Franco Digital has confirmed its participation in GAT Expo Cartagena 2025, one of the most iconic gaming industry events in Latin America, which will take place from April 28 to 30 in the walled city.

The Spanish company will bring to the trade show its latest lineup of products for the retail, platform, and online gaming segments, reinforcing its commitment to innovation, technology, and the development of the industry in the region.

The event, renowned for bringing together the industry’s key players, will feature an outstanding agenda including international-level conferences, product exhibitions, and much more. Attendees will take part in panels and roundtable discussions focused on regulations, market trends, and innovation.

In this context, R. Franco will showcase its solid portfolio of land-based products, highlighting successful titles such as Rocket Link, Ice & Fire, and Boom Balink, along with its On Mix solution designed for route operations. Additionally, the digital division will present its advanced online gaming platform, and a portfolio of titles created to maximize both player experience and operator profitability.

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Javier Sacristán, director of R. Franco International, said: “GAT Expo is a must-attend event for us. Colombia is a key and constantly evolving market. That’s why we are fully committed to delivering solutions that meet the needs of both operators and their customers, combining innovation, design, and profitability.

“Our presence at this trade show reflects the Group’s commitment to Latin America. We are presenting a comprehensive offering that meets the new demands of the market—from next-generation land-based games to a powerful digital proposition that reinforces our position as a global provider.”

GAT Expo Cartagena represents a valuable opportunity to continue building alliances with new strategic partners in the region and to strengthen existing business relationships, all within a setting that blends a high level of professionalism with the cultural, culinary, and natural charm of Cartagena de Indias.

With this comprehensive presence, R. Franco and R. Franco Digital reaffirm their commitment to the Latin American market and to a gaming industry that is safe, sustainable, and innovative.

Appodeal Publishing, part of Appodeal Ad Mediation Solution for Mobile Apps and Games that helps developers and studios launch and scale their games, today released its latest report, which takes a deep dive into the casual mobile games category, sharing a wealth of data on the best and worst performing casual game genres and subgenres. The report found that, while the best-performing hypercasual games are still delivering the biggest number of installs, the amount of advertising revenue per user they are generating is much lower than games using a hybrid casual approach, where games offer players a deeper level of engagement whilst still being designed to be easy to pick up and play.

The ‘Mobile Casual Benchmarks Report 2025’ is based on data from billions of installs of more than 10,000 mobile casual games by US users between June 2024 and January 2025. The data is drawn specifically from installs of Android apps.

With the vast majority of free-to-play mobile games using in-game advertising as a key revenue generator, ensuring a game generates enough engagement and longevity for ads to be displayed to the player is key. While hypercasual games remain a popular choice, Appodeal’s data shows a strong case for developers and publishers to be exploring hybrid casual game design over pure hypercasual, with deeper engagement mechanics – such as progression systems, collection elements, and light RPG or simulation features – allowing for a mix of ad monetization and in-app purchases (IAP).

Some of the key takeaways from the report include:

• Hypercasual games have a low ARPU of $0.86 on average, compared to Party and Match genre games, which generate the highest ad revenue, with an ARPU of $4.90 and $2.99, respectively. These two genres are the most lucrative when it comes to ad-supported monetization models.

• When it comes to monetization, the best-performing subgenre is Merge 3, with an ad ARPU of $14.83 This is considerably ahead of the next best-performing subgenre, Luck Battle games (games which use a random battle element to drive engagement), which have an ARPU of $12.23. Running and slicing themed games had the lowest ad ARPU amongst the subgenres looked at, at $2.34 and $2.19.

• Puzzle and Match Games rely heavily on ads, with the highest number of interstitials (72.5 and 36.5 per user), rewarded video (23.4 and 39.1 per user), and banner ads (241.5 and 114.3 per user). Finding the balance between ad frequency and user experience is critical; otherwise, retention will be affected.

• Rewarded Video works well in Merge and Idle games, with Merge 3 games serving an average of 101.5 videos per user, and Idle 73.2. This shows that the gameplay and meta mechanics of these titles naturally encourage users to watch ads for added in-game benefits.

“We know that the popularity of hypercasual games has passed its peak, and the data in our Mobile Casual Benchmarks report shows a continuing shift from hypercasual to hybrid casual games,” said Tanya Moroz, General Manager at Appodeal. “Despite hypercasual games still leading in terms of downloads, they suffer from low ad ARPU and poor retention. Hybrid casual games, by contrast, combine mass-market appeal with deeper engagement mechanics, significantly improving retention and monetization. We expect to see more developers and publishers shifting their strategy towards these kinds of games, which offer a richer gameplay experience coupled with better revenue potential.”

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With genre-level and subgenre-level breakdowns across critical KPIs like retention, session time, ARPU, and ad formats, the report is aimed at mobile game developers, studios and publishers working in the casual to mid-core space, especially those currently developing hypercasual or ad-driven titles, and who want to make more informed genre choices and design decisions.