AppMagic

Casual Games Report 2024: Following 5 Routes to Success

Our much-anticipated report, crafted by the AppMagic content team, is now live: https://appmagic.rocks/research/casual-gaming-2024?utm_source=AMTelegram

This year, we’re diving into key trends across 5 genres in Tier-1 West: Match-3 with Complex Meta, Merge-2 with Complex Meta, Match 3D, Sort Puzzle, and Casual Casino 🎮

Inside, we’re answering big questions like:
— What are today’s hottest genres, and how can you spot the next big one?
— Why does market structure matter more than genre growth?
— How are UA challenges reshaping monetization strategies?

But most importantly, the report highlights that even during the most challenging times, there are opportunities to thrive across genres of all sizes, complexity, and competitiveness.

Enjoy the read!

Zynga Reaches 2B Installs and Is Soon to hit $8B in IAP Revenue 🎊

Believe it or not, these numbers don’t even include Rollic or Peak Games' metrics! 🤯

Zynga’s flagships like CSR 2, Zynga Poker, and Merge Dragons show just how timeless great mobile games can be ⏰

The top 10 games contribute 44% of total installs, emphasizing the diversity of Zynga’s portfolio 💫

Out of all, what is your favourite Zynga's game? ⭐️

Refresh your knowledge about Zynga's portfolio at company's public AppMagic page: https://appmagic.rocks/publisher/zynga/1_6690081412016968981?utm_source=AMTelegram

How to Monetize Whales Through Milestone Events

Monetization features for whales are designed to target the highest-spending players, while also engaging less-spending players with the potential to convert them into whales.

💡 How milestones tied to hard currency spend work:

Players complete milestones and receive rewards by spending standard hard currency during the event.

🐳 In-game Examples:

— “Emerald Waterfalls” event in Hero Wars is held weekly, starting on Wednesdays. While its long duration and regularity make its exact impact on revenue harder to measure, its continuous rotation demonstrates its importance.

— “More Than Gems” event in Rise of Kingdoms is held on weekends during major clan events like the “Sunset Canyon Tournament” and “Alliance Mobilization,” resulting in a 12–40% revenue increase on the following Mondays.

✅ Why it’s important:

Whales are one of the most important cohorts that can generate the absolute majority of revenue in certain genres.
Monetization features for whales not only target this specific player segment but also encourage spending from other players, potentially converting them into whales.

❗️Want to find more features like this?

Read our short article to see how our LiveOps & Updates Calendar can help: https://appmagic.rocks/tool-descriptions/live-ops?utm_source=AMTelegram

Homa Reaches 2B Cumulative Downloads!

This incredible milestone reinforces Homa’s position as one of the top 10 hypercasual publishers. 🏅

Timeless hits like Sky Roller, Merge Master and Attack Hole continue to lead the way, contributing 21% of total downloads for the lifetime 🏆

But it’s not just about the classics—Homa is pushing forward with fresh titles as well! 🎮

Two of our favorites, Agent Hunt and Frontline Heroes, show how the publisher can blend hypercasual mechanics with a more realistic art style 🎨

While we’re celebrating this download milestone, Homa is also achieving strong revenue growth by embracing the hybridcasual trend and placing greater emphasis on IAPs 📈

Have a closer look at Homa's public AppMagic page: https://appmagic.rocks/publisher/homa/1_4656343638685426415?utm_source=AMTelegram

Royal Match Hits $5B User Spending 🔥

Royal Match remains the leader in Match 3 with complex meta genre, capturing an overwhelming 50% of the market 📈

The game is confidently increasing its user spending number and achieving $126M in monthly revenue to close out the year 🚀

In 2024, the game shifted focus from scaling downloads to enhancing LiveOps with new social features, mechanics, and innovative event integrations 💰

Check out Royal Match's metrics on the game's public AppMagic page: https://appmagic.rocks/iphone/royal-match/1482155847

Top 10 Gaming Publishers by Worldwide IAP Revenue in 2024 💫

The much-anticipated top is finally here, led by Tencent with $6.3B in revenue for 2024, driven by Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, and the release of Dungeons & Dragons 🔥

