5 Reasons Game Devs Should Start Making Hyper-casual Games

The popularity of hypercasual games continues to grow in the global mobile market, with the genre’s key attributes: a single, simple mechanic, freely accessible, short gameplay sessions – all finding success with players around the world.

Developers and publishers in almost every region are finding that these easily understood titles, which strip the whole idea of videogames back to the very basics, can attract huge audiences and create compelling experiences for players.

The design and development process also financial support for hypercasual titles varies greatly from the more ‘traditional’ approaches found in the PC and console markets, making it becomes a vibrant market for all game developers.

1) It’s easier to develop and produce hyper-casual games

Due to how simple hyper-casual games are, they’re a much easier option for any developer looking to make a game for the first time. Incredibly small teams can produce a large number of prototypes every month; testing mechanics and aesthetics to see how players react as a part of the initial phases of production.

This genre focuses on minimalism, shrinking development cycles down to a matter of days. Rather than spending years on a huge project with no guarantee of success, hyper-casual games give developers the space to quickly iterate and gauge the market potential of a game early on.

Keep in mind, hyper-casual games need to have clear and simple mechanics. As a general rule of thumb, hyper-casual developers should avoid making the gameplay too complicated. You’ll want to limit everything to two mechanics at most. Your game has to be simple from the onset, making it more accessible to more people and also easier to program.

2) They’re cost-effective and budget-sensitive

Hyper-casual games focus on simple mechanics and quick development cycles, tending towards smaller budgets and more cost-effective results than other genres. Money can sometimes be an issue when work first begins on a new game, but with hyper-casuals, that hurdle is removed.

Hyper-casual games also don’t require a large development team, which reduces the financial cost a lot. Social media and platforms like Google and Facebook are suitable choices for advertising, they also provide more data and precise targeting for a larger potential audience.

Hyper-casual relies heavily on ad revenue. And it’s getting easier and easier to set this up and optimize your campaigns. As an added bonus, the creatives found across the internet and on social media are also significantly easier to produce, translating into more optimized spending as marketing campaigns evolve.

3) Free-to-play means you’re more like to get more players

Hyper-casual games are typically always free to download and play. Meaning there’s no price barrier for new players. All they need to do is open up their app store and download them.

Making your game free means you’ll get more players wanting to try your title out. Which leads to a bunch of benefits. Experience, for starters. But also data. When you’re first starting out, you want to get as much player data as possible. That’ll teach you about your players’ behavior

For hyper-casual games, the majority of your profits come from ads. Including:

• In-App Advertising – Ads inside the game itself.
• Premium Payment Model – Purchasable options to remove ads from the game for a fee.
• Cross-Promotion – Ads for the game displayed in other games.

The Cost Per Install (CPI) for a standard game usually shifts between 10 to 30 cents. The user’s Lifetime Value (LTV) is then calculated based on how much money they are expected to generate for the game, leveling out to around 20-50 cents.

For an individual user that can look like a small amount, but when the scale is millions of downloads and millions of users everything quickly adds up to large profits.

4) There’s a mass-market appeal

Every single hyper-casual game can target people from 6 years old to 66 years old. Young children, teenagers, senior citizens: anyone who owns a smartphone is a potential player.

The simple gameplay also makes the games snackable and easy to digest. From waiting for the bus or looking to relax after a stressful meeting, hyper-casuals fill in the short gaps of time when people have nothing else to do.

That mass appeal is aided by a strong focus on minimalist design. Hyper-casuals aim to make onboarding as simple as possible, opening up players to gameplay they immediately understand without a tutorial. Once inside the game, everything leads towards satisfying goals and clear win conditions.

5) Become a famous brand

Owning games with millions of downloads is always the dream of any game developer or publisher. Hyper-casual games will let you make your dream come true in a short term.

Source: gameanalytics.com