This month, Unity (NYSE: U), the leading platform for developing and building games, as well as real-time experiences, successfully hosted the annual event “Grow with Unity 2025”. The conference became a significant milestone for the Vietnamese game development community, attracting hundreds of industry specialists, partners, and developers from notable names such as SYBO, AppsFlyer, and Sensor Tower.
Unity Connects the Community, Quickly Updates Trends
This year’s event not only served as a platform to update the latest trends but also opened a space to share experiences, ideas, and strategies for sustainable game development. Experts from Unity and international partners brought practical insights focused on revenue optimization, user engagement, effective advertising, and retaining long-term users.
At the opening keynote, Jane Hou – Head of Product at AppsFlyer for the Asia-Pacific region, presented the robust growth of the mobile application market in the region. According to her, since 2017, the number of mobile app downloads has increased tenfold, with more than 30% of downloads and total advertising expenses reaching up to 12.7 billion USD in 2024. Specifically in Vietnam, the market has shown significant growth, accounting for 7% of total mobile app downloads in Asia and leading the region in growth rates for non-gaming app acquisition costs in 2024. However, the download rate for gaming apps has decreased by 10%, presenting new challenges for developers.
Furthermore, Vietnam currently ranks among the top 5 countries exporting mobile applications in Asia, enhancing its ability to attract international users. It is expected that by 2025, the non-gaming sector will continue to grow, especially in finance, utilities, and lifestyle apps. Monetization models are also evolving, with 43% of apps integrating advertising and 43% utilizing in-app purchases (IAP) to boost revenue. Retaining users has become a core focus, with traditional marketing channels seeing a 64% increase in efficiency and direct web-to-app campaigns rising by 84%.
Optimizing Growth with Unity Technology
Representatives from Unity – Ashley Navon and Nirali Savla, introduced Unity Vector: a new platform utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to optimize advertising effectiveness and enhance user quality. By fully leveraging Unity’s ecosystem, Vector enables developers to improve user behavior analysis, optimize performance, and save on advertising budgets. Nirali stated: “With the deployment of Vector, we will utilize data across the entire Unity ecosystem to provide deeper analytics, enhance performance, and increase advertising effectiveness.”
Continuing, Emmanuel Bergman – Senior Manager at Unity Ad Design Studio, highlighted the increasingly important role of creative advertising content. According to him, “Creative content remains a core element – and it has become faster, more engaging, and strategically impactful than ever.” An effective advertising model must have a captivating introduction, a clear user journey, meaningful interactions, and a compelling call to action at the right moment. He also suggested that long-format ads be divided into two parts, focusing one on gameplay and the other on introducing features, to enhance user engagement in gaming experiences.
Matt Skurnick – Senior Business Strategy Manager at Tapjoy (Unity), shared insights into the growing trend of rewarded ads that are developing strongly in Vietnam. In 2021, 1,000 top apps generated 100 million USD in revenue, which is expected to rise to 225 million USD by 2024. By 2025, it is projected that revenue will reach 250 million USD, with average revenue per user increasing from 0.5 USD in 2021 to 1.25 USD in 2024 and reaching 1.5 USD in 2025.
This indicates that users are becoming increasingly willing to engage with experiences that are “rewarding” within games, and Offerwall – a rewards platform, is becoming an effective tool for both gamers and developers.
Balancing Revenue and User Experience
Danny Cormack – Business Director for the EMEA & INSEA region at Unity, emphasized the role of Unity LevelPlay and Ad Quality in optimizing monetization strategies. He stated that 61% of users could stop using apps if they encounter disruptive ads. To tackle these challenges, advertisers can use Unity LevelPlay to enhance performance through a fair pricing platform, access to publishers, and tools like Real-Time Pivot and A/B testing to maximize revenue.
In addition, Franco Spina – Senior Manager of Game Design & Revenue Strategy at Unity, warned of three challenges facing the Vietnamese gaming market today. Firstly, the proportion of paying users remains low – only around 1% of users are paying consistently, with top games reaching just 4%. Secondly, there’s a reliance on “whales” (high-spending gamers) – where 10% of whales account for 60% of revenue, posing financial risks. Lastly, the market is volatile – user acquisition costs are rising, and monetization methods vary significantly across different game genres, with IAP games becoming increasingly prominent since 2023.
Franco emphasized the importance of diversifying revenue streams, stating: “99% of players in free-to-play games do not spend money. If your advertising strategy is right, you can tap into that 99% group.”
Insights from Partners: The Vietnamese Market is Thriving
The closing segment of the conference, led by Linh Nguyen – Project Manager at Unity, provided a realistic perspective from long-term industry representatives. Ngô Anh Quân – Business Director at Sensor Tower, shared: “Vietnam is currently among the top 3 countries in global app downloads projected until 2024. Three Vietnamese game studios – Onesoft, iKame, and Bravestars, rank among the top 10 publishers with the highest download numbers worldwide. This is a positive signal for the market.“
Additionally, Yến Nguyễn – Senior Advertising Operations Specialist at SYBO, shared her experience using Unity’s Ad Quality tools. Not only do these tools help monitor and analyze advertising effectiveness, but they also allow for detailed tracking of each campaign’s performance, timing, and publisher network, enabling rapid responses to negative feedback from users and ensuring high-quality ads when launching products globally.
Through the “Grow with Unity 2025” conference, Unity continues to strengthen its commitment to the game development community in Vietnam – not only through technology but also by building knowledge, collaboration, and a shared vision for sustainable growth.
