Christmas is one of the most important moments of the year for mobile games. Player activity increases, with users being more receptive to new features and themed content, and monetization windows become wider. However, at the same time competition becomes more intense and CPIs rise, making only the best executed seasonal events able to generate meaningful growth.
In this article we will explain how to design Christmas events, special editions and UA strategies for your apps that will not only boost December KPIs, but also strengthen retention and revenue into Q5 and beyond.
Why Christmas is a growth window
Christmas shifts player behaviour in a particular way. Q5 typically brings:
-
Higher daily playtime and more flexible session windows
-
Stronger receptiveness to new and thematic content
-
An expectation of rewards and exclusive bonuses
-
Increase spending intent, driven by a “treat-yourself” psychology
-
A rise in returning users who re-engage with familiar titles
For LiveOps and UA teams, this creates a special combination: high motivation and high competition. Well-structured seasonal plans leverage both.
However, Q5 only pays off if LiveOps and UA are planned as one strategy, not two separate tracks.
As Günay Azer, founder of Gamelight, puts it:
At Gamelight, we treat Christmas as a full growth window, not a one-week theme. Strong holiday creatives can bring more attention, but the product experience has to deliver fast. The goal is to use that energy to build habits that last beyond Q5.
Event structures that feel like gifts
While Halloween thrives on surprise and challenge, Christmas performs best when the experience feels rewarding, warm and generous. Some high-performing formats could be:


Gift calendars
Simple, predictable and habit-forming, can drive D1-D7 retention in Q5.
Delivery or collection progression
Narratives built around delivering gifts, gathering seasonal items or restoring winter worlds can generate higher engagement than just design changes.
World transformations
Snowfall, lightning, music and small environmental changes can lift the perceived value and session duration.
Social gifts
Allowing players to send small rewards or support teammates can increase activity and reduce churn.
Seasonal creatives drive performance
Christmas-themed creatives can outperform generic variants, especially if they focus on transformation, urgency or value. Players respond strongly to clear, festive designs, whether that means gift loops, decorated environments, winter characters, or countdowns.
This emphasizes the importance of leaning into holiday visuals and iterating quickly.
According to Summer Liu, CMO at SocialPeta:
SocialPeta’s ad intelligence data shows that during seasonal peaks like Christmas, themed updates and creative twists significantly boost engagement and ad performance. In December, the number of ad creatives featuring Christmas elements typically increases by over 40% across puzzle and casual genres.
For instance, Bubble Blast’s ‘Christmas Frozen Swap’ integrates the ‘Christmas’ keyword directly into its title and centers its ad creatives around festive visuals. Its playful snowman imagery not only enhances brand recall but also achieves higher click-through rates compared to generic puzzle ads.
Plan for the post-Christmas drop
The biggest mistake studios make is ending Christmas content abruptly. After December 25, users often have more free time, not less.
To maintain momentum, you can:
Prolong the ambience
Shift gradually from Christmas to winter. This prevents a hard drop in motivation.
Transform seasonal energy into longer-term goals
Permanent rewards, exclusive collectibles or progression milestones can help anchor returning users.
Bridge the end-of-year gap
Mini-events between Christmas and early January smooth the transition and stabilize retention curves.
UA strategies during high-CPI Q5
Q5 CPIs rise sharply, but user motivation and engagement can also rise alongside them. Winning UA teams adjust to this.
In particular, rewarded formats help stabilize costs, while seasonal creatives deliver stronger click-through rates (CTR) and more efficient engagement. Strategic timing, especially between December 18-28, captures users when they are most receptive.
Saadi Muslu, VP of Marketing at Singular,
highlights the strategic importance of the season:

From a growth perspective, Christmas isn’t just a festive moment. It’s a strategic inflection point. Singular’s Q4 2024–Q1 2025 data shows web ad spend jumped 54.4 percent from January to December as mobile budgets surged into the holiday rush, while CPIs climbed 15 to 26 percent for games and more than 60 percent for apps. In a season where competition tightens and efficiency drops, the marketers who win don’t pull back. They lean in with themed creatives that tap into nostalgia, urgency and joy, paired with rigorous iteration and clear early hooks that cut through crowded auctions.
The real unlock is planning UA and retention together. Scale smartly before the peak, then carry users past December with progression paths, time-shifted rewards and live ops that give them a reason to stay. When you activate holiday users with January and beyond in mind, you turn a high-cost period into your biggest growth engine.
Monetization: December is the moment for high-value bundles
This aligns with the core principle: Christmas performance depends as much on post-event retention as on December acquisition.
Holiday feeling and increased free time drive stronger conversion probability. For this reason, effective monetization structures include:
High-value seasonal bundles: exclusive skins, characters or currency packs with visible countdowns.
Generosity-focused offers: bundles that allow gifting to friends or teammates increase perceived value.
Return-user rewards: tailored offers for reactivated players outperform generic monetization strategies.
Conclusion
Christmas is far more than a thematic update: it is a high-intent moment, capable of driving long-term growth when executed with structure and anticipation.
Studios that win the season combine:
1. Generous, emotionally grounded LiveOps
2. Creatives and offers built for holiday attention patterns
3. UA planning aligned with January retention goals
Approached strategically, the Q5 spike becomes the beginning of a sustained growth for the rest of the new year.
