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Join our expert guests, Nicole Danser, Senior Manager of Creative Strategy & Production at Liftoff Influence, and Sydney Bruce, Creative Account Strategy—UGC, as they share insights into identifying target audiences and the key components of a successful UA campaign.

By harnessing the power of UGC, you can unlock a cost-effective and authentic way to reach new players and grow your mobile game.

You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

Topics we will cover in this episode:

1. Introduction
2. The evolution and importance of user-generated content
3. Collaboration with clients and identifying the right creators
4. The UGC workflow and flexibility with creators
5. UGC campaign scale, effectiveness, and challenges
6. The role of trends and social media in UGC
7. Testing, iteration, and campaign duration
8. Advice for marketers interested in UGC
9. Future trends in AI and UGC

The post Episode 58: User Acquisition Blueprint: Harnessing User-Generated Content for Effective UA appeared first on GameRefinery.

Last month also introduced some major updates to the biggest mobile games. Ad monetization in Merge Mansion continued its rollout to selected accounts, Squad Busters removed some key items that were proving controversial with players because of their ‘pay-to-win’ element, and State of Survival upped its minigame ante with the introduction of a new digging minigame and a kitten-themed Match3 event. 

Speaking of Match3, the relatively new release Truck Star from Century Games is racing ahead as it continues to scale in an incredibly competitive genre. What can the game teach us about finding success in the Match3 market? And what can the surprising performances of Love and Deep Space in the US and Marvel Snap in China teach us about growing games in new markets? 

You can find more information about the biggest mobile game updates, developments, and game launches from August below, available exclusively on the GameRefinery platform.

August’s casual game updates

Merge Mansion used to be the only major title in the Merge2 genre without monetized ads, but the introduction of ad monetization to selected accounts in April 2024 is starting to pick up pace as it aligns its monetization strategy more closely to its competitors. At the time of writing, ad monetization currently applies to energy purchases, shop refreshes, and selected shop item purchases. 

Angry Birds: Dream Blast added a limited-time Super Bomb win streak event with similar mechanics to the “super lightball” permanent win streak in Royal Match. During the event, players could transform their normal bomb into a super bomb by beating ten main progression levels, but this doesn’t need to be in a row. The super bomb doubles the effect of a regular bomb power-up in levels and lasts until the player plays a level, incentivizing them to pay for continues or extra moves to extend the streak. 

Solitaire Grand Harvest saw out Summer with a two-week collaboration based around the Snoopy IP for Snoopy’s Camp. Players took part in collaboration events to receive event currency and items for the main Decoration event. Almost all of the events active during the collaboration had a Snoopy theme, and players could even pick up special event battle passes, IAP bundles, and login bonuses based on Snoopy. 

After the collaboration, the game also added a super lightball win streak event, Shiny Windmill, which is similar to the super lightball win streak in Angry Birds. Players could activate the booster by completing five levels and keep it active by holding their win streak. The booster works similarly to the game’s Windmill booster but can be used once at any time during a level.

Additional casual gaming highlights and other news

After a long fight between Epic and Apple, the Epic Games Store finally arrived on mobile, globally for Android users and only in the EU for iOS users. The launch of the Epic Games Store on mobile introduces Fortnite and Fall Guys to millions of potential customers. The PC and console versions launched in-game quest events to incentivize players to download the Store and game on their mobile devices. 

As an example, Fall Guys had mobile launch quests that required players to download and complete five levels in the mobile version of the game. Completing this quest rewarded players with the Holobean Costume and Yeetus Hammer Pickaxe that can be used in both Fall Guys and Fortnite. 

Match3 game Truck Star, developed by Century Games (best known for the megahit Whiteout Survival), has continued to scale since its release in May. Part of the game’s success can be attributed to its truck renovation meta, which taps into the same themes and audience as Chrome Valley Customs by Space Ape Games. Truck Star’s continued success in a fiercely competitive genre highlights the benefits of tailoring gameplay mechanics, design, and aesthetics for a specific audience. 

Another game that surprised us with its performance in August is the sci-fi dating sim Love and Deepspace, which continues to go from strength in APAC but is blowing up in the West. This is pretty unusual, given the core audience is in Southeast Asia. Still, the 2.0 update at the end of July and its introduction of new datable characters caused a surge in download numbers, while a follow-up update in early August propelled the game to the US top 20. Revenue also saw a boost, as the August update featured a particularly enticing gacha, offering exclusive content about all four datable characters as the main reward.

