September 22, 2026

Activision says the market surrounding video game cheating is now worth an estimated $85 billion, as cheats become increasingly sophisticated and commercialized. Industry data cited by the company found 69% of online multiplayer studios consider cheating a significant or very significant problem, highlighting the growing financial and technical burden of keeping competitive games fair.

Former Plants vs. Zombies 2 producer Bernie Yee says his new studio, Windup Minds, considered mobile for its virtual pet games but walked away because user acquisition costs made finding an audience too expensive. Yee argues the industry has also learned the wrong lesson from free-to-play: the model needs a massive install base first, rather than simply copying successful F2P monetization.

AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi says annual ad spend across the company’s platform is approaching $20 billion, following 60% year-over-year growth. He estimates the wider mobile gaming ecosystem now sees around $50 billion in ad spend annually, driven by more than a billion daily mobile players and increasingly personalized ads.

Even one of gaming’s most recognizable studios isn’t immune to the industry’s funding struggles. Hideo Kojima says Kojima Productions faced a potential cash-flow crisis and layoffs after Sony stopped funding Physint, forcing the studio to reshuffle developers and spend months searching for a new partner. The story echoes the same publisher dependence, funding uncertainty and scramble to keep teams together facing much smaller studios across the industry.

Lilith Games’ new mobile title Clash of Critters has generated $45.6 million in gross player spending in just four months. Momentum is accelerating, with a record $19.1 million generated in month four alone, helped by launches in Japan and China. The tower defence, idle progression and creature-collection game has yet to launch across all of Asia, and the estimates exclude web shop and ad revenue.

East Side Games says up to 45% of its US iOS revenue across eight casual games now comes through Neon’s direct checkout rather than traditional in-app purchases. Multiple titles surpassed a 30% DTC revenue mix, while Milk Farm Tycoon saw D7 conversion increase 124%. The results suggest direct-to-consumer payments can work beyond strategy and RPGs—even for casual mobile games.

Action Game Maker 2.0 has entered beta with a major redesign that makes the commercial Godot-based engine much more distinct from vanilla Godot. The update introduces a simplified Maker Mode, built-in tutorials, environment templates, visual collision checking, improved animation and hitbox tools, and a live debugger that can modify game values while playtesting.

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