Mobile Gaming Shifts Beyond App Stores as TikTok and Web Stores Grow

Mobile gaming is moving beyond the app stores. Discovery and payments are separating from them. But they are reconnecting elsewhere.

For around fifteen years, app stores handled both sides of the mobile gaming journey: players found games there and paid through the same platform. In roughly eighteen months, that model has started to change. Discovery is moving towards livestreaming, creators and communities, while payments are shifting towards web stores and payment links.

The numbers show how significant that shift is. In Q2 2026, viewers watched 17.5 billion hours of livestreaming. TikTok Live accounted for 8.9 billion hours, or 50.9% of the total.

Payment behaviour is changing too. Among US players using the payment links cited in the data, 56% are making their first direct-to-consumer purchase. Across the web stores measured, 97% of revenue comes from repeat buyers. After three web store purchases, the repeat rate rises above 84%.

That creates a different journey for mobile games: a player discovers a game through a creator, buys directly from the publisher and can return through channels the publisher controls.

By the end of 2026, more mobile game publishers are expected to treat discovery and payments as one connected journey.

Should mobile game publishers stop treating discovery and payments as separate strategies?

#MobileGaming #Gaming #TikTok #WebStores