Based on the feedback they got back from players, designers and developers optimize and iterate the FTUE or monetization balance to slowly improve the LTV and retention. Most developers’ first start to iterate, test and soft launch titles in cheaper CPI countries such as the Philippines or New Zealand. This highlights a fundamental shift in business practices. This is a phenomenal pace compared with classical studios or even publishers who might schedule 1 or 2 apps per month in order to give it the support needed. Most of the other publishers have released between 0 and 2. Making rough approximations through tracking the releases of the majority of HyperCasual publishers on both Google Play and Apple App Store, Voodoo have released 7 new titles that reached top 300 in the US Free in the last 30 days. Dictating which game design is the most popular is something the market decides, not something Voodoo strives to set. What set’s voodoo apart is their ability to work with a large number of talented studios each working on simple, tested, game designs, and then apply industry-leading marketing and growth practices to push games to the top of the App Store. This is very hard for the average game developer to swallow and it’s hard to think that game design is the least important aspect to Voodoo’s success. If you want help with your hyper casual game design we wrote a post of the Top 10 Hyper Casual game mechanics present today. Bad game design still won’t make the cut, but innovative game design is not as important as tried and tested successful mechanics. In each case, success is not down to the game mechanics or technical quality of the product, but Voodoo’s ability to market games more effectively and reach a larger audience than those original games. Voodoo cares about your game’s market potential. As a publishing house, the majority of their releases can clearly be seen as “inspired by” reproductions of older games. Voodoo doesn’t care about your game’s design. How has Voodoo dominated the Hypercasual space? #1 Game Design doesn’t matter However, Voodoo has truly mastered both the sourcing and promotion of their titles making it tough for studios to compete. This has not escaped the notice of many game developers with hundreds of studios trying to build the next mega hit. The simplicity of the gameplay, coupled with the speed of gamers learning and mastering the challenge creates a voracious need to download the next new idea, older games are quickly discarded or deleted. Of all the genres of games released on the app store, no other genre commands the pure number of downloads that Hypercasual games do. *Data taken from Sensor Tower estimated US game downloads from June 2018 **Data taken from Sensor Tower estimated US game download from June 2018 and assessing the apps mechanics and monetization stream ***Rock of Destruction, Stone Skimming, Dune, Twenty48 Solitaire, Fight List, Paper.io, Twisty Road, Splashy, Waves, The Cube – What’s Inside, Flying Arrow, Stack Jump, Rolly Vortex, Baseball Boy, The Fish Master, Snake VS Block, Color Road, Helix Jump, Hole.io ** Number of games in the Top 100 Free Games US Chart - June 2018 Publisher Broadening the view to all Hypercasual games, approximately 57% of all free game downloads can be attributed to this space. Reviewing the estimated data on Sensor Tower for June in the Top 100 US Free Game charts, Voodoo accounted for 24.7%* of all the free downloads. Space is highly competitive, but there is a clear king of the app store, Voodoo, recently receiving $200 million from Goldman Sachs. Since then, there has been a proliferation of publishers, studios, and solo indie developers each working on similar casual titles. The games were so simple and casual that anyone could understand them in under 10 seconds. They also importantly removed IAP as the core monetization and replaced it with Advertising revenue. The games focused on clear visuals and simple mechanics and very light progression systems. In 2017 Ketchapp (now owned by Ubisoft) started a revolution of simplicity in game design with mobile titles such as Tower or Ballz. The hypercasual genre has begun to dominate the free app charts.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |