Deconstructor of Fun breaks down successful free-to-play games in search of what makes them fun - or not. All of the contributors to this site are both gamers and game makers.
While many teams will spend much of the year working on post-IDFA transformation plans, other secular trends within the gaming can provide a real opportunity to developers.
During 2020 the Shooter revenues boomed by 38% Year-over-Year while the installs clocked at 2.7B, growing by 31% compared to 2019 making this the second-fastest-growing category after Casino.
As the real casinos were shut down, casino games on mobile pocketed all the chips! But what happens when the lockdowns end?
Despite being the smallest category on mobile, 2020 was a very good year for Sports & Racing as it breached the billion-dollar mark, with combined revenue of $1.2B compared to $827M in 2019.
Strategy games generated $5B in net revenue during 2020 growing IAP revenues by 21% while the downloads were up 9% year-over-year.
RPGs kept up with the growth generating $3.3Bn year-to-date with a growth of 29% YoY. This makes RPGs the third-largest genre on mobile. With IDFA depreciation incoming, top mobile RPGs will look outside mobile to continue growth.
Hypercasual games alone account for ~45% of 2019’s total download volume across all mobile games and grossed over 3 billions in 2020.
$5.1Bn in IAPs at a 29% Year-over-Year growth the Puzzle genre has become the largest on mobile in the Western markets. While Playrix continues to assure its dominance in the match-3 games, the merging sub-genre is booming, providing growth at a first-come-first-serve principle.
It’s not about being the best. It’s about being better than you were yesterday.
Haters say ‘fake ads’ and ‘shockvertising’ while players thank for endless content, constantly improving gameplay, and strong social features.
From Game Makers with love
Tim Sweeneys view of the games ecosystem and his vision of the future
