This article is part of an ongoing series of data-driven articles from PocketGamer.biz and App Annie highlighting trends in the global mobile games sector using App Annie’s Game IQ analytics.
Game IQ enables mobile game developers to dig into the data and discover not only which games are performing best but what characteristics they have.
In this week’s column, we’re considering the breakout Casino games, that is the top Casino games ranked by their quarter-on-quarter increase in global revenue.
Sitting pretty in the #1 spot is Moon Active’s Coin Master.
Despite launching in 2015, it remains a top grossing mobile game. It’s also an outlier as it’s the only game on this chart that isn’t in the Traditional genre of Casino games, as defined by Game IQ.
Indeed, Coin Master’s hybrid design remains the standout example of how to take casual, social and PVP competitive gameplay features and combine them with casino-style randomness – in this case Spin the Wheel rewards – to create an extremely immersive yet simple experience that appeals very widely.
Mix and match
As for the other games on the chart, the majority offer Slots-based gameplay, which while simple and random, doesn’t have a wide appeal outside of an audience that also likes to play physical slot machines.
As App Annie’s Director of Market Insights, Amir Ghodrati, comments “Traditional subgenres Slots and Poker still made up the majority of Casino game spend, but we have seen growth in games that mix traditional Casino mechanics with other popular genres.
“Coin Master is an excellent example of incorporating varying gameplay elements such as Build-Battle and Pet simulation, featuring deep customization and multiplayer features.”
Of course, this isn’t to say that traditional Casino games can’t be a very successful long term business.
Zynga Poker is now well over a decade-old on web and mobile and continues to be one of the company’s ‘forever franchises’, generating over $100 million in revenue annually.
Coin Master is an excellent example of incorporating varying gameplay elements.
And the Casino class also remains an opportunity for new entrants to the market, as demonstrated by Huuuge Games, represented in this ranking by its Slots Casino Game title.
The Polish developer, which formally launched in 2014, is looking to raise over $150 million through its imminent IPO for M&A and new launches.
“As mobile gaming continues to grow, we expect to see more publishers leverage data to understand how different gameplay mechanics can be combined to reach new and existing gamers alike — servicing consumer needs in the market that have never before been met,” Ghodrati says.
Game IQ is a vertically tailored analytics product, developed by App Annie, that provides insight into dimensions such as class, genre, subgenre and tags. Games can now be analyzed by broad category class (tuning), genre, subgenre, and tags (modifiers) such as IP, art style, settings, monetization mechanic, and more.
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