Scopely climbed from 6th to 2nd place, reaching $2B in revenue, thanks to the outstanding success of Monopoly Go! 💥

Supercell and Century Games are the two newcomers to the top, fueled by the phenomenal growth of Brawl Stars and the remarkable success of the innovative 4X strategy Whiteout Survival, respectively. 💣

More insights are waiting for you on our public Top Publishers page:
https://appmagic.rocks/top-charts/publishers?aggregation=year&tags=3&date=2024-01-01&utm_source=AMTelegram

Top 10 Hypercasual Games in Q4 2024 🎄

The year-end wrap-up for the hypercasual market is here, and it’s packed with exciting shifts and a surprising number of new titles! 🥳

Big thanks to our regular expert, Anatoly Maximov, for sharing his insights on what helped these games reach the top.

This quarter, we’re excited to congratulate:
1. Galaxy Astronaut Games — Mini Games: Calm & Relax hit 66 million installs.
2. ABI Global — Perfect Tidy racked up 34 million downloads.
3. XGame Global — Tik Tap Challenge reached 31 million installs.
4. iKrame Games — Zego Studio — Bus Out achieved 26 million downloads.
5. VOODOO — Paper.io 2 (a familiar name, but new to the top) garnered 21 million installs.

As always, even more valuable insights await in our latest article:
https://appmagic.rocks/blog/hypercasual-games-q4-2024?utm_source=AMTelegram

Best Grossing Mobile Games 2015–2024

Huge thanks to Anton Slashcev for this dynamic infographic! 🧑‍🍳

In this fascinating watch, you’ll likely shed a nostalgic tear for games from a decade ago while admiring how Tencent gradually takes over the industry. 📈

It is also amazing how long-timers like Clash of Clans or Candy Crush Saga hold strong throughout all 42 seconds of the video. 🏆

❓ Will we see new faces breaking into the Top 10 by lifetime revenue in 2025?

Whatever your prediction, this publicly available chart will help you refine it 😉:

Top Apps Ranking

Top 10 Publishers by Midcore Games Revenue in 2024 💰

Tencent tops the list with a staggering $6B (+11% YoY) in revenue, outperforming its closest competitor by fourfold. This success is largely attributed to Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile, along with the strong launch of Dungeons & Dragons in China 🐉.

Another standout in the Top 10 is Supercell, which has advanced from 9th to 4th place due to the refined LiveOps strategy in Brawl Stars!

Part of this new approach Brawl Stars updates includes frequent IP collaborations, the impact of which we’ve analyzed in our latest research:
Read the full article

Two newcomers have entered the top with their innovative 4X strategies:
— FUNFLY, with Last War: Survival 🔫
— Century Games, with Whiteout Survival ❄️

Earlier this year, we teamed up with MY.GAMES to dive into what made both games so successful.
Read the full research

❗️Note that this ranking considers only the results of midcore games. Revenue from casual titles by these publishers is not included.

Check out our publicly available Top Publishers chart to find an extended ranking:
https://appmagic.rocks/top-charts/publishers?aggregation=year&tags=243571&date=2024-01-01&utm_source=AMTelegram

Top 10 Hypercasual Publishers by Worldwide Downloads in 2024 🐰

This year, Azur Games takes the lead with 1.2B installs, powered by the lasting success of titles like Worms Zone.io and Stack Ball, as well as newer games such as Rollance: Adventure Balls 🎳

ABI Game Studio climbed five places and boosted its installs by 90% YoY, driven by recently launched games like Perfect Tidy and Wood Nuts & Bolts Puzzle 🧩

Say hello to the newest entries in the Top-10: Supercent and iKrame!

