![[EXCLUSIVE] Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen Team Opens Up About the Expansion’s Name, New Norgan Region, and Performance Goals](https://cdn.gamerbraves.com/2026/07/Dragons-Dogma-2-Dark-Arisen_Interview_FI-360x180.jpg)
The Eat & Grow mobile game genre, once built around hungry sharks devouring everything in sight, has changed shape completely since late 2024. According to AppMagic, games like Hungry Shark Evolution set the tone for years, but the genre shifted toward a softer, more casual style when Homa released All in Hole. Instead of predators chasing prey, players now drop fruits, cakes, and toys into a hole to make it grow, a simple loop paired with frequent in-game events and a strong focus on in-app purchases.
That formula worked. All in Hole has pulled in around $130 million in in-app purchase revenue and became the clear leader of the category. Around 120 similar games were released between 2025 and 2026, according to data from Advanced Search, but none came close to matching All in Hole’s numbers. For a long time, the genre looked like a market with only one real winner.
That is starting to change. Two games, Hole It 3D and Hole Stars, are now gaining ground behind All in Hole, and both come from studios with serious industry experience.
Hole It 3D was released by Supersonic Studios in January 2025. The studio is best known for hypercasual hits like Bridge Race and Build A Queen, so this marked a shift into a different style of game, one focused more on deeper monetization rather than ads alone. The approach paid off. Hole It 3D has passed $10 million in IAP revenue and became Supersonic’s top-earning title, ahead of games that have been on the market much longer. Its revenue per download has also kept climbing. Much of that success comes from the game’s monetization design, which builds tension in the core loop and offers players a $4.99 “fail offer” at the right moment. That offer regularly ranks as the second highest-earning purchase on the App Store.
Moon Active entered the category later, launching Hole Stars in late 2025. The studio, known for its casual game background, combined an easy-to-learn core loop with systems meant to keep players engaged over time. Hole Stars has reached $8 million in IAP revenue and placed among the top three games in the category this year. The launch is also part of a larger push by Moon Active to expand its Coin Master franchise beyond its usual genre. The studio had already released Coin Master – Board Adventure earlier in 2026, a game that stayed close to Coin Master’s original style. Hole Stars, on the other hand, moves the franchise into the hybridcasual space for the first time.
Both Hole It 3D and Hole Stars still earn far less than All in Hole, but their growth marks a shift in a category that had been dominated by a single title for a long time. Supersonic and Moon Active are showing that other studios can compete in the space, and their progress is contributing to the overall growth of the Eat & Grow genre. What was once seen as a market defined by one game is now home to more than one serious contender.
