Hybridcasual mobile games are “thriving”, as the genre with the highest click-through rate now generates 800% more average revenue per monthly active user than hypercasual games.
This comes as per Adjust and AppLovin’s latest report, The Gaming App Insights Report, which highlights hybridcasual’s impressive year after analysis of the top 5,000 gaming apps of all genres.
Among its findings across trends, strategic advertising, AI and more from 2023, the report notes a 2% decline in overall installs, a 2% fall in consumer spending, and a 7% fall in play sessions. Even so, mobile continued to comprise half of all video game revenue in 2023 and is currently predicted to rise by 4% to $111.4 billion in 2024.
Winning big
Many of 2023’s most successful games were pre-established titles that continued to excel last year, such as Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile making $1.48 billion and $1.14 billion respectively. Longstanding games like Roblox, Candy Crush, Ludo King and 2012’s Subway Surfers were the most downloaded of 2023, meanwhile, with the latter generating 304 million downloads across app stores last year alone.
However, there is still room for new titles to succeed in the modern market, with Monopoly GO! being last year’s standout case. The Scopely title was 2023’s most downloaded game on iOS and generated over $1 billion last year, since proceeding to $2 billion in early 2024.
“The perception that mobile gaming is stagnating due, in part, to a crowded market overlooks one positive by-product of this competition: growth,” said AppLovin VP of global business development Daniel Tchernahovsky. “We meet daily with partners who are launching new products successfully and at a rapid pace. In fact, Monopoly GO! became a top-grossing game in 2023 – the same year it was released.”
Another optimistic note in the report is the growing ATT opt-in rate from gamers, up from 36% to 39% between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024. The highest acceptance rate observed is 49%, seen in Indonesia, the UAE, and Brazil.
Based on genre, hypercasual games have the highest opt-in rate while trivia games are among the lowest.
Tech and tools
Mobile game developers are increasingly porting their games to console and PC, and the report suggests the latter to be gaming’s fastest-growing segment right now, up 5.2% year-on-year. 61% of developers are already starting to use AI too, leveraging the tool for element creation.
Generative AI tools are also being used towards scaling campaigns, “revolutionising workflows for savvy creative teams”.
Adjust director of content and insights Tiahn Wetzler added: “By investing in the right tools, prioritising next-gen tech, AI and personalisation, game developers and studios can scale on new channels and platforms, regain install and session volume, and find users that play and pay.”
The full report delves deeper into the successes of specific genres, like the 61% year-on-year growth observed in racing games.