Curious about the releases that fueled their rise? Explore the insights with our publicly available Top Chart: https://appmagic.rocks/top-charts/publishers?aggregation=year&tags=126?utm_source=AMTelegram

Top 10 Chinese Publishers by Games Revenue in the West 🇨🇳

The leader of 2024 is Century Games, which achieved a 114% YoY revenue boost, climbing from 6th to 1st place. This growth is primarily driven by the continued success of its acclaimed 4X Strategy Whiteout Survival ❄️

Funfly is another company that showed an amazing growth. Newcomer to the top 10, it reached 2nd place in just one year. All thanks to another 4X strategy Last War: Survival 🔫

A few month ago, we teamed up with MY.GAMES to dive into what made both games so successful: https://appmagic.rocks/research/new-four-x-strategies?utm_source=AMTelegram

Curious about how other publishers performed this year? Explore the full ranking via the link: https://appmagic.rocks/top-charts/publishers?headquarter=CN&country=W1&aggregation=year&tags=3&date=2024-01-01&utm_source=AMTelegram

Mobile Games Downloads Heatmap 2024 🔥

Many thanks to Anton for this insightful wrap-up! 🚀

Here’s the breakdown by genre, with all the numbers:

1. Hypercasual Games

• Total Downloads: 12.9B (-9.9%)
• Puzzle: 3.0B (-11.1%)
• Arcade: 2.7B (-12.2%)
• Runner: 1.5B (-14.5%)
• Idle Arcade: 1.0B (21.9%)
• Shooter: 542.8M (7.1%)
• Simulation: 1.1B (-9.7%)
• Clicker/Idle: 197.2M (-15.3%)
• Other genres like Rhythm (-22.5%) and Satisfaction (-12.5%)

2. Casual Games

• Total Downloads: 28.3B (-1.3%)
• Match-3: 885.3M (-19.9%)
• Merge: 608.6M (20.5%)
• Kids: 4.6B (0.8%)
• Simulation: 4.3B (3.6%)
• Bubble Shooter: 398.0M (-16.7%)
• Hidden Objects: 235.4M (9.7%)

3. Midcore Games

• Total Downloads: 12.4B (+0.4%)
• Shooter: 2.4B (-3.2%)
• Racing: 1.0B (10.0%)
• Action/Brawl: 427.7M (34.9%)
• Real-Time Strategy (RTS): 408.5M (14.6%)
• Action RPG: 263.9M (20.5%)
• Idle RPG: 234.5M (17.1%)
• Card Battler: 97.1M (15.6%)

Key Takeaways:

• Hypercasual continues to decline (-9.9% overall).
• Casual genres like Merge (20.5%) and Kids (0.8%) remained resilient.
• Midcore genres, particularly Action/Brawl (+34.9%) and RTS (+14.6%), saw strong growth.

Merge Prison Hits $1.3M Monthly Revenue 💥

This year’s breakout hit in the Merge-2 with complex meta genre, Merge Prison, continues to actively boost its revenue number, already exceeding $1M monthly income mark!

The game’s female prison theme draws comparisons to Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black, while its meta gameplay resembles an Escape Room puzzle, bringing a fresh twist to the genre 🍊

The game has already climbed to the 12th position in the rankings. Will it break into the top 10 next year?

Have a look at the game’s dashboard: https://appmagic.rocks/google-play/merge-prison-hidden-puzzle/com.starring.prisonbreak?utm_source=AMTelegram

Converting Players to Payers With Growth Offers 📈

💡 How the feature works:
Growth Offer is a monetization feature offering a paid list of tasks where rewards are tied to specific progress milestones in the game. As players advance through the game, they unlock valuable rewards.

📈 Effect on metrics:

— In Coin Master, the feature increased revenue by 2.8% compared to the same days the previous week, showing a small positive effect.
Event details

— In Toon Blast, a similar feature boosted revenue by 1.6% over the previous week.
Event details

— In Gossip Harbor, the feature appeared once in September, showing a moderate impact. We’re continuing to monitor its performance for further insights.
Event details

📜 How it started:
The concept of this feature is inspired by RPG and strategy games with progression mechanics, like Clash of Clans and Summoners War. It also appeared as the “Growth Fund” in Whiteout Survival in April 2024.

✅ Why it’s important:

— Such offers might be a good way to experiment with converting players to their first purchase. With a low price and high perceived value, it lowers the entry barrier.

— Players who buy the deal experience FOMO due to the sunk costs effect, encouraging them to engage more actively and spend resources. This often creates an energy deficit, pushing players toward additional purchases to complete their goals.

