AppCharge: Direct-to-consumer market worth around $17bn today

New research suggests that direct-to-consumer spending on mobile was around $17 billion in 2025.

That’s according to data from AppCharge, which estimates that DTC spending has caused a median revenue increase of 15% across all respondents to its report. Transposing Newzoo’s $113.3 billion in in-app sales for 2025 and the company has arrived at that $17 billion figure.

At the moment, the majority of games industry respondents are exploring DTC – that’s 42% of companies, while 16% are testing the concept. 12% are scaling up their direct-to-consumer business. This is a new segment for a lot of firms, with 73% saying that they are at least “somewhat confident” in their understanding of the sector.

45% of respondents make less than 10% of their revenue from DTC, while 17% make between 10-and-29%. 10% make 30%-49%, with another 9% making 50-to-69% of their revenue.

8% makes 70-to-89% of revenue from this business, but 11% makes over 90%.

Growth projections for the space are mixed, too. AppMagic believes that direct-to-consumer spending will increase by 26% year-on-year in the United States alone. The company says that 30% of Monopoly Go’s recent revenue has come from DTC, adding that in the middle of 2025 this share was “several times lower”.

25% of respondents believe their DTC revenue will stay flat, while 8% forecast a decline. 11% say that there will be a sub-5% increase. 18% reckons their direct-to-consumer revenue will rise by 18%.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the main reason that developers and publishers are turning to DTC, this is the reason that 63% of respondents gave. 53% say that building a direct relationship with players is the primary objective, while 45% say that they want to “improve monetisation opportunities”.

50% of respondents said that making players aware of their DTC business is the primary challenge. 41% say that this is player acquisition, while 36% say scaling the operation is the main issue.

“Studios aren’t just building web stores,” AppCharge’s CEO and co-founder Maor Sason wrote.

“They’re hiring for roles that didn’t exist two years ago, rethinking how they operate, and facing demands the app store model never required.

“The publishers who committed to this early aren’t just ahead on revenue. They know their players better, they retain them longer, and they have more control over where the business goes next.

“In a few years, we won’t think of DTC as an alternative. It will simply be how the most successful games operate, with large studios generating 50%+ of their revenue by selling directly to their players.”

Earlier this year, AppCharge said that DTC is a “core new revenue system” for developers.