From Trust to Scale: How AviaGames Is Shaping the Next Phase of Skill-Based Gaming with PayPal and Meta

At GDC 2026, one trend stood out clearly: the spotlight is no longer focused solely on AAA studios with major IPs or large platform companies.

Instead, a new category, skill-based, competitive casual gaming, is moving to the center stage. Driven by evolving player needs and new business models, this category is becoming an important growth area in the mobile gaming industry.

At AviaGames, we see ourselves as part of this shift.

We are a Silicon Valley-based mobile gaming company with global operations, focused on developing skill-based, casual competitive games. Our portfolio includes titles such as Solitaire Clash, 8 Ball Strike, and Bingo Tour, which have collectively surpassed 60 million downloads.

Our games have ranked at the top of the App Store free charts across key markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada. Today, we are among the top 40 mobile gaming companies globally by revenue.

At this year's GDC, we joined PayPal and Meta on stage to share our perspective on player experience and growth.

We presented "From Win to Wallet: Rethinking Player Experience in Skill-Based Gaming" with PayPal, focusing on how payments shape trust and retention. We also partnered with Meta on "Building Growth Through Partnership: A Practical Avia Playbook for Brand + Performance on Meta," where we explored how brand and performance marketing can work together to drive long-term growth.

Being part of these conversations reflects a broader industry shift: growth is no longer driven by gameplay alone. Trust, technology, and scalable marketing systems are becoming equally important.

To understand our collaboration with PayPal and Meta, it's important to look at how the global mobile gaming market is evolving.

According to the 2025 China Game Industry Report, the mini-game market in China reached RMB 53.5 billion in 2025, growing 34.39% year over year. In-app purchases accounted for 68.11% of revenue, while advertising contributed 31.89%, highlighting a monetization model that is both balanced and rapidly expanding.

At the same time, casual games continue to be a major driver of growth in global mobile gaming. Within this space, skill-based, competitive casual gaming is emerging as a distinct category - combining accessible gameplay with real-time competition.

As user acquisition costs rise, sustainable growth requires more than traditional marketing. Separating brand and performance is no longer effective - especially in skill-based gaming, where player feedback is immediate and community-driven.

At GDC 2026, we partnered with Meta to share how we connect brand storytelling and performance marketing as a unified system, using shared data, continuous testing, and AI-driven optimization.

A key example is Play For Paws, our 9th anniversary campaign.

Built around our CEO Vickie Chen's passion for animal welfare, the campaign combined in-game participation, community storytelling, creator collaborations, and charity initiatives. This approach turned emotional engagement into measurable results, generating over 50 million in-game interactions and strong social engagement.

With Meta's support, this integrated strategy delivered clear performance improvements:

• 7% more views of organic feed and video posts
• 9% improvement in cost per conversion

These results show that brand and performance are not separate; they work best as a single growth system.

A slow or unclear payout can break the entire player experience and lead to churn.

At GDC 2026, we partnered with PayPal to share a key perspective: payments are not just a backend function; they are a core part of the player experience.

As our CEO Vickie Chen highlighted, because our games are skill-based rather than chance-driven, players expect a high level of fairness, transparency, and security when it comes to payments.

To support this, we've built a system that integrates compliance, risk management, and real-time monitoring directly into the player experience, ensuring both security and a seamless flow from gameplay to payout.

Working with PayPal, we've strengthened this foundation and delivered measurable impact:

• 80% reduction in payment-related support inquiries
• +53% increase in player return rates on the day of withdrawal
• +39% growth in 30-day retention
• +28% increase in lifetime value

In addition to improving efficiency, PayPal's global reputation helps reduce hesitation for new users, making it easier to trust the platform.

These results reinforce a clear point: in skill-based gaming, a strong payment experience is not just operational, it is a key driver of retention and long-term growth.

GDC 2026 may have ended, but the conversations around the future of mobile gaming continue.

For us, the takeaway is clear: long-term growth in skill-based gaming depends not only on gameplay, but on the systems behind it. Building trust through payments and driving growth through integrated marketing are both critical to creating a sustainable player experience.

Our work with PayPal and Meta reflects this approach - connecting trust, experience, and growth into a more unified system.

As the category continues to evolve, competition is no longer defined by product alone. It increasingly depends on how well companies build and operate across player experience, business systems, and global markets.