If you haven’t already heard, hypercasual games are taking over mobile gaming. And by all accounts they’re here to stay.
But what exactly are hypercasual games? What makes them so popular? Let’s take a look, and then look at some facts and figures on the growth of this niche.
Quick Links
- What are hypercasual games?
- How popular are hyper-casual games?
- What makes hypercasual games so popular?
- Why are users playing hypercasual games?
- Time spent playing by age group
- Frequently asked questions
What are Hypercasual Games?
Hyper casual games can be summed up by their three main attributes: they are extremely engaging, instantly playable, and lightweight in their mechanics.
But if you wanted a simpler hyper casual games definition, it would be this: hyper-casual games are mobile games that are both effortless and addictive.
The first true hypercasual game to break into the mainstream was Flappy Bird back in 2013. You’ve no doubt heard of it – just weeks after its release it became one of the most downloaded games on the iOS App Store. And by January 2014, it had been downloaded a whopping 50 million times.
Thinking about Flappy Bird provides you a good idea of what a hypercasual game is. Minimal design, it seems like it was easy to put together, and it is highly replayable (just one more go!).
Other attributes of hyper-casual games include the fact that they’re built quite cheaply, more often than not by just two or three people – sometimes even just by one person (Flappy Bird was created by Dong Nguyen by himself).
Finally, hyper-casual games are free to download, using in-app advertising to generate revenue.
Interestingly, the Financial Times reported that a tactic employed by hyper-casual game developers is to create many games at a rapid pace and see if any take off, and if they do they run adverts for them.
How Popular are Hyper-casual Games?
In short – very.
According to Data.ai, when they conducted market research on hyper-casual games to find out just how popular they were, the results were very surprising.
Huge game publishers and gaming companies like Tencent (who owns Riot Games and large chunks of other game publishers like Epic Games and Supercell), Nintendo, and Activision were getting less downloads than small hyper-casual game developer Voodoo – a company you likely have never heard of.
Despite you having not heard of them, their mobile games have been downloaded over 3.7 billion times in 2019 alone.
And what’s even more interesting is that their games that are being downloaded are not even games that have a great brand behind them.
It’s not like Call of Duty or Halo. The games Voodoo makes are hyper-casual games most people haven’t heard of – Helix Jump, Crowd City, and Paper.io (Paper.io and Helix Jump can be seen in the screenshots below). Not exactly big brand names.
But that was 2019. How are hyper-casual games doing now?
Good question! The answer is: even better than 2019. In fact, hyper-casual games have grown at a rapid pace, with 10.7 billion downloads in 2021 alone, according to Entrepreneur India.
What makes Hypercasual Games so Popular?
There are a few factors that have led to the popularity of this type of mobile game, but the main one is the replayability.
It is just so easy to lose track of time by playing them over and over again. And the simpler the game is to play, the more likely you are to think you can do better. So you play it again. And again, and again.
Another important factor is that hypercasual games are incredibly simple, so they don’t have much of a learning curve. As soon as you load one up and start playing, it’s immediately obvious exactly what you are supposed to do.
This lack of a learning curve is crucial for older generations, who are typically not as well adept at mobile gaming as those who have grown up with a smartphone.
These attributes, as we will see later, has contributed to the general trend of time spent playing hyper-casual games increasing with each age group. Not what you’d expect!
Why are Users Playing Hypercasual Games?
According to a Facebook Hypercasual Games Report, the main reasons people list as to why they play hypercasual mobile games are:
- To alleviate stress
- To pass time
- The feeling of accomplishment after completing a challenge
- Being able to express something unique about themselves
- To connect with people they already know
- To be dazzled by something unique
Time Spent Playing by Age Group
Because of their quick and easy nature, hypercasual games see an average time spent of just 6.3 minutes per day, globally.
However, as alluded to earlier, the data suggests that as you go up in age group, the average time spent playing hypercasual games increases:
Although somewhat surprising, when you think about it this does make sense. Due to their easy nature, technical difficulty is not a hurdle when it comes to playing hypercasual games. And as a result, we see older generations increasingly playing these types of games.
So interestingly, the time spent playing hypercasual games increases with age. As discussed, this could be attributable to the fact that older audiences see more of a benefit in being able to jump right into a game without having to learn the gameplay mechanics and how to play it.
This statistic aligns with what is being seen in the broader mobile gaming industry – in 2014 the average age of a mobile gamer was 31 years old, and in 2022 the average has increased to 38 years old.
Frequently Asked Questions
How profitable are hyper-casual games?
Hyper-casual games can be very profitable, but as with any app it depends on the popularity of that one specific app.
For example, in its prime, Flappy Bird was raking in around $50,000 per day in in-app advertising.
But it’s not as easy as that. Because they are quick and easy to create and there is no guarantee they will catch on with mobile gamers, the developers behind hyper-casual games will often create hundreds of different games, hoping one will catch on.
Once a game does show signs that people are playing it quite a lot, these game developers will buy online display ads promoting the game, with the idea being they will make this money back through in-app advertising once these users download and start playing the game.
On top of this, you’ve got to think about the cost associated with the game itself – yes they might be quick and easy to make, but you’ve still got to pay the developers, as well as the cost of advertising it if it does show promise.
So the profitability of hyper-casual games might look good at first, but as with any business, just because it makes a lot of money, that doesn’t guarantee it’s profitable.
What are the best hyper-casual games?
Everyone is going to have different opinions when it comes to the best hyper-casual games, as everyone has different preferences.
Because we don’t want to be too wishy-washy and give you a non-answer, Risinghighacademy.com has created a fantastic ranking of the top 100 hyper-casual games for 2021, and we strongly encourage you to check this article out!
Who makes hyper-casual games?
Because of their ease of development, hyper-casual games are usually developed by individuals or small teams.
However, there are game publishers that focus on the hyper-casual games market. Some of the biggest names here include Voodoo, Lion Studios, SayGames, Crazy Labs, and Amanotes.
How does hyper-casual games monetization work?
Hyper-casual games monetization is done through the use of in-app advertising.
Below are two examples of in-app ads on two hyper-casual games: Ball Blast and Knife Hit.
These banner ads are common because they take up relatively little space on the screen, so are not as distracting as other in-app ads like rewarded video.
Because of this, they can also be placed on multiple (if not every) screen in the game, making them very lucrative for the game developer.
Rewarded video ads on the other hand are a lot more intrusive and annoying for the player. These are the ads you can watch instead of waiting to earn something in the game.
For example, you will often see rewarded video ads in hyper-casual games where you need to wait a period of time to regenerate or get extra lives.