Block Blast! Is On Fire, Reaching 25M Monthly Installs 🔥

This year’s breakout leader, Block Blast!, which dethroned Candy Crush Saga in last year’s Top Free rankings, isn’t just holding its ground in 2024—it’s gaining even more momentum. Since September, the game has been boosting its install numbers, now hitting 25M montly installs 🔝

The game combines nostalgic charm with modern appeal. It’s a Tetris-inspired puzzle where players strategically fit blocks into a grid to clear lines. Just thinking about it gives us all the feels 🥹

Will Block Blast continue its confident growth into the new year? We’re leaning towards “yes”, what about you? 😉

Have a look at the game’s page: https://appmagic.rocks/google-play/block-blast-/com.block.juggle? utm_source=AMTelegram

Merge-3 Games With Complex Meta in 2024 💫

This year the grossing leaderboard sees a familiar champion: Merge Dragons! continues its reign, outpacing its closest competitors by nearly 50% 🚀

Alice’s Dream, however, isn’t just a dream this year. It secures the second spot with $3M average monthly revenue 🐰

There’s only one newcomer in the top 10 by installs—Panthia Life, which we covered in a previous post. This game has made a striking leap, growing steadily and reaching $2.4M in monthly revenue in December 💣

Have a look at the top: https://appmagic.rocks/top-charts/apps?tag=243782&aggregation=year&utm_source=AMTelegram

Panthia Lite: Magical Merge Showing Promise with $2M Monthly Revenue 🚀

Launched in November 2023, this merge puzzle game takes players into a fantasy-stylized world, seemingly inspired from Gardenscapes with its engaging story and decoration elements.

Since early 2024, the game has been scaling rapidly, gaining momentum throughout the year. With over $12M in IAP net revenue to date and a new monthly benchmark of $2M, its growth shows no signs of slowing down 💸

The game has found a strong audience among female players, who make up 87% of its player base—a trend that aligns with the broader puzzle and Merge-3 subgenre 🧩

When will Panthia Lite reach its peak? Can’t wait to find out! 😉

Have a look at app’s page:https://appmagic.rocks/google-play/panthia%28r%29-lite-magical-merge/com.orcas.panthia.island.fairyscapes?utm_source=AMTelegram

Mini Games: Calm & Relax TikTok Takeover 😎

There was a time when TikTok and Instagram feeds were flooded with videos of people trying to make a cheeky jump using their voice or hitting the right notes to fit a ball in a hole. Influencers were on fire! 🔥

This viral craze helped the game achieve 59.5M total installs since its launch in August, securing its spot at our top of Hypercasual games in December! 📈

While monthly downloads have started to decline, could a new mini-game be the key to saving the day? Stay tuned! 🤫

Check the app’s page yourself: https://appmagic.rocks/google-play/mini-games-calm-and-relax/com.uc.minigame.relax?utm_source=AMTelegram

Most Downloaded Mobile Games 2015-2024 💥

Chef's kiss to Anton Slashcev for this dynamic infographic! 🧑‍🍳

Do you have a feeling that Subway Surfers is connecting generations? The game has been leading the top of the most downloaded games for the past 9 years, reaching 2B installs 🚇

Candy Crush Saga, while briefly stepping down, quickly regained its second place and has held it ever since with 1.3B downloads 🍭

Clash of Clans, My Talking Angela, and My Talking Tom competed for a long time to stay in the top 10, but eventually, only My Talking Tom managed to do so with 959M installs 🐱

Have you already seen the top of the most downloaded apps in 2024? If not, you should definitely check the positions of our favourite leaders: https://appmagic.rocks/google-play/capybara-go-/com.habby.capybara?utm_source=AMTelegram

Capybaras Invading Mobile Stores ⚔️

After the Capybara Go's successful release, we've decided to have a closer look at how its fellow capybaras are doing.

Turns out, the capybaras are actively invading the mobile games market, sneaking into all types of games—from Hypercasuals and Puzzles to RPGs and Arcades 🏅

However, most of these games lack the depth of Capybara Go. Instead, they offer simpler, more casual experiences that rely heavily on ads rather than IAP for monetization. 💸

Perhaps we’ll see capybaras making their way into more IAP-heavy games in the future. What do you think? 🧐

Check the leading game’s page, if you missed the previous post: https://appmagic.rocks/google-play/capybara-go-/com.habby.capybara?utm_source=AMTelegram