How to launch a new game in 2025

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Launching a new title in today’s games industry isn’t just about developing a great game. It’s about navigating the complex market and adapting to its changes, from rising user acquisition costs and competing with the genre leaders to new platform policies and higher player expectations.

To explore whether it’s harder today to launch a new game and how to do so, we reached out to our industry experts to share their take on the state of game launches in 2025.

Maria Kochmola

Co-founder and Managing Partner

at The Games Fund

The mobile market has matured and launching a game today without a clear go-to-market strategy is almost guaranteed to fail.

While everyone’s heard about the impact of Apple’s changes to IDFA and tightening privacy restrictions, the reality is that many teams have more or less adapted. Still, UA remains significantly less efficient – especially for smaller teams without deep war chests.

CPIs are rising, LTVs are harder to forecast, and organic growth alone rarely moves the needle unless the game is a true breakout.

On top of that, player expectations have evolved. A new title isn’t just competing with other launches, it’s up against well-established live-service games like Clash Royale, AFK Arena, and Genshin Impact, which benefit from years of content, optimisation, and community loyalty. And it’s not just about games anymore: attention is also being pulled away by short-form content, making it even harder to cut through.

That said, despite all the complexity, successful launches still happen. Teams that combine a good product with smart marketing and fast execution still manage to stand out. It’s just a tougher, more competitive playing field than it used to be.

Start marketing before you start development. Creative testing can help validate themes and visual direction before you build costly content. Run concept tests using ad creatives, then greenlight production based on early CTR and install data.

Set clear genre benchmarks early on. If you’re launching a game, your KPIs need to align with top-quartile Day 1/7/30 retention and ARPDAU.

The most successful teams today are hybrid: they combine strong product vision with performance marketing, community-building, and data science. They move fast, run tight feedback loops, and iterate constantly. Many games fail because teams delay testing, overspend on UA, or fail to adapt to early signals.

We’ve also seen more teams leaning on established IPs. A strong IP definitely helps cut through the noise, but it can’t win on its own – it’s only a multiplier for well-executed gameplay and live ops.

AI in UA and live ops: Teams that harness AI for creative production and personalised retention will gain a serious edge.

Platform control: Apple and Google’s increasingly tight ecosystem rules continue to shape UA and monetisation mechanics.

The creator economy: Influencers are now critical distribution partners. Games that enable UGC or viral, shareable moments tend to outperform.

Content velocity: Games that deliver high-quality, frequent updates drive stronger LTV and lower churn.

We often remind our portfolio teams that launching a game is now 20% development and 80% go-to-market strategy. The bar is higher, but the playbook is clearer – start lean, launch fast, learn constantly. The winners combine great craft with ruthless pragmatism.

Differentiation is really difficult now: distribution and audience is a game in and of itself, and that game is currently dominated by scaled players. 

The ability to achieve outlier success hinges on being able to innovate and differentiate in how you both go to market and distribute.

Discord looks like a novel bright spot with a more aligned audience than Telegram, which merits more attention.

Peter Fodor

Founder

at AppAgent

Launching a mobile game today is tougher than ever, mostly because ad networks have taken over as the main distribution channels.

Your CPI isn’t just a number, it’s your product-market fit scorecard. It’s the only real edge you have against category leaders with deep pockets and high LTVs who dominate ad auctions.

I’m a big believer in original ideas, but they’re worthless without laser-sharp focus on your audience from day one. That means real research, real player insights, and relentless testing.

For Walking Planet, the fitness game we publish, we started testing early – playtests, player surveys, 1:1 interviews, even a Facebook group to gather feedback and test new ideas. We experimented with different creative angles, messaging, and actors. The insights shaped not just the game, but the marketing too.

The result?

CPI around $1.20 and over 40% D1 retention in Western markets across iOS and Android. That’s what happens when you combine creativity with a systematic approach.

Quentin Staes-Polet

CEO

at FRVR

Discoverability is a key issue for games, but it’s a particular challenge for web games through third-party platforms. Web game launches are challenged by competing content, meaning that discoverability is often their first boss fight.

To succeed in this market, start nurturing a community early so day‑one players are already invested and wire in native hooks like share buttons, leaderboards, rewarded ads and cloud saves on target platforms.

These simple tools are key to multiplying engagement and revenue. As platform needs shift, researching audience behaviour and integrating key traits into gameplay hooks is rapidly becoming the new secret to success.

Claire Rozain

CEO

at RZAIN consulting

Marketing is both smarter and more accessible. AI now powers creative production, campaign structuring, and predictive performance modelling. 

Launching via whitelists and scaling to ROAS-focused campaigns is faster and more precise than ever. Retention-based strategies are gaining ground, allowing devs to grow more sustainably.

But what’s harder is building a game that genuinely hooks players – and securing funding. In 2024, VC investment in games dropped sharply. 

After $601 million was invested in Q1, funding dipped to $492m in Q2, then plunged to just $286m in Q4 – a 47% quarter-over-quarter drop and the lowest level in 5+ years (gam3s.gg, digiday.com).

That drop signals a shift: consumer time and VC capital are pivoting to AI and utility apps. So while you can still break through with a great product, getting there is tougher than ever.

As for advice for teams to launch a new game: start small, stay lean, scale with your revenue.

Chasing unicorn status with massive UA from day one is risky and outdated. Focus first on retention. Get a few hundred quality users from a whitelist and analyse your cohorts. A/B test relentlessly.

If you’re bootstrapped, run incentivised campaigns to get margin and cash flow. Reinvest smartly. Aim to create a “cash cow” product before diversifying. And don’t waste energy reinventing the wheel – find joy in building and ship with purpose.

Product first. Business second. Monitor ARPDAU, retention (D1 to D90), monetisation balance. If you’re unsure, test outside tier one markets. Ask for benchmarks. Be obsessive with your analytics.

I’ve seen profitability at scale from games launched as recently as December 2024. That’s proof the “post-IDFA apocalypse” is overhyped.

It’s not a crisis of attribution – it’s a crisis of execution.

The biggest networks now run probabilistic models, sending feedback loops that are more efficient than many realise. If your game isn’t performing, it’s time to look inward – at your product, pacing, and monetisation depth.

Pick one market, study what players actually enjoy, and ask: Can you execute a minimum viable product? The best teams I’ve seen are masterful at defining tight MVPs with deep instrumentation for fast feedback loops.

There’s also a growing opportunity in underserved segments:

Why are we still trying to make games for “everyone”?

Where are the games for the silver economy, parents, or cultural niches with strong spending power? There’s real ROI hiding in plain sight, yet most of the industry ignores it.

Gaming is not dead. It’s refining.

Tomorrow’s hits will be built by creators who balance product love with analytical rigor and who aren’t afraid to explore non-traditional markets. The new era is about precision, segmentation, and soul.

It’s no longer about how big your launch is, it’s about how smart your growth is.

Paulo Trezentos

CEO & Co-Founder

at Aptoide

Launching a new game is challenging, but ongoing changes in the regulatory landscape are opening doors.

Most recently, Apple’s move to allow alternative app stores in more markets has been very helpful. This creates real opportunities for studios to reach users more directly, reduce fees, and innovate on distribution. 

My advice: explore these emerging channels early, don’t rely solely on traditional UA, and focus on strong community engagement. The studios that adapt fastest to this new landscape will have a competitive edge. 

Flexibility and smart partnerships will define the next wave of breakout hits.