Gaming app market benchmarks for Q3 2026

Key performance and market benchmarks for mobile gaming apps, based on AppsFlyer data from 100,000+ apps worldwide. Use the genre filters to benchmark your specific title against the market.

For the full interactive dataset covering up to 95 sub-genres, top countries share, and more growth opportunities across dozens of markets and 8 quarters of data, visit the AppsFlyer benchmarks site.

Section 1: Performance benchmarks

Cost per install (CPI)

Here’s Cost Per Install (CPI) data for gaming apps in $ broken down by genre, platform, and country for Q3 2026. Select a genre to filter the chart and table. For sub-genre level data, click here.

Key findings

Casino and Match carry the highest CPIs in the dataset. According to AppsFlyer data, Casino US iOS ($24.45) and Match US iOS ($21.63) are the two priciest data points, with Casino UK ($20.85 iOS, $20.86 Android) close behind.

Hypercasual and emerging-market Android remain the cheapest acquisition channels. India, Vietnam, and Indonesia Android CPIs sit at $ 0.03-0.09 across Hypercasual, Simulation, and Action.

RPG shows the dataset’s sharpest platform inversion. Japan Android ($7.21) is more than double Japan iOS ($3.52), and US Android ($8.95) also tops iOS ($7.93) — the only genre where this happens on two markets at once.

Genre alone explains a 12x CPI spread within a single market. AppsFlyer data shows that in the US on iOS, CPI ranges from Casino’s $24.45 down to Hypercasual’s $1.96, with Match ($21.63) and Strategy ($18.45) close behind Casino at the top.

The iOS-Android gap spans two orders of magnitude depending on market. The ratio runs near 1.0x in UK Casino and US/Canada Hypercasual, versus 18.3x in India Simulation — developing markets see far more platform divergence in ad pricing.

Retention rate — paid media cohort

Retention rate for gaming app users acquired via paid media, by genre, platform, and country for Q3 2026. Day 1 measures users who return the day after install; Day 7 those still active one week later. Each chart shows both days side by side per market. For sub-genre level data, click here.

Key findings

Japan is the standout retention market across genres. AppsFlyer research shows that RPG iOS (43.92% D1, 47.6% drop-off to D7) and Match iOS (43.38% D1, 49.5% drop-off) are the two stickiest cohorts in the dataset.

Hypercasual and Simulation Android show the steepest D1-to-D7 collapse. Indonesia Hypercasual Android drops 86.0%, and Indonesia and India Simulation Android both exceed 84%, the fastest attrition curves tracked this quarter.

Japan leads Android D7 retention in six of the nine genres. It tops Hypercasual, Match, Simulation, RPG, Strategy, and Action — more than any other market — while only Puzzle (Australia), Sports (UK), and Casino (Australia) have a different leader.

Western markets don’t always lead. India (Hypercasual, 34.89% D1) and Indonesia (Simulation, 35.64% D1) both outperform their genre’s US iOS figure, reinforcing that early engagement doesn’t track CPI.

Casino shows the UK consistently ahead of the US. According to AppsFlyer, the UK leads on both D1 and D7, on iOS and Android alike — a rare case where one market leads a genre across every cut.

Install to purchase conversion rate — paid media cohort

Share of gaming app users acquired via paid media who made at least one in-app purchase within 30 days of installing the app, by genre, platform, and country for Q3 2026. Hypercasual is excluded from this metric — it’s a genre built around ad monetization, not in-app purchases. For sub-genre level data, click here.

Key findings

Casino dominates paying-user conversion across the board. Japan iOS (13.5%) is the highest rate in the dataset, with UK iOS (11.22%) and Australia iOS (9.95%) also leading their category.

RPG is the strongest non-Casino genre. US iOS (8.78%) and Australia Android (7.86%) lead, though RPG’s iOS data is limited to Japan and US this quarter.

Puzzle and Action are the two weakest-converting genres in the dataset. Their ceilings, 2.92% and 2.50%, sit far below every other genre’s best market.

Android outperforms iOS in several notable cases, same market and genre. US Action shows the widest gap — Android converts more than double iOS (2.5% vs. 1.24%) — with UK Puzzle (2.92% vs. 2.21%) and US Strategy (6.88% vs. 6.06%) also converting better on Android.

Section 2: Market dynamics 

UA ad spend trend by platform

Each data point shows that quarter’s share of total gaming UA ad spend across the full Q4 2024–Q3 2026 period — all eight quarters sum to 100%. A rising share means that quarter captured a larger proportion of the period’s total spend. Use this to read momentum and seasonal patterns, not absolute volume. For platform level data across iOS and Android, click here.

Key findings

Puzzle spend fell 20% quarter-over-quarter in Q3 2026. That reverses three straight quarters of growth that peaked at a 14.85% share in Q1 2026.

Action swung from a +70.8% surge in Q1 2026 to +46.5% in Q2 2026, then a 36.6% pullback in Q3 2026. AppsFlyer data shows that it’s the sharpest reversal in the dataset, a classic burst-and-fade cycle compressed into three quarters.

Hypercasual posted its third straight quarterly decline. Spend fell 8.4%, 5.4%, and 16.6% across Q1-Q3 2026, pointing to structural contraction rather than a single-quarter dip.

Simulation reversed course with a +17.3% spend gain in Q3 2026. It’s the genre’s strongest quarter since Q3 2025, after three consecutive declines.

Strategy’s spend share stabilized at 10.14%. That follows the sharp burst-fade cycle of Q2-Q3 2025 (+40.7%, +39.8%) and the pullback that came after, AppsFlyer data shows. Use the genre dropdown to explore each genre’s trajectory.

Top countries by UA ad spend share

Each country’s share of total UA ad spend for the selected gaming app genre in Q3 2026 — all countries sum to 100%.

Key findings

AppsFlyer data shows that simulation is the most US-concentrated genre at 72.4% of spend. It’s ahead of Casino (66.5%) and Match (64.9%).

RPG and Sports are the most geographically distributed. Each has just under 53% of spend outside the US, though the composition differs sharply: RPG’s non-US spend concentrates in East Asia (Japan 16.9%, South Korea 15.5%), while Sports spreads more evenly across the UK (12.9%), South Korea (7.4%), Japan (7.0%), France (6.8%), and Italy (6.8%) with no single market above 13%.

Action is the only genre where a non-US, non-Asian market cracks the top three. Turkey holds 8.9% of spend, just behind South Korea (12.9%) and ahead of Germany (6.0%). Use the genre dropdown to explore each genre’s spend concentration.

Market shakers & movers

Countries with the largest quarter-over-quarter changes in UA ad spend — Q3 2026 vs. Q2 2026. Shows where Gaming UA investment is accelerating and where it’s pulling back.

Key findings

Morocco’s Strategy spend surged 82.7% quarter-over-quarter. According to AppsFlyer, it’s the single largest increase in the dataset this quarter, narrowly ahead of India’s 80.4% jump in Puzzle.

Bangladesh is the most genre-spanning mover. It appears in five of the six genres with data: up 49.5% in Hypercasual and 22.0% in Action, but down 38.1% in Match, 33.7% in RPG, and 20.7% in Strategy, all in the same quarter.

Pakistan splits three ways. It’s down 56.1% in Puzzle, up 49.6% in Hypercasual, and up 26.4% in Action — three different directions across three genres.

Strategy has the widest spread of any genre. Morocco’s +82.7% to Vietnam’s -59.2% is a range of more than 140 points within a single genre. Use the genre dropdown to explore each genre’s country-level momentum.