2024 has been an exciting year for mobile gaming with a lot of new release. So we thought about doing a creative analysis on the top new games in 2024. Now, if we were to look at the top trending games, it looks like this as of December 18th, 2024:
Top Trending New Games in the Last Year
However, this list is ranked according to trending games, which, according to AppMagic, is based on the green trendline, which shows the app’s performance in the Top Charts over the chosen period. The left side indicates the app's starting position in the rankings, and the right side indicates its current position.
But if you take a closer look, these may not be the top downloaded new mobile games in 2024. So for a creative insights analysis, we’ve used the number of downloads as a proxy for the scale of creatives these games would be running - and it did not disappoint. Here’s a look at the top 10 new games sorted as per the most downloads in 2024, with their respective creative insights.
Top Downloaded Games in the last year
Current Rank | Game Name | Publisher Name | Downloads | Category |
2 | My Supermarket Simulator 3D | Game District LLC | 69395215 | Simulation,Job Simulator,Job Simulator: Other |
3 | Mini Games: Calm & Relax | Galaxy Top Games | 61422126 | Arcade,Arcade: Other |
51 | Left or right: Magic Dress up | ABI Games Studio | 50237404 | Simulation,Fashion & Dress Up |
56 | Screw Puzzle: Wood Nut & Bolt™ | FALCON GAMES | 46701605 | Puzzle,Screw Puzzle |
1 | Pokémon TCG Pocket | The Pokemon Company | 39286025 | Strategy,Card Battler,CCG (Collectible Card Games) |
45 | Archery Clash! | VOODOO | 33460137 | Sports Games,Sports Games: Other |
66 | Stunt Bike Extreme | Hyperkani | 32942005 | Racing,Arcade Racing,Stunt Racing |
12 | Paper Doll Diary: Dress Up DIY | Bravestars Games | 32839889 | Simulation,Fashion & Dress Up |
27 | Delete Puzzle: Brain Games | iKame Games - Zego Studio | 32215109 | Puzzle,Logic Puzzles |
6 | Perfect Tidy | ABI Game Studio | 30951516 | Puzzle,Fill & Organize |
Access all creatives for the below games here, watch, play and read!
1. My Supermarket 3D
Publisher: Game District LLC
Downloads: 69.39M
Category: Simulation, Job Simulator
Total Creatives: 307
Top 3 Countries: US, Mexico, Turkey
Top Impressions Source: Mintegral, Facebook, Unity
Creative Analysis: Playables dominate their ad strategy. They have 2-3 main video ads and they alternate the end screens to scale the number of creatives. The actual playable ads have 2 primary versions, 1 is guided and the other is completely playable. They’re also testing AI-generated images as the end screens or CTA end cards, which are essentially infinitely scaleable. Some of the top creatives have AI-generated images as the end cards.
2. Mini Games: Calm & Relax
Publisher: Galaxy Top Games
Downloads: 61.42M
Category: Arcade
Total Creatives: 430
Top 3 Countries: Ukraine, Israel, India
Top Impressions Source: YouTube, Facebook, Vungle
Creative Analysis: User-generated content is their biggest strength and they have cracked this content flywheel by seeding in ads that mimic this experience. For their seeded ads, they’ve got people/actors, or probably team members, recording themselves playing the game and then widely distributing it. It’s entertainment. In one of the levels and video ads you need to pronounce a bunch of words in the correct manner to clear it, but the pronunciation is intentionally wrong in the last obstacle, and the ad ends there. Which leaves you hanging for closure, so you download it to try it yourself. They also have a few playable ads but not at scale.
3. Left or Right: Magic Dress up
Publisher: ABI Games Studio
Downloads: 50.23M
Category: Simulation, Fashion and Dress Up
Total Creatives: 48
Top 3 Countries: US, India, Turkey
Impressions Source: Unity, YouTube, Applovin
Creative Analysis: It’s impressive that they’ve cracked their user acquisition with just 48 creatives! They mainly focus on showing the multiplayer functionality at the beginning of the ad where you compete with an opponent to dress up the game character better. They’re leveraging Unity’s ad network to scale their ads by using playable videos with a GIF end card that seems interactive and ask you to select between 2 outfits. However, clicking on it takes you to the app store. A dark design, but seems to be working for them nonetheless.
4. Screw Puzzle: Wood Nut & Bolt
Publisher: Falcon Games
Downloads: 46.7M
Category: Puzzle
Total Creatives: 321
Top 3 Countries: US, Russia, Japan/Brazil
Top Impressions Source: Applovin, Mintegral, Vungle
Creative Analysis: Primarily running playable videos. The actual interactive playable ads appear to be impossible to crack but end right after 3 moves, and you don’t get closure of finishing the puzzle, so you download the game to prove it to yourself that you can solve it. The videos on the other hand are very click baity, inspired by Gardenscapes and Royal Match. In this particular case, you have a Kitten trapped over rising lava while the Screw Puzzle is being solved, the player isn’t able to unscrew everything in time and the cat gets toast. I mean - who wants to see that happen to a kitten right? But we’ve actually seen gimmicks like this actually evolve into mini-games within puzzle games now, so maybe they’ll pull this trick out of the Royal Match playbook.
