In the past year, Niv Touboul, Head of in-house games team at Supersonic, saw some very strange creatives that developers used as a way to stand out and grab user attention - but, they didn’t relate much to the game. Hyper-casual is a creative-dependent genre, so design and visuals are going to continue to be important. Already, we’re seeing promising acquisitions of hyper-casual game studios by big-name publishers who’ve worked with IPs in the past, which started in 2019 with Voodoo acquiring London-based studio Gumbug, Zynga acquiring Rollic this year, and Russian-based My.Games - the video game arm of - investing a minority stake in Mambo Games. But, we’re expecting to see IPs get into the hyper-casual game as the value of this genre continues to prove itself. In the past, IPs mainly released games that fell under the casual, mid-core, and hardcore genres - only 5% of hyper-casual games were backed by 3rd-party IPs in 2020. And for IPs, they get access to the mass audience hyper-casual offers, which means not only an opportunity to increase brand awareness and inspire brand loyalty, but also to drive sales both in and outside of the app. Users that are loyal to a brand are more likely to play a game for longer - which could boost hyper-casual’s low LTV. The reason why IPs can generate so much revenue for the game studios is that brand recognition translates into a positive impact on retention, DAUs, in-app purchases, and playtime. Specifically, 25% of the highest 200 grossing games are backed by third-party IPs. IPs like Harry Potter (Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery) and Super Mario (Super Mario Run) are already players in the casual genre and represent the highest grossing games across the app stores. ![]() The big IPs will enter the fieldĪnother trend Tomer predicts is well-known IPs entering the hyper-casual market, with hyper-casual studios supporting their development as the behind-the-scenes powerhouse. There will be more complex, rich and skill-based games, but also the traditional, easy-to-play for everyone. Similar to the casual genre which has sub-categories like Puzzle and Trivia, casualization in hyper-casual gaming will encourage new categories to arise, and we will have different types of hyper-casual games. This intersection of hyper-casual and casual is the direction this genre is expected to keep going, and with it we can expect to see the rise of hyper-casual sub-genres. Players need to put in more effort to solve levels and are met with unexpected twists - like getting a ricochet that kills them. But, it distinguishes itself with a concept that requires more skill by creating more than one way to solve a level. This game is a classic hyper-casual game in its simple yet addicting game mechanic (drag-and-release). So while on the one hand, traditionally casual or even mid-core games are becoming more hyper-casual, some hyper-casual games are becoming more like these casual and mid-core games. By challenging users, this goes against the original intention of hyper-casual games, which was to be easy and accessible for everyone. That means they’re going to become more reflex-based and require more skill. We’re expecting to see games with heavier concepts, more complex mechanics, and other features that define mid-core and other genres adopting hyper-casual themes and gameplay.Ĭasualization is going the other direction, too, with some hyper-casual games expected to become more like casual games. The first is casual games becoming more hyper-casualized. Tomer Geller, Game Design Lead at Supersonic sees that there are two ways casualization is happening in the world of hyper-casual games. Games will meet in the middle of casualization With hyper-casual games changing with the times, let’s explore the top 4 trends expected to define the genre in 2021. But, the genre has enjoyed incredible popularity even before people across the globe were downloading 1.2 billion mobile games in a month. ![]() Keep in mind, too, that this is coming off of another impressive year - hyper-casual games represented 78% of all mobile game downloads in 2019. In 2020, hyper-casual games had a record-breaking year - in Q1 2020, global hyper-casual game installs grew 103% and session duration increased 72% in March alone. While many thought hyper-casual gaming was a trend that would disappear after just one year, this genre is not only still around, it’s more popular than ever and continuing to adapt to the shifting gaming environment.
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