The FIFA World Cup is in full swing, and the mobile games industry is making sure you don’t forget it. We’ve seen more football-themed events this month than a sports channel’s highlight reel, with everyone from casual puzzlers to 4X strategy giants getting their own slice of the tournament action. It seems every developer has been asking the same question: How can we bring football into our game? The answers have taken different forms across genres, with studios experimenting with new event structures and engagement mechanics. Still, after predicting our third match outcome of the day or claiming our 50th in-game jersey, we couldn’t help but wonder: Is there such a thing as too much football?
Outside the football frenzy, it was a month of interesting contrasts. A new season of Monopoly GO! kicked off in June, which integrated a major IP collaboration for the first time in the game’s history. A new turn-based Pokémon battler launched that visually looks like a console game, but has stripped away all of its collecting and exploring to instead focus on ranked PvP. While both of these appear to be interesting updates on paper, the performance and revenue numbers don’t seem to agree.
For more details on these updates, titles, and the latest mobile market trends, take a look at our full Analyst Bulletin below.
June’s casual game updates
Monopoly GO!’s The Simpsons Go! collaboration implemented a full IP takeover with deep integration into board progression, UI, audio, and tile experiences. This is the first time Monopoly GO! has integrated an IP directly into the core gameplay tiles through visual and experiential changes, while also introducing minigame interactions from standard tiles.
Even many core features and events that retained their mechanics (e.g., Shutdown, Heist) still received Simpsons-themed visuals, animations, and character-driven intros. The update introduced Episode Sticker Sets, which are short-term, rotating bonus albums with repeatable completion and Prestige re-runs for additional rewards. Season-long gameplay modifiers included new minigame experiences: Simpsons Run! converted the Free Parking tile into a run-based progression path with character-specific dice and milestone rewards, while Bribe Wiggum! added a push-your-luck dice mechanic to the Jail tile, allowing players to risk rewards for higher payouts.
Utilizing The Simpsons IP is a much larger collaboration than any other from the game’s previous seasons. However, this does not appear to have had a meaningful impact on Monopoly GO!’s revenue performance. While downloads initially spiked to their highest level since February 2025 and players seemed eager to roll the dice in Springfield, this enthusiasm did not translate into higher spending. Instead, The Simpsons collaboration appears to have served more as a user-acquisition campaign, driving player growth but without generating a meaningful uplift in IAP revenue.
Project Makeover launched Undersea Journey, a long-term reward track that ties most events and core gameplay together, similar to a seasonal album system. Players earn Journey Points from multiple activities to progress. Rewards include Raffle Tickets for a box gacha, with each cosmetic reward removed from the pool once obtained. The event features two sequential tracks and indirect monetization through a premium Battle Pass, which increases Journey Point earnings by up to 10% based on tier. It’s a smart play to tie everything together into one big progression loop, though “Undersea Journey” feels like a bit of a stretch for a game about makeovers.
Several casual games launched football-themed events for the World Cup. Stumble Guys updated its Stumble Cup mode with new visuals, gameplay tweaks, and abilities designed for the event. The mode is a first-to-3-goals match with overtime if tied. New abilities, such as shooting, freezing the ball, or pushing other players, are available through power-up spawns. The event features national team reskins and runs in parallel with the FIFA World Cup.
Gossip Harbor’s Go For Goal Album added Dazzling Cards, a new collectible type within certain sets that grant instant energy rewards. Dazzling Cards are visually distinct, come in multiple tiers, and provide higher energy rewards at higher tiers. This addition introduces immediate value to the album progression system.
Candy Crush Saga’s Soccer Leagues event introduced tiered rewards to the standard blue candy collection leaderboard format. Players compete twice a week for promotion to higher leagues with better rewards, while lower performers risk demotion. The event ran alongside a Soccer Season-themed Season Pass and in-game football visuals.
King is clearly on a mission to prove that even a decade-old puzzle game can learn new tricks.
Additional casual gaming highlights and news
XP Hero, a shooting and beat-’em-up game that launched in February 2025, has scaled since mid-June, reaching Download rank 74 and Grossing rank 164. The game features ARPG-style beat-’em-up gameplay with automated attacks and optional auto-farming. Death results in loss of equipped weapons and loot, increasing risk as the player unlocks more areas of the world with each boss they’ve defeated. The meta centers on equipment collection, upgrades, and passive skills. Monetization includes equipment gachas, hero skins, upgrade materials, and ad revenue from rewarded and interstitial ads.
It’s a high-risk, high-reward system that feels almost like a roguelike in disguise. The fact that players can lose everything on death is a spicy twist, especially for a mobile game where auto-farming could be seen as a snooze-fest. Timed map events and asynchronous 1v1 PvP with leaderboards have been driving re-engagement and spending, and revenue has increased in the US market since June.
While Bubble Word Jam launched in February 2026, the game has been growing in revenue and downloads since mid-May, peaking at Download rank 18 and Grossing rank 149. The game combines word and puzzle mechanics, using a move system uncommon in the genre. Players drag and merge words to group them, clearing levels by identifying four related words per category.
It’s a refreshing take on the word game genre, proving that even the most established categories can still surprise you. Though, we’re not sure how much “chill” word puzzle fans appreciate a move system borrowed from the frantic world of match-3. We’ll be watching to see if this genre mashup has legs.
