Recently, Sensor Tower released a "2023 Mobile Game Report", which shows that the number of downloads of hybrid casual games will exceed 5 billion in 2022 (only the data of the App Store and Google Play), a year-on-year increase of 3%; In contrast, downloads of hyper-casual games fell 15% over the same period. At the same time, revenue from hybrid casual games has also climbed along with download growth, nearly doubling the market to $1.4 billion compared to 2020.
"Developers have mastered the balance between monetization and player experience, with players choosing whether to click on ads in mixed casual games in exchange for game rewards," the report states. This advertising strategy brings in about 50% of the revenue for the game and does not ruin the player's gaming experience. ”
The report cites the performance of Stumble Guys, the world's most downloaded hybrid casual game, in the U.S. market. It said that between June and August 2022, the download trend in the United States (the highest game genre) began to shift to hybrid casual, driven by Stumble Guys, a product acquired by Scopely. As a hybrid casual game, the game borrows from the console game Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout and Roblox's social party mode, capturing a large number of casual gamers.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, just as the download volume of hyper-casual games ushered in an inflection point in growth, hybrid casual games ushered in the second wave of the year. Among them, Survivor!. IO (Bulletcase Strike Force) was downloaded more than 21 million times worldwide during the quarter, and the game is also borrowed from the gameplay of the PC game Vampire Survivor, which caught fire in 2022.
From a game design perspective, whether it's Stumble Guys or survivor!. io", adapted and integrated the gameplay of popular console/PC products into casual mobile games, and won unanimous praise from the market. The report notes that this will also be a development trend for hybrid leisure products.
At the same time, in the fourth quarter, hybrid casual games also had a much higher game time and retention rate than hyper-casual games. Using Stumble Guys, the world's most downloaded hybrid casual game, and Count Masters, the world's most downloaded hybrid casual game, as examples, the report compares the average player market and retention rates between the two.
The data shows that the average game time of Stumble Guys players in 2022 is 372 seconds, and Count Masters is 212 seconds. The average game time of more than one minute is 80% for Stumble Guys, 68% for Count Masters, 63% and 47% for more than three minutes, and 37% and 23% for more than 10 minutes. In terms of retention, Stumble Guys is also far ahead. Stumble Guys is 54% for 2022 and 42% for Count Masters. After one month, the retention rates were 14% and 3%, respectively, and dropped to 9% and 1% after two months.
The data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2022, hybrid casual gamers spent more than 1 hour per month on games, almost twice as much as the hyper-casual gamer gaming market. Rush Royale: Tower Defense TD is the longest-playing hybrid casual game on Android, with 88.7% more players playing than the top-ranked hyper-casual game Crafting and Building.
The report argues that hybrid casual games incorporate more gameplay and casual elements than hyper-casual games, and have a stronger narrative. Super gameplay and a broader narrative space are the advantages of hybrid casual games, and there is still huge room for improvement in future mixed casual games.
The report mentions that many studios are also gradually transitioning from hyper-casual to hybrid casual, which they call the 2.0 version of hyper-casual games. The report looked at more than 700 hybrid casual products released in recent years and found that many of these products came from casual and medium-heavy game developers.
For example, SayGames transitioned from hyper-casual to hybrid casual very early, which is why they were able to develop popular games such as Race Master 3D and My Little Universe. Finally, in 2022, their game revenue doubled. Miniclip's Triple Match 3D combines a matchmaking game model for casual gamers with a hybrid casual product model, generating 4x more revenue than competitors with nearly the same number of monthly downloads.
In the global gaming market, several regions have shown a rapid growth trend of mixed casual games. While global mobile game downloads remained largely unchanged in 2022 compared to 2021, mixed casual games grew in many regions around the world, except for the Middle East.
Among them, Asia had the highest number of new downloads in 2022, with an increase of 94 million, a year-on-year increase of 4%; North America also experienced a period of high download growth in 2022, with installs increasing by nearly 63 million, up 17% year-over-year.