GameRefinery has released a new match-3 snapshot report. Analysts broke down the genre’s latest trends and top-grossing mechanics on the US App Store. Interestingly, Project Makeover became the first game in years to break into top-5 highest-grossing Match-3 titles.

Match3 games generate 21% of all US iOS revenue, which makes it the biggest subgenre in the region. This is according to GameRefinery’s latest genre snapshot report.

By 2025, Playrix intends to catch up with the leaders of the US market in terms of the annual revenue. These include companies like Activision Blizzard Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc.

Playrix will earn over a billion dollars on mobile in 2019. And that’s just from in-app purchases.

Two Playrix games have exceeded $1 billion in lifetime revenue to date. Gardenscapes was the first to reach this milestone. And Homescapes has now followed suit.

Mobile title Empires & Puzzles has generated more than half a billion dollars over two years. Its lifetime installs have reached 41 million.

How do you make new elements in a match-3 game? And how do you create levels and work with analytics? Aleksandr Shilyaev, lead game designer at Playrix, explains how the studio addressed these challenges while working on its hit title Gardenscapes.

On August 14, Playrix launched Wildscapes, a new match-3 game. We sat down with Anton Chernyagov, the General Manager at Playrix, to talk about the new project and what makes it different from the other games in the -scapes series.

GameRefinery estimated the Q2 revenues of gaming genres in the US iOS market. Match 3 is leading by far.

I have spent a few hours playing Wildscapes and here are some thoughts about the game and a new direction Playrix is taking with it. 

China is the world’s biggest market by mobile game revenue (to reach $30 billion in 2020). It is also extremely difficult to navigate for foreign publishers.  First, you’ve got stringent regulations imposed by the Chinese government. Secondly, sensitivities and preferences of the Chinese players can be a puzzle game in and of itself.