Direct-to-consumer gaming revenue gap widens, study says

Appcharge and GDC Festival of Gaming have published research on direct-to-consumer monetisation in mobile gaming, pointing to a widening gap between early adopters and the rest of the market.

Direct-to-consumer sales already account for about 15% of the USD $113.3 billion mobile gaming in-app purchase market, or roughly USD $17 billion, according to the study. It found that 67% of publishers expect their direct-to-consumer revenue to grow in 2026, with 41% forecasting double-digit growth and 18% expecting growth of 30% or more.

Publishers that moved early are seeing stronger returns than their peers. Median revenue uplift from direct-to-consumer activity stood at 15% across the full sample, rising to 35% among leading adopters. Meanwhile, 77% of publishers said direct-to-consumer monetisation now performs at least as well as app store channels.

Yet many companies have not made major organisational changes to support that shift. More than half of professional game developers surveyed, or 52%, said they had not made significant changes to their direct-to-consumer strategy. Another 58% remained in the exploring or testing stage, while only 25% said their organisation had increased investment in direct-to-consumer channels.

Senior ownership also appears patchy. While 83% of companies said responsibility for direct-to-consumer strategy sits with an individual at director level or higher, only 43% said a C-level executive was responsible, and half said they had no staff dedicated to direct-to-consumer work.

The mismatch comes as app publishers reassess distribution economics after changes in the mobile platform market. The study linked rising interest in direct-to-consumer models to shifts following the Epic v Apple ruling in 2025 and policy changes by Apple and Google.

Publishers said their main reasons for investing in direct-to-consumer channels were increasing revenue, building direct relationships with players, improving monetisation, and reducing reliance on app stores. The report also found that 45% of respondents currently generate less than 10% of revenue from direct-to-consumer sales.

Leaders pull ahead

The findings suggest a clear divide in confidence and execution. Some 62% of publishers described themselves as behind their peers on direct-to-consumer activity, while only 14% considered themselves innovators and 25% said their programmes were scaling or mature.

For companies already established in the model, direct customer relationships and access to first-party data were identified as key operational advantages. Those features have helped developers test offers more quickly and shape experiences beyond the limits of app store billing systems, according to the study.

Appcharge argued that the pattern seen in games is likely to spread to other consumer app categories. The report pointed to fitness, education, lifestyle, entertainment, and subscription services as sectors facing similar fee pressures and similar incentives to build payment relationships outside app stores.

"Mobile games didn't just lead on direct-to-consumer payments because studios were bolder. They led because they had the most to lose and the hardest problem to solve: the lowest average order value in consumer commerce, launch-day concurrency spikes, digital goods with no delivery evidence, radically local payment behaviour, and structurally high friendly fraud. Everything that makes payments difficult, in one category, at once. The categories following will move far faster than games did because the hard problems are already solved, the supplier market already exists, and the playbook is written. Games spent three years learning what breaks. The next wave gets a twelve-month adoption curve instead," said Chen Aspler, Director of Payments and Fraud Prevention at Appcharge.

The report placed the trend in the context of a broader app economy that continues to expand. It cited forecasts showing the global in-app market across all consumer apps could reach USD $290 billion by 2030.

Eric Liaw, General Partner at IVP, also contributed to the report.

"The shift toward direct-to-consumer payments will not remain limited to mobile games. Many other consumer apps operate under similar platform fee structures and face similar constraints when attempting to build direct relationships with users. Gaming has been the large-scale proving ground for direct-to-consumer apps. Developers in categories such as AI creation, fitness, education, lifestyle, entertainment, and other subscription services will see the same economic benefits, and the shift could extend across the broader app economy," said Liaw.