The Free-to-Download Formula: A Profitable Trojan Horse

May 22, 2025

DENVER, Colo., May 22, 2025 (247marketnews.com)- The free-to-download (F2D) model, also known as free-to-play, has redefined how games generate revenue. By removing the initial cost barrier and monetizing through ads, in-app purchases, and subscriptions, this approach has democratized access and exponentially expanded user bases. For investors, the appeal lies in the recurring revenue these games can generate from long-tail engagement.

WeBull: Financial Trading Meets Gamified Addiction

Outside of gaming, few have harnessed the F2D model’s psychological hooks as effectively as WeBull (NASDAQ:BULL). The trading platform mastered the casino-like effect of gamification—using push notifications, confetti, streak-based rewards, and visually stimulating interfaces to trigger dopamine-driven behaviors in users. Though technically a brokerage app, WeBull’s UX borrows heavily from mobile gaming, transforming trading into a game-like experience. By lowering barriers to entry and encouraging frequent engagement, WeBull built a sticky user base, monetizing through order flow and premium services—mirroring the free-to-play monetization mechanics used in casual games.

Core Gaming: Siyata Mobile’s Trojan Horse for Hypergrowth

Among the newest stars of the F2D movement is Core Gaming, the AI-driven mobile game developer and pending merger target of Siyata Mobile (NASDAQ:SYTA). With over 2,100 games, nearly 800 million downloads, and 43 million monthly active users, Core Gaming has cracked the code on converting free users into long-term monetized players. The company’s proprietary AI-powered BI platform doesn’t just track user behavior—it anticipates it. This enables Core to deliver ultra-personalized content and ad strategies that maximize both engagement and lifetime value. Their recent rollout of the AI COMIC App, which gained nearly 300,000 users in days, is just one example of how they rapidly scale F2D offerings with viral momentum.

Core Gaming’s model thrives in emerging markets like Southeast Asia, where free-to-play mobile games dominate due to low device costs and limited access to traditional consoles. By deploying its games at scale and using predictive analytics to retain and monetize users, Core has effectively built a self-reinforcing growth engine. For Siyata Mobile shareholders, this isn’t just a pivot—it’s a transformation. Once a telecom-focused hardware player, Siyata is now on the cusp of becoming a full-fledged digital growth story, backed by one of the most scalable and intelligent F2D ecosystems in the space. If Core Gaming’s current trajectory continues, it could become one of the most successful Trojan Horses in the history of mobile entertainment.

Take Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), for instance. While best known for its premium titles, its mobile arm—King, the maker of Candy Crush Saga—has been a cornerstone of sustained profitability. Candy Crush, released in 2012, remains a top-grossing title more than a decade later, proving that casual games, when well-designed, can have surprisingly long shelf lives.

Zynga, now a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO), was once the poster child of casual social gaming with Words With Friends and FarmVille. Although the FarmVille franchise eventually waned, Zynga’s mobile portfolio has expanded to include successful F2D games that continue to attract daily users and monetizable engagement.

Meanwhile, AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) and Unity Software (NYSE:U) are perhaps more quietly benefiting, not through publishing games, but by powering them. Unity’s game engine underpins a vast array of mobile titles, enabling developers to easily deploy F2D games across platforms, while AppLovin’s ad tech solutions help monetize them. As the infrastructure providers to this industry, these companies earn revenue every time a player clicks, watches, or pays.

Casual Games: The Power of Persistence

Casual games, by their very nature, are accessible and addictive. Designed to be played in short bursts, they thrive in a mobile-first world. The continued dominance of Subway Surfers, Clash of Clans, and 8 Ball Pool shows how these games become part of daily routines, driving massive engagement numbers.

Sea Limited (NYSE:SE), through its Garena gaming division, exemplifies how casual and battle-based games can coexist under one corporate roof. While Garena gained massive success with Free Fire, a more competitive title, the company has increasingly diversified into casual and F2D markets to capture wider demographics in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Hybrid Genres: Blurring Lines, Growing Markets

Another seismic shift in mobile gaming is the rise of hybrid genres. These games blend mechanics from traditionally distinct genres—such as strategy, RPG, simulation, and match-3—creating engaging, layered experiences. This not only appeals to a broader audience but increases the depth and longevity of gameplay, fueling monetization.

Games like Merge Mansion (match-3 + narrative mystery), AFK Arena (idle RPG + strategy), and Clash Royale (card-based + tower defense) exemplify this hybrid trend. These titles are carefully crafted to attract diverse gamer archetypes—from hardcore strategists to casual puzzlers—boosting retention and average revenue per user (ARPU).

Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) sits at the epicenter of this hybridity wave, though in a uniquely metaversal way. Roblox provides a platform where players build and engage with genre-mixing experiences, many of which are monetized through in-game purchases. Its hybrid model, combining user-generated content, social interaction, and persistent worlds, continues to attract both Gen Z and investment capital alike.

Two SYTA Price Scenarios

Siyata Mobile filed a Form F-1 registration statement, on Tuesday, which updates the Equity Line of Credit (ELOC) agreement originally signed on January 14, 2025, provides Siyata with “the right, but not the obligation, to direct the Investor… to purchase the ELOC Shares.” The current registration covers the remaining $12,811,735 balance of the $18 million in total available under the agreement.

Based on recent prices and volume, Siyata should be able to raise funds with a fraction of the allowed shares and have a very positive effect on SYTA’s share price. However, the following two scenarios are based on worst case dilution.

Assuming Siyata actually reaches ~16 million fully diluted shares and ValueScope’s, one of the industry’s best, projections, which believes Core Gaming will command a 3x-4x EV/Sales range for the projected 2026 revenue of $240.8 million, implying a combined company valuation of $722.4 million (3x) to $963.2 million (4x). Peers like AppLovin (3x-5x sales) and Electronic Arts (~4x) justify this range, while Core Gaming’s consistent 50%+ year-over-year growth rates warrants a premium.

What happens if SYTA trades higher to a 10-day VWAP of about $6, on the record date?

Calculation: $160M ÷ $6 VWAP = ~27M shares to Core Gaming and SYTA’s ~16M shares would mean that legacy SYTA shareholders own ~37% of the ~43M combined shares.

Impact: $850M ÷ 49M shares (assuming 6M shares issued for future funding or acquisitions), could grow to ~$17.35 to be in line with ValueScope’s projections.

What happens if SYTA trades lower to a 10-day VWAP of about $4, on the record date?

Calculation: $160M ÷ $4 VWAP = ~40M shares to Core Gaming and SYTA’s ~16M shares would mean that legacy SYTA shareholders own ~28% of the ~56M combined shares

Impact: $850M ÷ 63M shares (assuming 7M shares issued for future funding or acquisitions), the stock could grow to ~$13.50 to be in line with ValueScope’s projections.

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