We held the Mobidictum Business Meetup in Istanbul on January 27. In this networking event, where we are excited to host many competent people from the mobile industry worldwide, we discussed many topics and hosted veteran names from the industry and listened to their experiences. In one of the panels at our event, our guests from Voodoo, Crescive, and Fabrika Games evaluated the hyper-casual industry and gave tips on new trends.
In 2021, hyper-casual games changed. At the beginning of the year, games such as “runner” that could be consumed quickly and kept the player in the game for a shorter time were in demand. Towards the end of the year, we started to see games that are deeper and have higher retention. From this point of view, we will focus on “what should be considered in 2022 to achieve success in the changing hyper-casual industry“.
Where is the mobile game market headed?
Change is inevitable. The mobile game industry is one area that keeps up with this change and leads from time to time. For this reason, it is a necessary power to foresee the future of the market to be successful in the industry.
Yusuf Berk from Fabrika Games says the following based on the “Draw Car” game they developed:
“If a game is simple, fun, straightforward, and really like a game, it can succeed somehow. Previously, we focused more on traditional trends. Now, we’re working on games with higher playtime time.”
Yusuf Berk says that an innovative approach to mobile games is necessary. It is necessary to go beyond the game models that have been continued because they were successful before and seem low-risk. Sometimes, mixing genres and producing games with a more diverse structure can be beneficial. We often see those original ideas and innovative games also achieve success.
Can İnce from Voodoo adds:
“As Voodoo, when we look at 2021, we see that marketability is still very important. We had many runner games in which we achieved success this year. These will continue to be successful. On the other hand, we saw that new games from different genres with high playtime time and retention also achieved success rapidly. For example, the ‘arcade idle’ genre made us feel that gameplay time and retention are more important now.”
It has become important for developers to try different mechanics to develop games that are strong in terms of gameplay and retention. In the increasingly fierce competition of hyper-casual and mobile games, many games with a traditional approach are being produced, and it takes being innovative to stand out among these games.
Making a Simple but Great Game
Considering the players’ motivations to play, games with simple gameplay seem to attract more attention. For various reasons, users who play mobile games may not be interested in difficult and complex games to learn. On the other hand, a game with a variety of content is preferred by many players. The arcade idle game genre is one such example that confirms this.
Finding topics that people will enjoy playing with is a matter of creativity. Although the developers use the same core game mechanics, the resulting games can be quite different. Many variables such as the theme, visuals, atmosphere, aim, and the game’s main idea is the elements that make the difference here. In this sense, it is possible to say that games that people can simply play and that contain rich content have a high chance of success.
What makes a hyper-casual game successful?
Hyper-casual games are one of the game genres where a significant change can be observed with simple mechanics and small inputs. In this sense, it appeals to a very human desire: to achieve great success with low effort.
Our panel speakers approach the hyper-casual genre from various angles while discussing this issue. Based on these approaches, we can compile what makes a hyper-casual game successful:
- Having a topic from daily life
- Giving the player freedom of choice
- Giving many rewards for less effort
- Combining/developing successful mechanics with different themes
- To be in a structure that can “satisfy” human desires, feelings, and motivations—building, producing, enriching, improving oneself, looking beautiful, having a good time, managing a team, etc.
A successful hyper-casual game may not have all of these features. But even doing at least one of the above is perhaps the secret behind the success of this game. A game with more than one of the above features and does it well has a meager chance of failing.
You can find more in the panel videos we have prepared for you. Don’t forget to follow the Mobidictum Business YouTube channel!
