APAC Gaming Studios Boost Paid Acquisition Spending 45% YoY

Asia-Pacific gaming studios are rapidly increasing spending on paid user acquisition, according to Adjust's 2026 Gaming App Insights Report. The region's paid-to-organic install ratio rose 45% year-on-year, climbing from 2.05 to 2.97.

APAC Leads Regional Shift Toward Paid Channels

The 45% increase in APAC's paid-to-organic ratio was the steepest of any region globally. Globally, the same ratio rose 61% year-on-year, setting a competitive benchmark that APAC studios are working to close.

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The paid-to-organic ratio measures how many installs come from paid advertising versus free, organic discovery. A rising ratio means studios are deliberately spending more to acquire players rather than waiting for them to find games on their own.

"Growth is becoming less about scale alone and more about precision," said Tiahn Wetzler, Director of Marketing at Adjust. "Studios are increasingly focused on retaining high-value players, optimizing creatives and channels, and building ad-to-experience flows that favor sustained play over fast turnover."

Genre and Market Data Signal Where Budgets Are Moving

The report identifies clear genre-level patterns. Strategy games recorded the strongest session growth globally at 57% year-on-year, followed by casual games at 37% and hyper-casual titles at 31%.

On the install side, slots and casino games led growth. Slots rose 46%, casino titles increased 22%, and casual games grew 19%. These high-monetization genres attract paid acquisition spending because the potential revenue per player justifies higher costs to acquire them.

Market-level retention data adds further context for budget decisions. Japan led APAC with 25% Day 1 retention, meaning one in four new players returned the following day. Singapore followed at 23%, with Thailand and Indonesia at 21% and South Korea at 20%. The APAC regional average held at 20%.

Day 1 retention matters because players who return after their first session are significantly more likely to spend money and stay active long-term.

Southeast Asia Emerges as Most Competitive Paid Acquisition Market

Southeast Asia accounted for 55% of global in-app promotional activity, with over 35,000 games purchasing ads in the first half of 2024 alone. That volume of competition is pushing studios away from chasing raw install numbers toward targeting players who are more likely to stay and spend.

APAC also accounted for 48% of global organic gaming installs, led by Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines. Despite this strong organic base, studios are adding paid channels on top to reach higher-spending player segments that organic discovery does not reliably deliver.

Engagement metrics remained stable across the region. Sessions per user per day edged up from 1.69 to 1.70 overall, with Japan posting the highest figure at 1.81, up 3% year-on-year.

Measurement Conditions Improve Slightly as Strategy Evolves

App Tracking Transparency (ATT) opt-in rates, which measure how many users allow apps to track their activity for advertising purposes, reached 39% globally in the first quarter of 2026, up from 38% a year earlier. The modest improvement gives studios slightly better visibility into whether their paid campaigns are producing results.

April Tayson, Regional Vice President for Southeast Asia and India at Adjust, noted that studios are moving beyond pure install growth and "focusing on building deeper player relationships through smarter acquisition, stronger retention strategies, and better measurement across the full player journey."

The report also points to emerging approaches including direct-to-consumer models, AI-generated ad creatives, and cross-platform strategies as studios look to improve returns on paid acquisition spending through 2027.