August’s midcore game updates

Squad Busters removed consumable keys and Mega Units from the game, items that allowed players to gain an advantage in matches by purchasing and collecting the consumables outside of matches. While there were cooldowns for key usage and a randomness factor involved with finding Mega Units in matches, these items were controversial for many players due to their pay-to-win elements and OP nature. 

Any existing Mega Units the player had unlocked were automatically converted into a corresponding skin for the characters when the items were removed. The latest update also introduced a new area, Lava World, available to all players for one week before converting into an end-game area.

We spend a lot of time at GameRefinery talking about the benefits of minigames, and State of Survival is one of the biggest proponents of their UA and revenue-generating power. Over the years, State of Survival has hosted everything from Vampire Survivors-like shoot ‘em up minigames to mahjong solitaire and boardgame minigames with casual casino elements, and August saw two new additions to its minigame roster. 

• Jungle Gems digs into the trendy digging minigame event type, offering players a series of levels to progress through with a digging mechanic. This involves using items to clear tiles from a grid and find new items, but the event also featured boost items and idle reward mechanics.  
• Paw-Some Puzzle Party is a kitten-themed minigame featuring a set of Match3 levels in three different difficulties. Players attempt to reduce the opposing player’s health to zero in classic Match3 gameplay with the help of kittens, who each have a special Match3 skill.

Each monthly season update, Clash of Clans introduces new content in the form of Battle Pass, limited-time challenge events, and various cosmetic skins. August’s update was an Anime-themed special, which marked a major first for the game as the anime skins it introduced are a completely different art style from the core game, potentially widening its appeal to players who are fans of anime games and art styles. 

Additional midcore gaming highlights and other news

Top Heroes, a 4X casual action RPG hybrid by River Game (developer of the 4x merge hybrid Top War), continued to scale as it hit and sustained its position in the top 50-grossing. The game has been scaling steadily, and August was its highest revenue month ever. This can be attributed to its unique combination of two completely different genres, as well as its utilization of casual action RPG layers in its UA campaigns. 

China is a tough market for CCGs as most successful card battlers are based on well-established IPs like War of the Three Kingdoms. That said, the Chinese version of Marvel Snap (漫威终极逆转) doesn’t seem to be having any issues winning over Chinese players. Only two weeks in and the game is sitting at grossing 40 and DL 40. 

It’s worth noting that Hearthstone is gearing up for its comeback in September after the game was pulled from the market due to a conflict between NetEase and the game’s developer, Blizzard. Can Hearthstone also find a home in China’s competitive CCG market? We’ll bring you the update in next month’s issue of the GameRefinery Analyst Bulletin! 

The Chinese version of AFK Journey (剑与远征：启程) is sitting stable in the top-10 grossing chart, while downloads are down from its peak at #2 to the top-40. This new version of the game highlights another instance of a Chinese publisher releasing a game domestically after its initial launch in Western markets. 

Over in Japan, Netease’s realistic racing game, Racing Master (レーシングマスター) has made a surprising entry, marking the first racing game in quite some time to achieve significant success in the market. It held a stable position in the top 20 grossing games and even hit the top spot for downloads. It’s a 3D racing game where players collect cars and compete in synchronized PvP races, but there’s a heavy focus on character customization with plenty of skins, hairstyles, and other options to choose from alongside car customization.

While car customization is common in successful racing games, player customization is less common, which is helping Netease widen the appeal of the game. Of course, a launch collaboration with the J-pop group Perfume also helped get the game in front of new players.

The post Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review August 2024 appeared first on GameRefinery.

Look at live events, for example. Their popularity persists but with a noticeable leap in production values and the emergence of more intricate monetization strategies, such as paywalled events and additional rewards tracks in battle passes.

Perhaps the biggest addition for players is the breadth of new titles on offer, with a number of anime-inspired RPGs (including Zenless Zone Zero and Wuthering Waves) performing well not just in Japan, but also doing ok in the West. But who says that mobile players should have all the fun? An increasing number of titles are also allowing players to take their adventures across different hardware with crossplay support on PC and console. 

