s creative index recommendations. If you are running the same top creative for more than two weeks, you are likely experiencing 15% to 25% CTR decay. Invest in a production pipeline that can deliver 5 to 10 new creative variants per week, with at least 2 to 3 in your top-performing format (playable or fail ad for most genres).
For monitoring, adopt a weighted anomaly scoring approach rather than flat percentage thresholds. Weight CPI and ROAS changes by the square root of campaign spend to ensure your team focuses on high-impact anomalies first. This eliminates the noise that causes teams to make reactive changes to low-spend test campaigns while missing genuine problems on their highest-spend ad sets.
If you are spending $50,000 or more per month on gaming UA and not seeing results aligned with these benchmarks, it may be time to evaluate whether in-house management or an experienced agency is the right path forward. The complexity of multi-genre, multi-format, multi-seasonal optimization is significant, and the cost of underperformance at scale is measured in tens of thousands of dollars per month.
Finally, use this benchmark data to set expectations with stakeholders. RPG and strategy titles will not hit D7 ROAS of 40%. Casino games will not achieve $0.50 CPIs. Hyper-casual games will not retain 10% of users at D30. Genre determines the fundamental shape of your unit economics, and strategy should be built on that foundation, not against it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often are the Liftoff, Unity, and Singular gaming reports updated?
Liftoff typically publishes major reports annually, with the Liftoff and Singular 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report being the latest edition. Unity’s Gaming Report is also updated annually, with both the 2024 and 2025 editions available. Liftoff’s Mobile Ad Creative Index follows a similar annual cadence. However, specific benchmarks can shift meaningfully within a single year due to privacy changes, platform algorithm updates, and seasonal dynamics. We recommend treating annual report data as a starting baseline and supplementing it with real-time data from your own campaigns and MMP dashboards.
Where can I download the full 2025 mobile gaming reports?
The primary reports referenced in this analysis are available for free download. You can access Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report here, Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index here, and Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report here. Most require an email registration to download the full PDF. For additional market sizing and competitive intelligence, data.ai and Sensor Tower publish complementary reports, though some require paid subscriptions for full access.
How do indie developers compare to large publishers in these benchmarks?
Based on RocketShip HQ client data, indie developers typically see CPIs 15% to 40% higher than the benchmarks published by Liftoff and Unity, primarily because smaller budgets generate fewer conversions per campaign, which limits algorithmic optimization. Large publishers benefit from higher creative production velocity (10 to 20 new creatives per week versus 2 to 5 for indie studios), deeper historical data that improves platform targeting, and negotiated rate advantages on some ad networks. However, indie developers can close the gap significantly by focusing on one or two channels, investing heavily in playable and fail ad formats, and maintaining strict genre focus rather than spreading resources across multiple game types.
What is the best UA channel for mobile games in 2025?
According to industry benchmarks compiled by RocketShip HQ across gaming client portfolios, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) remains the highest-volume and most efficient UA channel for casual and hyper-casual games, while Google UAC performs strongest for mid-core and RPG titles due to its access to Google Play Store intent signals. Apple Search Ads is the top-performing channel for iOS conversion rates but offers limited scale. TikTok has emerged as a strong performer for casual games when paired with UGC-style creative, per Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index. Unity Ads is the leading channel specifically for playable ad formats. For most gaming studios spending $50K+/month, we recommend starting with Meta and Google, then expanding to Apple Search Ads and TikTok once those channels are profitable.
How has Apple’s ATT impacted mobile gaming CPIs specifically?
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework, introduced in 2021, has had a compounding effect on iOS gaming CPIs that continues to intensify. Based on RocketShip HQ client data tracked over four years, iOS gaming CPIs have increased approximately 45% to 65% since pre-ATT levels, depending on genre. The impact is most severe in genres that rely on lookalike audiences and event-optimized campaigns (such as RPG and strategy, where CPIs have risen most dramatically). The iOS-to-Android CPI gap has widened from roughly 1.5x pre-ATT to 1.8x to 2.2x today. SKAdNetwork 4.0 has partially mitigated the signal loss, but campaign-level attribution remains noisy, which is why channel-level blended ROAS evaluation has become the standard approach for iOS gaming UA optimization.
What metrics should I track beyond CPI and ROAS for mobile game UA?
Per Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report and RocketShip HQ’s internal frameworks, the most undervalued metrics in gaming UA are: (1) D1 to D7 retention ratio, which indicates early product-market fit quality independent of acquisition source; (2) cost per engaged user (defined as users who complete the tutorial or reach level 5), which is a better predictor of downstream ROAS than raw CPI; (3) creative win rate (percentage of new creatives that outperform your current median), which measures the health of your creative pipeline; and (4) incremental lift, measured through holdout testing, which reveals how much of your attributed revenue is truly incremental versus organic cannibalization. Tracking these alongside CPI and ROAS gives a far more complete picture of UA health.
How do these benchmarks differ across geographic regions beyond the US?
According to Liftoff and Singular’s 2025 Casual Gaming Apps Report and Sensor Tower regional data, Western Europe CPIs typically run 70% to 85% of US levels, with the UK and Germany being the most expensive European markets. Japan and South Korea command CPIs comparable to or exceeding the US for RPG and strategy genres (due to extremely high LTV in those markets), while Southeast Asia offers CPIs at 25% to 40% of US levels with correspondingly lower ROAS expectations. LATAM (particularly Brazil and Mexico) represents a middle ground at 35% to 50% of US CPIs. Based on RocketShip HQ client data, the highest efficiency for geographic expansion typically follows this sequence: US first, then UK/Germany/Australia, then Japan/South Korea (for mid-core and RPG), then LATAM and Southeast Asia for volume scaling.