June’s midcore game updates
Brawl Stars ran a unique collab community event with Adidas called the Adidas Starr Cup. For the first time, the entire player base was divided into two Community teams for a 12-day tournament, with a team assembly phase where players collectively voted on their team identity, including the name and emblem. The event used a community-versus-community progression system, with individual wins in Super Ball mode (essentially a reskin of Brawl Ball) contributing to team progress during 2-day matchups. To reinforce the tournament feel, the structure included NPC matchups with continuously progressing score bars, creating a race dynamic that encouraged players to keep up and reach the final Community vs. Community showdown. The event also featured Half-Time Challenges, which provided bonus objectives for upgraded rewards, and concluded with a final race, in which the fastest-progressing team won.
It’s an intriguing experiment in community engagement, even if the idea of building a team name and emblem feels a bit like a throwback to the early days of online gaming. If it gets players to rally together and actually care about a tournament, though, Supercell might be onto something.
eFootball, Konami’s football simulation title, got in on the World Cup action with its International Cup Days event and Player of the Day (POTD) Special Player Lists. The core of the event was a series of short PvE match challenges that ran daily. Players simply had to clear a match objective to earn a “Chance Deal,” which is essentially gacha currency. Once the related POTD Special Player List gacha became available the following day, players could spend their earned Chance Deals to make one random draw for a featured, high-value POTD card. It’s a straightforward loop that effectively ties daily engagement to the live tournament schedule and creates a consistent gacha pull opportunity for dedicated players. For a game that’s all about simulating the real thing, letting players pull for a POTD card feels like a nice “collect ’em all” twist on the game.
Last Z: Survival Shooter introduced a prediction-based event called Football Legends: Football Cheering, where players collected Cheer Flags and used them to place prediction-style ‘cheers’ on featured football match outcomes. After the results were confirmed, players received Victory Whistles based on their prediction outcome, which could then be spent in the Cheer Shop for rewards.
Similarly, Dark War: Survival introduced a sports prediction event called Football Fever: Match Prediction, where players spend Golden Whistles to predict featured match outcomes and earn Match Tokens based on the results, which can then be exchanged for rewards in the event shop. As both Last Z and Dark War are developed by the same team, it makes sense that both games would take a similar direction in their football-themed events.
PUBG Mobile also allowed players to engage with the ongoing FIFA World Cup by introducing football-themed content that brought more football-specific rewards and activities. Part of this content was the Predict & Win a Permanent Jersey event, where players could predict match outcomes to earn rewards, such as official co-branded jersey outfits for accurate predictions. This feels like PUBG Mobile’s way of serving up the best of both worlds: the thrill of football with the gritty chaos of battle royale, letting players experience the FIFA 2026 spirit whether they’re competing on the field or in the combat zone.
Rise of Kingdoms launched a football-themed event framework with its World Cup Betting, World Cup Shop, and World Cup Supply Station. Players predict real-life World Cup match results in the Betting event, earning event currency for correct picks. The World Cup Shop allows players to exchange event currency for resources, speedups, and boosts. The Supply Station provides additional tasks to earn currency. The system integrates real-world results, task completion, and currency spending for progression rewards. It’s a classic live-ops trifecta: predict, earn, spend. While it’s not the most innovative framework, it’s undeniably effective.
Additional midcore gaming highlights and news
Game of Thrones: Dragonfire, a new 4X strategy title from WB, uses the GOT IP with classic tile-conquering gameplay. Players build and upgrade bases, raise armies, and conquer territory on a hex map, with dragons central to character progression. The game launched June 2 and has scaled in revenue, peaking at Download rank 9, and Grossing rank 89 by late June. The launch of the game has been timed well with the upcoming series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, as well as season 3 of House of the Dragon, which aired earlier this year. It seems the combination of dragons, strategy, and a well-timed TV release is a winning formula. We’ll see if the game can sustain its momentum once the hype around the shows dies down.
Pokémon Champions is a turn-based battler with cross-play on Nintendo Switch. Gameplay focuses on competitive battles similar to recent console titles, but unlike these titles, the game’s been stripped of any exploration or catching elements. New Pokémon are instead recruited via a gacha system themed as a Pokémon Ranch, where players select one of ten available Pokémon for permanent or temporary use.
The game peaked at Download rank 1 and Grossing rank 79 after launch, but quickly dropped out of the US top 200. In Japan, it has maintained download rank 1 and is stabilizing around grossing rank 60. It’s worth noting that the cross-play element likely obfuscates the actual revenue picture, as we only have visibility into the mobile numbers. That doesn’t completely explain the quick fall in the US, but it could be part of the reason. Betting it all on solely PvP gameplay is a bold strategy. It seems players in the West are still holding out for the full Pokémon adventure, while Japanese players are happily embracing the pure, competitive grind. It’s certainly an interesting case study into market expectations.
Japan saw two new Soccer IP games launch around the FIFA World Cup. Inazuma Eleven: Cross has remained in the top 20 since its June 8 launch, while Captain Tsubasa: My Golden XI peaked at Grossing rank 96 before dropping out of the top 200. Both are arcade sports titles based on established anime IPs. Captain Tsubasa: My Golden XI uses training-simulation mechanics and automated gameplay, focusing on management and collection rather than skill-based matches. Inazuma Eleven: Cross offers more hands-on, character-skill-focused gameplay, similar to Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team, and has performed better in both downloads and revenue, likely attracting both former Dream Team players and Inazuma series fans.
This seems to be a classic tale of two approaches: one heavy on management, the other on skill. Captain Tsubasa: My Golden XI’s quick fall from grace suggests that players still crave the hands-on thrill of scoring a goal. Meanwhile, Inazuma Eleven: Cross seems to be capitalizing on that desire, proving that a more interactive experience is still a winning formula.
