What counts as an app publisher
Two different things get called an "app publisher". One is any company that ships apps — a bank, a retailer, a games studio, a platform. That is an app company. The other is a company whose business is publishing: it funds, launches, operates and monetizes apps it did not necessarily build, either by signing external developers or by acquiring apps and running them. That is an app publisher, and it is a much shorter list.
The test is a declared activity, not a track record of acquisitions — a public publishing programme, a submission page, a "sell your app" offer. It is why Gismart, Impala Studios, BeReal and Photoroom, all sizeable European app businesses, are not in the table below: they build their own products.
One more line divides the field, and it is computed rather than judged: a publisher is assigned to one ranking by where its downloads come from — more than 75% from App Store games makes it a game publisher, more than 75% from non-game categories makes it an app publisher.
Disclosure: mwm.ai is operated by MWM, which appears in the non-game ranking. All companies are ranked by the same criteria, described in the methodology below.
App (non-game) publishers in Europe
Four of the nine companies publishing non-game apps at scale worldwide are European, and the three biggest are among them. Milan, Paris and Kyiv lead — against two publishers in the United States and one each in Turkey and Israel.
| # | Publisher | HQ | iOS (est.) | Apps | Top apps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bending Spoons | Italy | 1,475M+ | 65 | Remini - AI Photo Enhancer · Splice - Video Editor & Maker · iTranslate Translator — WeTransfer · Alight Motion |
| 2 | MWM | France | 300M+ | 83 | Beat Maker Pro · Edjing Mix · Piano — Swipewipe · Color Pop |
| 3 | Genesis | Ukraine | 275M+ | 41 | Impulse - Brain Training · ScanGuru · Cleaner Guru — CoinIn · Keiki Learning games for Kids |
| 4 | Luni | France | 75M+ | 37 | Scanner – Scan PDF, ID & Docs · Video Editor · · Fitness Coach - Workout Plan — Shorts - Reel TV Short Drama · Heritale Watch History Stories |
| 5 | TutoToons | Lithuania | 50M+ | 82 | Fluvsies - A Fluff to Luv · Sweet Olivia - Cleaning Games · Smolsies – My Cute Pet House — Dopples World · Princesses - Enchanted Castle |
Five names, against fifteen in games below. Non-game app publishing is younger and far less crowded — which is exactly why nobody ranks it. Its leaders are portfolio operators: they acquire or build apps and plug them into shared growth, data and monetization infrastructure.
Games publishers in Europe
In games, Voodoo (France) leads Europe past 2.2 billion lifetime iOS installs, ahead of SayGames (Cyprus) and Ubisoft (France). Here too the absentees are informative: Supercell, King and Rovio are first-party studios, not publishers.
| # | Publisher | HQ | iOS (est.) | Apps | Top apps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Voodoo | France | 2,225M+ | 226 | Helix Jump · Hole.io · Paper.io 2 — Castle Busters · Mob Control |
| 2 | SayGames | Cyprus | 1,000M+ | 157 | My Perfect Hotel · Sand Balls - Digger Puzzle · Jelly Shift - Obstacle Course — RUSH · Vehicle Masters |
| 3 | Ubisoft | France | 875M+ | 81 | 2048 · Hungry Shark Evolution · Hungry Shark World — Rainbow Six Mobile · Rider – Stunt Bike Racing |
| 4 | Miniclip | Switzerland | 600M+ | 35 | 8 Ball Pool™ · Agar.io · Basketball Stars™ — Carrom Pool · Mini Football - Soccer Game |
| 5 | Kwalee | UK | 350M+ | 50 | Draw it · Teacher Simulator · Airport Security — Traffic Cop 3D · Police Pursuit |
| 6 | Azur Games | Cyprus | 250M+ | 38 | Stack Ball 3D · Worms Zone .io · Bottle Jump 3D — World War Heroes · Hidden Objects |
| 7 | Homa Games | France | 200M+ | 59 | Sky Roller - Fun runner game · Attack Hole - Black Hole Games · Aquarium Land - Fishbowl World — All in Hole · Harvest King |
| 8 | TapNation | France | 175M+ | 55 | Thief Puzzle · Ice Cream Inc. · Rope Rescue! - Unique Puzzle — Bike Life! · Guess Their Answer |
| 9 | BoomBit | Poland | 125M+ | 58 | Car Driving School Simulator · Build a Bridge! · Crazy Plane Landing — Boss Fight. · Downhill Race League |
| 10 | Deca Games | Bulgaria | 125M+ | 19 | DEAD TRIGGER 2 · DEAD TRIGGER · Robbery Bob - King of Sneak — Robbery Bob 2 - Comic Thief! · Shadowgun Legends |
| 11 | ZeptoLab | UK | 100M+ | 11 | Cut the Rope · Bullet Echo · Cut the Rope — Om Nom · Cut the Rope 2 |
| 12 | Yso Corp | France | 75M+ | 159 | Stretch Guy · Whooo? · Ninja Hands — Riot Escape · Love Loop! |
| 13 | MAG Interactive | Sweden | 75M+ | 14 | Ruzzle · WordBrain · QuizDuel! Trivia & Quiz game — Crozzle - Crossword Puzzles · Wordzee! - Puzzle Word Game |
| 14 | Green Panda Games | France | 75M+ | 14 | Sushi Bar Idle · Bee Factory! · Idle Construction 3D — Idle 9 Months · Solitaire ∘ |
| 15 | G5 Entertainment | Sweden | 50M+ | 19 | Hidden City · The Secret Society · Mahjong Journey® — Find Hidden Objects · Supermarket Mania Journey |
Why Europe leads in app publishing
Three structural reasons. The hypercasual playbook was industrialized in Paris — Voodoo, Ubisoft's mobile labels, Homa, TapNation — and France still places three publishers across the two rankings, more than any other country. European studios grew on worldwide iOS distribution rather than a protected home market. And the portfolio-operator model for non-game apps — buy or partner, then operate long-term — also emerged in Europe, in Milan (Bending Spoons), Kyiv (Genesis) and Paris (MWM).
Methodology
Download estimates come from MWM Intelligence: estimated lifetime iOS App Store installs, shown as passed thresholds in 25-million steps. Publishers below 25 million are not ranked.
European means headquartered in Europe, the UK, Ukraine and Belarus included; Russia is excluded. And this page ranks publishers, so large European app businesses that only build their own products — Gismart, Impala Studios, BeReal, Photoroom — are absent by rule, not by oversight.
Full methodology: how we rank app companies and publishers
Data as of August 2026. mwm.ai is operated by MWM; the same rules apply to every company listed, MWM included.