What changes do we see in hyper-casual space? What changes in user's behaviour, mechanics of games? In which countries it is dead already, in which countries is it booming?

1. Hyper-casual 2.0.Is hyper-casual dead?
What we can tell based on the
data?

2. Source: AppAnnie
Questions?
What is the situation?
Growth in Hyper-casual
What is behind?
Challenges?
Where is it going?

3. Source: Data Magic Rocks
1/1/2018 2/1/2018 3/1/2018 4/1/2018 5/1/2018 6/1/2018 7/1/2018 8/1/2018 9/1/2018 10/1/2018 11/1/2018 12/1/2018 1/1/2019 2/1/2019 3/1/2019
Action: Arcade 5.80% 5.50% 5.40% 5.30% 5.20% 6.20% 6.30% 6.00% 6.20% 6.00% 6.00% 6.20% 5.70% 5.70% 5.90%
Action: Other 6.10% 5.40% 5.00% 4.60% 4.60% 4.40% 4.50% 4.30% 4.00% 4.10% 4.20% 4.40% 4.40% 4.40% 4.50%
Action: Racing 5.50% 5.50% 5.30% 5.00% 4.80% 4.60% 5.00% 4.70% 4.30% 4.10% 4.20% 4.00% 3.90% 4.10% 4.10%
Action: Runner 4.30% 4.30% 4.10% 3.90% 3.90% 4.20% 4.00% 3.90% 3.50% 3.30% 3.30% 3.40% 3.50% 3.50% 3.60%
Action: Shooter 5.90% 6.00% 6.60% 6.50% 5.90% 5.60% 5.60% 5.50% 5.00% 5.00% 4.90% 5.20% 4.80% 4.90% 4.80%
Action/MMORPG 2.40% 2.90% 2.60% 2.80% 2.80% 2.90% 3.00% 3.00% 2.90% 2.80% 2.90% 2.50% 2.70% 2.50% 2.50%
Battlers: Other 1.90% 2.10% 2.00%
Board Games 3.40% 3.30% 3.20% 3.10% 3.10% 3.00% 3.00% 2.90% 2.80% 2.80% 2.90% 2.80% 2.80% 2.80% 2.60%
Casino (excl. Slots) 3.30% 3.20% 3.10% 3.00% 3.10% 3.20% 3.60% 3.50% 3.20% 3.50% 3.50% 3.20% 2.90% 2.90% 2.80%
Clicker 3.50% 3.60% 4.10% 3.90% 3.90% 3.80% 3.70% 3.50% 3.60% 3.60% 3.50% 3.30% 3.60% 3.80% 3.70%
Crafting and Building 2.80% 2.80% 2.80% 2.70%
Entertainment: Other 5.30% 5.10% 4.80% 4.50% 4.30% 4.10% 4.10% 4.10% 4.00% 4.40% 4.70% 4.50% 4.20% 4.10% 4.60%
Fighting Battlers 2.80% 2.70% 2.70% 2.70% 2.60% 2.60% 2.90%
Games for Kids 4.40% 4.10% 4.10% 3.90% 3.80% 4.20% 4.40% 4.10% 3.70% 3.70% 3.70% 3.80% 3.80% 3.90% 4.00%
Hypercasual
7.70% 7.50% 7.60% 8.10% 8.90% 8.60% 8.30% 8.50% 7.90% 7.80% 8.20% 7.70% 7.40% 7.40% 7.70%
Match-3 5.60% 5.30% 5.20% 5.10% 4.90% 5.00% 5.00% 4.80% 4.60% 5.20% 4.90% 4.40% 4.70% 5.40% 5.10%
MMO Strategy 4.00% 3.80% 3.70% 3.50% 3.50% 3.20% 3.10% 3.20% 3.10% 2.90% 2.90% 2.90% 3.00% 3.00% 3.00%
Non-Casino Card Games 4.20% 3.80% 3.60% 3.60% 3.70% 3.50% 3.40% 3.40% 3.30% 3.20% 3.20% 3.20% 3.30% 3.40% 3.40%
Party Battlers 4.10% 4.20% 4.00% 4.20% 4.40% 4.50% 4.40% 4.00% 3.70% 3.60% 3.70% 3.70% 3.50% 3.50% 3.80%
Puzzles (excl. Match-3) 6.70% 6.20% 6.00% 5.90% 6.20% 6.10% 6.20% 5.90% 5.50% 5.70% 6.10% 5.90% 6.30% 6.10% 5.80%
Quest 2.60% 3.60% 3.80% 4.00% 3.80% 3.60% 3.50% 3.00% 2.90% 3.40% 3.40% 2.90% 3.00% 3.00%
RTS 3.90% 3.90% 3.90% 3.50% 3.60% 3.60% 3.50% 3.70% 3.50% 3.40% 3.40% 3.30% 3.10% 3.20% 3.20%
Slots 4.40% 4.40% 4.20% 4.10% 4.00% 3.70% 3.60% 3.60% 3.70% 3.60% 3.60% 3.40% 3.40% 3.50% 3.50%
Soccer 2.40% 2.50% 3.00% 2.80% 2.30% 2.20% 2.20% 2.30% 2.10% 2.00% 2.00% 2.00%
Sport (excl. Soccer) 4.60% 4.60% 4.50% 4.50% 4.20% 4.10% 4.20% 4.00% 3.90% 3.90% 4.30% 4.10% 3.90% 5.00% 4.20%
Storytelling (Visual
Novel) 3.00% 2.70% 2.70% 2.80% 2.80% 2.80% 2.80% 3.00%
Time Managers 4.80% 4.80% 5.50% 4.80% 4.60% 4.70% 4.60% 4.40% 4.10% 4.00% 4.50% 4.30% 4.20% 4.40% 4.40%
Category performance (worldwide,% in downloads)