But enough with the introductions. Join us below as we explore the biggest trends in mobile this year. If you’re strapped for time, you can jump to the most relevant sections using the links below: 

• The popularity of LiveOps continues
• Emerging types of hybridization
• Asian publishers’ growing RPG presence in Western markets
• Rise of crossplay
• Major mobile games on the horizon to watch out for

The popularity of LiveOps continues

If there’s one thing that seems consistent across the top-grossing mobile titles, it’s the continued dependence on LiveOps to drive player engagement. While that works exceptionally well for existing titles, it’s made it challenging for newer titles to break through amid all the well-established content machines. That’s why it’s so important for mobile developers to keep up to date with the biggest trends in LiveOps, including the following:

Enhanced production values

A few years ago, you might have been able to get away with launching a simple event where players just have to complete a basic gameplay task to unlock rewards – but that doesn’t cut it in 2024. Today’s live events boast high-quality production values and often leverage multiple gameplay mechanics.

For example, many casual titles now incorporate minigame events to support their core gameplay loop. How this works in practice is pretty simple: users play the usual primary gameplay mode, which in turn generates “energy” that can be used to participate in a separate minigame that functions completely differently from the rest of the game that may even have its own IAP offering or dedicated store.

You can see this in action in titles like Gossip Harbor and Royal Match, both of which feature a minigame event inspired by the viral hit Wordle. Getting to experience something new and unique in this way creates a highly engaging loop that encourages players to return far more than traditional challenges or quests otherwise would.

Boosts and other new monetization methods

Innovating in LiveOps isn’t just about tweaking gameplay mechanics; many developers are experimenting with how they monetize events. A growing number of titles are starting to incorporate premium reward tracks into their events as special battle passes. This is like having a miniature battle pass that you can only progress through by participating in an event. 

In addition, many games now allow players to purchase a premium boost that supercharges progression through the event. These boosts usually take the form of a specific customization option. For instance, if you’re playing the event using a specific skin or character, you might earn twice the amount of experience or in-game currency.

The rise of event paywalls

That’s not the only monetization trend we’ve seen that’s reminiscent of PC and console games. A select few mobile games are now locking premium content behind a paywall in a move not too dissimilar from downloadable content (DLC) or a classic PC expansion.

Let’s look at some examples:

• Players were required to purchase a specific premium building (costing $50) to participate in one of Last Fortress’ recent minigame events. 
• State of Survival’s Resident Evil collaboration event featured a unique quest line that players could only start after acquiring a specific character from a gacha. Players received one free pull daily, but subsequent attempts required premium currency.

Free Fire employed a “top-up” event system which required players to purchase a specific amount of premium currency to unlock a wider selection of features.

Monetization: Hyper casual turns hybrid casual

As noted in Liftoff’s 2024 Casual Gaming Apps report, while hyper casual titles remain popular, their numbers are slowly falling year over year. As a result, many hyper casual developers have been experimenting with hybrid monetization models — taking their simple, highly marketable gameplay concepts and enhancing their revenue-driving capabilities with a comprehensive ad strategy and IAP offering more befitting the casual and midcore genres. 

At the same time, these titles have also built on their initial success through the addition of new content and live events, keeping users engaged and opening up new opportunities to drive revenue. 

These hybrid monetized titles are particularly prevalent in the puzzle genre. During the first six months of 2024, several hybrid casual puzzle titles have emerged seemingly out of nowhere and infiltrated the top 200 grossing charts, including:

• Screw Jam – In this title, players have to remove a series of blocks by correctly identifying and removing certain screws.
• Twisted Tangle – As the name suggests, this game’s puzzles see players trying to figure out the correct order to untangle a bunch of interlocking ropes and chords. This title has been particularly successful, holding its place in the top 200 grossing since its release in December 2024.
• Hexa Sort: To progress in this game, players must sort out different-colored blocks.

One of the reasons these titles may be striking a chord with many players is their level of variety. Traditionally, most games in the puzzle genre don’t differentiate from one another, meaning there’s little reason for players to change things up once they’ve found a title they like. If you’ve tried out one match3 or merge game, it wouldn’t be completely outrageous to say that you’ve played them all, whereas each new hybrid casual puzzle title brings something new to the table that warrants a download.

That being said, while these hybrid puzzlers differ in their core gameplay, they have much in common regarding monetization. Most of these titles rely on in-app purchases to bring in revenue. For example, players might pay for extra time to complete a complex puzzle, make additional moves, or gain access to valuable items. 

It’s also worth noting that most hybrid casual games offer players a steady stream of new content through a live events framework. This enables them to retain players for significantly longer than traditional puzzle titles, which are often very one-and-done. 

A quick note on hybridization through gameplay 

Admittedly, hybridization isn’t anything new for the mobile market. For some time now, more and more titles have increasingly been looking at wider genres and other titles to inspire new gameplay ideas that substantially differ from their core offering. This trend has continued to grow in prominence over time, with many popular titles using minigames (think smaller games, built within games) to incorporate wildly different gameplay ideas into the mix without disrupting the primary systems.

