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How Much Do Mobile Games Earn? Revenue Models and Realistic Expectations
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Revenue models
Mobile games earn in four ways: in-game ads, in-app purchases (game currency, characters, season passes), subscriptions and paid downloads. Most games combine the first two: free to download, earning through ads and purchases.
What do ad earnings depend on?
Ad revenue depends as much on where players come from, how many ads they see and the ad type as on player numbers. Rewarded ads, which players watch by choice for a reward, usually earn more and annoy players less. The same game earns very different ad revenue in different countries.
In-app purchases
Only a small share of players buy anything, and most of the revenue usually comes from that small group. Purchases that add value without breaking the game, in other words that feel fair, are the key to long-term earnings.
What really decides it: retention
What decides a game's earnings most is whether players come back the next day, after a week and after a month. If players do not stay, neither ads nor purchases help. That is why daily quests, progression systems and events exist; Snake Arena has daily quests and a research system too.
Store share and tax
Google Play and the App Store take a commission on in-app sales; for small developers it is usually 15 percent. In Turkey there is an income tax exemption for mobile game and app developers who meet its conditions; talk the details through with your accountant.
Player acquisition cost
Being found in the store on your own is hard; most games win players through ads. A game grows when the cost of bringing in a player is lower than what that player spends in the game. That is why playable ads matter; we made a single-file playable ad for Çiftlik Macerası.
Realistic expectations
Rather than expecting big earnings from a first game, it is healthier to start with a small but finished game and improve it based on player data. Reskinning a ready-made game and getting it to the store quickly is also a cheap way to learn the market.
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With us a new mobile game starts from $800 and reskinning a ready-made game from $200.
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