5. Pokemon TCG Pocket
Publisher: The Pokemon Company
Downloads: 39.28M
Category: Strategy, Card Battler
Total Creatives: 306
Top 3 Countries: Japan, US, Spain
Top Impressions Source: Facebook, YouTube, Google Admob
Creative Analysis: The entire game revolves around bragging rights and the ads revolve around nostalgia. The high-performing ads are videos and HTML videos that are anchored on opening Pokemon card packs, with a focus on a swiping mechanism to tear the packet. The sound of that fresh packet tearing open honestly unlocks a core memory which is followed by the delight of finding a legendary Pokemon or a rare card inside it.
6. Archery Clash
Publisher: VOODOO
Downloads: 33.46M
Category: Sports Games
Total Creatives: 1039
Top 3 Countries: India, US and Mexico
Top Impressions Source: Applovin, YouTube, Facebook
Creative Analysis: The top assets are all videos being run as HTML on Applovin, but in the last few months they’ve started scaling on interactive playable ads as well. By volume, they get almost 50% impressions from Applovin and 30% from YT. The top-performing playable is actually quite weird, you’re throwing teddy bears instead of shooting arrows??? The others are quite clickbaity as well, where the ads show players using gun scopes for aiming. Not sure if these are working for Archery Clash, and begs the question - what is their D1 retention like?
7. Stunt Bike Extreme
Publisher: Hyperkani
Downloads: 32.9M
Category: Racing, Arcade Racing
Total Creatives: 1
Top 3 Countries: India 99%, Brazil, Israel
Top Impressions Source: YouTube
Creative Analysis: The data available is only from YouTube and we can see only 1 creative. The impressions are way off the download numbers, which most likely means the game studio is working with an unregistered ad network on AppMagic, or directly with less common DSPs.
8. Paper Doll Diary: Dress Up DIY
Publisher: Bravestars Games
Downloads: 32.84M
Category: Simulation, Fashion and Dress up
Total Creatives: 133
Top 3 Countries: Turkey, Mexico, Brazil
Top Impressions Source: Mintegral, Inneractive and Unity
Creative Analysis: Top-performing ad creatives are videos and interactive playable ads. Both of which them pretty much the same with the same format. The whole idea of the game portrayed in the ads is to dress up the character/doll who wants to make their partner regret complimenting someone else. The catch is, no matter how the video or the playable progresses, you’re never able to win by looking better, which creates FOMO and in this case, kind of questions your style. The same couple of videos are used with different end cards and minor tweaks in the playables to scale the creatives. Fun fact - the game is nothing like the ads, and riddles with ads. When I say riddled, they have taken this to a whole different level. (Maybe something to cover in another blog.)
9. Delete Puzzle: Brain Games
Publisher: iKame Games - Zego Studio
Downloads: 32.21M
Category: Puzzles, Logic Puzzles
Total Creatives: 361
Top 3 Countries: India, Brazil, Turkey/US/Mexico
Top Impressions Source: Applovin 93%, Mintegral, YouTube
Creative Analysis: Main source of downloads is very clickbaity and thirst traps in the form of videos and interactive playable. Also, on one end this game runs interactive thirst trap playables, but on the other hand it's also running Peppa Pig interactive playables 😂. we'll let you infer these yourself - you can see the ads here.
10. Perfect Tidy
Publisher: ABI Games Studio
Downloads: 30.95M
Category: Puzzle
Total Creatives: 370
Top 3 Countries: US, Japan/Canada, UK
Top Impressions Source: Applovin, Mintegral, Unity
Creative Analysis: The game and ads play on the feeling of satisfaction - have you seen those cleaning videos or pimple-popping videos people obsess over?It’s mostly that. Their interactive playable ads revolve around cleaning hats, sinks, makeup kits, etc. However, 1 fake ad exists in the top 5 creatives- this ad shows that you can use your camera to put makeup on yourself, but this functionality doesn’t exist in the game. Not at least in the first 60-70 odd levels (confirmed with an avid player).
Summing up Creative Insights
Leveraging Playables
Playables dominate the ad space for most successful games, whether as HTML videos, guided interactive playables, video playables or full control interactive playables. These ad formats not only boost engagement but also drive higher download rates by embedding in other app and mobile games.
Nostalgia and Emotional Hooks
Games like "Pokémon TCG Pocket" use nostalgia effectively, while titles like "Screw Puzzle" rely on emotional storytelling to connect with audiences. Take a lesson or two in human psychology to really hit that nerve with your potential players.
User-Generated Content
UGC has proven instrumental for games like "Mini Games: Calm & Relax," where authentic, relatable content generates curiosity and trust. In my opinion, cracking a UGC content flywheel is the best way to drive virality and make your players your game’s promoters.
Clickbait That Converts
From incomplete narratives to seemingly unsolvable challenges, clickbait strategies and FOMO remain highly effective when executed creatively.
The creative ad strategies driving success for these games provide invaluable insights into user behavior and preferences. By leveraging playables, UGC, nostalgia, and emotional storytelling, game studios in 2025 can craft compelling campaigns that resonate with audiences worldwide.
Ready to take your game's ad strategy to the next level? Let these ads inspire your next big campaign - find them HERE.
We also analyzed Trends in the Top 100 New Mobile Games in 2024
Creative Insights <> Segwise
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