4. Source: Apptopia
Changes in hyper-casual

5. Source: Data Magic Rocks
Changes in hyper-casual

6. Growth?

7. Cross-promotion?

8. Really hyper-casual?

9. Growth trends
Source: Emarkete, February 2019, April 2019

10. Source: Tenjin report 2018
CPI benchmarks (Android 2018)

11. Source: Tenjin report 2018
CPI benchmarks (iOS 2018)

12. Source: AppAnnie, US, Google Play
Quality of mobile games

13. What is behind?

14. Hyper-casual as warm-up to IAPs

15. Where is this going?

16. Challenges -Crowded market
Source: https://www.deconstructoroffun.com/blog/2019/1/16/2019-predictions-2-hyper-casual-games-perfect-hybrid-monetization
● Downloads still growing
● QoQ downlods growth slows
down due to not many fresh
Hyper-casual titles
● Major publishers are experiencing pressure
finding new and fresh titles that can replicate
their past successes.
Hyper-casual market has matured at a rapid pace and both market entry and staying
power is now harder.

17. Challenge -Monetization
- Focus on both ad and IAP monetisation has resulted in the
emergence of hybrid monetisation models, so as to
generate greater overall revenues from Hyper-casual titles.
- Playgendary improved IAP revenues by +70% (+$5.5m)
Q3/Q4 2018 with
“Kick the Buddy” and “Tomb of the Mask”.
- Hyper-casual core + subscription,
- Cracking IAPs for Hyper-casuals:
- “No Ads”
- “No Ads” subscription
- Premium Currency - Game Economy
- Premium Currency - Skins
- Premium Currency - Consumables
Source: https://www.deconstructoroffun.com/blog/2019/1/16/2019-predictions-2-hyper-casual-games-perfect-hybrid-monetization

18. Challenge -Content Evolution -Voodoo
2017:
2018:

19. 2019:
Challenge -Content Evolution -Voodoo
39%, 14.6%42%, 18.2%29.5%, 7.6% 28%, 7.4%

20. Currently on Soft-launch
Burst Race,
Vincent Bourcois
Swerve, Driving, Jumping
VOODOO
Museum Heist,
Jie Yang
Puzzle, Avoiding
LION STUDIOS
Dinosaur IO
Geisha Tokyo Inc.
IO, Breaking, Fighting
NEW RELEASE!
Train Taxi
Say Games (627->5)
Puzzle, Collecting, Turning
NEW RELEASE!

21. Paper.io vs Paper.io 2
Paper.ioPaper.io 2
Changes:
- Controls
- More Positive Feedback
- Better Progress Viz
- Difficulty curve (faster gameplay)
- NO PvP yet.

22. Paper.io 2 -monetization
There are 3 ads and 1 IAP in the game:
- A banner ad at the bottom of the screen at all times.
- An interstitial ad after you die.
- A rewarded ad that revives you 1 time during the game.
- One IAP to remove ads.
- NO subscription
- NO IAPs for additional Life
- NO IAPs for customizations (skins)

23. Hyper-casual success factors (Publisher)
● CPI < LTV (now: high CPIs)
● It also is important to have a strong pipeline of new games to keep the user coming back.
● Voodoo has 3 3 titles in the top 10 downloaded games in the US store. An average user
who downloads a Voodoo game may go on to play 3, 4 or even more of their titles
(cross-promotion).
● Smart approach to soft launching (decrease communication with ext. dev, fast creatives
creation, start with D1 & move fwd)

24. Iterate!
● Start with a humble prototype
● Focus on a core mechanic’s fun factor
● Without great gameplay, there is no use for more sophisticated features
Working
prototype
Finished
game with only
core features
Launch
Finding fun
Update 1:
additional features
Next updates
and so on
Leave it
Performing
well?
Y N
Well performing

25. Casual games
5 seconds
30 seconds
2 minutes
10 minutes
Hour
Day
Week
Month
(Tapping) Core Behaviour
(Complete Level) Core Behaviour
(Collect Currency) Core Behaviour
(Purchase Items) Metagame
(Hourly Bonus Event) Metagame
(Daily Rewards) Metagame
(Weekly Sale) Late Game
(Monthly Event) Late Game
Hyper-casual will move towards Arcade games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MVEN24OONM

26. Conclusion -why Huuuge extended to casuals?
1. Arbitrage business model is disappearing. Hyper-casual is becoming very crowded > CPI is
going up. Ad networks are becoming saturated with ads for hyper-casual games, causing
the effective cost per mille (eCPM) to go down. As a consequence, the ad monetization
opportunity for hyper-casual games is diminishing
2. Small amount opportunities for IAPs monetisation (no economy) due to little extended core
loop
3. Very young audience hard to monetize w/ IAPs.

27. Questions?