We continue our 2025 wrap-up together with top managers and experts from the games industry. Up next is an interview with Artur Beresnev, CEO at Mamboo Entertainment.
How has 2025 been for your business? What achievements stand out? What conclusions have you drawn?
Artur Beresnev: 2025 was a year of solid expansion for Mamboo Entertainment. We cemented our leadership on the Amazon Appstore, becoming the top publishing partner for studios looking to scale or simply unlock additional revenue streams without the usual overhead. Our team runs successful ports and operations for games from Azur, Amanotes, Voodoo, and others, with a proven, profitable model behind it. The platform itself has grown more complex, but that’s where our operational edge really shows that we know how to navigate it and make it work.
On the global front, our publishing efforts across Android and iOS helped several long-standing projects break through their growth ceilings and perform beyond expectations. Still, given the current market, we know that even more effort is required to stay competitive. We’ve also conducted dozens of prototype tests this year and are now working closely with a few studios on what we hope will become future hits.
How has the mobile publishing landscape changed in 2025, from your point of view?
Artur Beresnev: Many of today’s successful releases aren’t built for multi-year player retention. That means publishers need to move faster, predict trends, partner with high-output studios, and aim for shorter payback cycles. One of the most notable trends this year has been games for younger audiences inspired by Roblox-like experiences. That trend is here to stay, at least for the next 6–12 months.
The focus on short-form experiences is easy to explain: established hits often maintain momentum without losing loyal players. This year, many games predicted to decline showed far greater resilience and sometimes even grew compared to 2024.
Have practices for working with developers changed? Has it become easier or harder to collaborate with them? Have they changed as a group?
Artur Beresnev: The era when studios could land tests with major publishers using just about any prototype is over. Validation has become much more rigorous. Game mechanics, art, and monetization need to be compelling right away, not perfect, but solid even on paper, let alone in execution.
Newer companies are less likely to enter the market with their last rounds of funding, where failing to hit big in 4-6 months means shutdown. Rookies are increasingly turning to co-dev, art outsourcing, web3, or even freelance work. More experienced ones already have successful projects generating baseline revenue, though they’re not scaling fast. This allows them to nurture existing titles while scouting new opportunities.
In these scenarios, prototypes are developed more organically than when a new studio is built purely for prototyping. It takes longer to prepare, but it lets teams fix issues and refine projects before the first iterations and tests, often making them more polished upfront.
How has the year been for the niche in which you typically release games?
Artur Beresnev: Launching new mobile projects has become much harder. Attention is competed for not just by other games: paying audiences have stacks of subscription services for shows, and educational apps can easily take priority.
Aggressive monetization requires far more caution. Interstitials and IAPs with noticeable balance impact remain key, but selling welcome offers can’t rely solely on ad removal. Nearly all new games need to bolster hybrid monetization and refine progression from the idea stage.
What key takeaways and lessons from 2025 would you highlight for developers preparing for launch?
Artur Beresnev: Don’t try to simply clone a successful formula from other companies. If a trend or winning recipe is obvious to you, it’ll be crowded there in a couple of weeks. And don’t pitch top-product metrics as guaranteed just by building something similar, those reviewing your pitch often worked on those very games, and they know the messy reality behind the numbers.
Don’t jump straight into building a multimillion-dollar game in your own studio, even with prior salaried experience. In today’s industry, you’ll have to climb many ladders twice. Effective prototypes for idea validation should be feasible in anywhere from a couple of weeks for simple hybrids to a couple of months for more complex ones.
What trends do you expect to strengthen or emerge in your niche in 2026?
Artur Beresnev: We’ll see far fewer games relying on generic asset packs from recent years. Those little characters that were in every idle game will vanish. Acquiring users for them is already tough, as players can’t tell them apart from clones. In their place: lots of AI-generated art, contrasted by standout handmade hits with vibrant visuals.
AI will be used everywhere for creatives, but it’ll become less off-putting and obvious. Savvy teams will leverage it to test ideas and pinpoint which art styles draw the best audiences.
Companies will push harder on in-game subscriptions to boost retention and appeal to players unresponsive to one-off purchases.
There will be even more games referencing or riffing on PC/console titles. Not full mechanic ports, but recreating vibes or cherry-picking ideas. These often break into mainstream media; this year, Balatro, Hollow Knight, and Vampire Survivors had huge influence.
What are the company’s plans for next year?
Artur Beresnev: We’re not diving into experiments or new niches, even though those ideas are coming in more frequently. Instead, we’re doubling down on what works and where we add real value, strengthening our Amazon presence and prepping global hits.