One notable example of this in practice is the growing prominence of Vampire Survivors-like minigames, with State of Survival, Diablo: Immortal, and League of Legends (PC) all hopping on board. These minigames play much like the indie hit that inspired them, with the player (or a group of players) battling through an onslaught of enemies by simply moving their character, which fires automatically.

Asian publishers’ growing RPG presence in Western markets

If you’ve been keeping up with our regular analyst bulletins, or even just the hottest mobile games generally, you will likely have noticed a sudden burst of anime-themed RPGs that are topping the charts in the West. At the time of writing, there are over ten titles falling under this category in the US iOS Top 200 grossing chart, several of which have only launched during the course of 2024. 

While we’ve seen a few titles in this area perform well in the West—such as Dragon Ball Dokkan Battle (2015), Fate/Grand Order (2018), and Dragon Ball Legends (2018), all of which consistently rank highly in the top grossing 200—it’s unusual to see multiple new titles performing so well back-to-back. Let’s look at some of the heavy-hitters: 

AFK Journey

AFK Journey is a spin-off turned sequel to the highly successful AFK arena, which launched in March 2024. The game had a very strong launch in the US, peaking at #15 in April’s top-grossing chart, and second in downloads on the US iOS market. It’s since slipped further down the ranks but is continuing to hold its place among the top 200.

Much like its predecessor, AFK Journey is an idle RPG—albeit with a few twists of its own. The game is made up of an auto-battle core and features crossplay with PC, where players can also access an external webstore. AFK Journey has a large number of heroes players can choose from, but users only need to level up five characters to progress. Any remaining heroes automatically catch up to the fifth strongest character, making it easy to switch out your team and mix up the gameplay. 

AFK Journey offers players a lot of variety, with expansive areas to explore, engaging puzzles, and strategic battles, which aids retention as it means there’s always something new to see and do. Its presentation is also exceptionally high-quality, with a unique hand-drawn art style and fully voiced cutscenes.

Solo Leveling: Arise

Another anime-esque newcomer that has been performing well in the US is Solo Leveling: Arise, which launched in May earlier this year on mobile and PC. The game is based on a Korean webtoon and debuted in the top 10 in the US and Japan. 

Gameplay-wise, Solo Leveling: Arise is a classic action RPG based around character collection that has a few unique quirks. For example, the main character’s leveling system allows players to allocate points to desired stats after each level-up. The game also features two distinct combat modes, one exclusively for the main character and another where only side characters can be used.

Since launch, the game has fallen down the US ranks. While this may look alarming, this is actually a fairly common pattern for character collection-focused titles like this. Usually, these titles see large revenue spikes with each new update as players rush to pull new characters available through gacha, with a sharp drop shortly after till the next new addition lands. 

That being said, the performance drop for Solo Levelling: Arise has been slower than usual, suggesting that it may be following a slightly different trajectory. Only time will tell if the slow decline continues, or if it will be able to find a solid baseline among the top 200. 

Wuthering Waves

Next up is Wuthering Waves, which is a straight-up competitor against Genshin Impact, right down to its open-world design philosophy, role-playing elements, emphasis on character collection, and art style. 

However, the game does have some unique mechanics that set it apart. For example, Wuthering Waves has a Pokémon-style monster-collecting feature (which also doubles as the game’s artifact system) where players can capture enemies and use them as skills. The combat also has a lot of depth, with each character offering distinctive gameplay mechanics. It also features crossplay with PC and PS5.

Yet again, the game made a substantial impact on its launch earlier this year, climbing to the very top spot in downloads in both the US and Japan. However, much like the other titles, it fell back down the ranks once the initial hype subsided. 

That being said, the title appears to follow a similar pattern to Genshin Impact in that its performance fluctuates in line with major content updates (albeit to a lesser extent than MiHoYo’s immensely popular title). When Wuthering Waves’ first major content update dropped on 27 June, the game saw a 300% increase in daily revenue in the US (and a more than 3000% increase in Japan).

Zenless Zone Zero

Speaking of Genshin Impact, we’d be amiss if we didn’t mention the latest addition to the mobile market from MiHoYo. By putting the focus on flashy, action-packed battles through linear areas, Zenless Zone Zero manages to carve out its own identity against Genshin Impact’s open world and the turn-based affairs of Honkai: Star Rail – even if it does look largely similar due to the three titles shared cartoonish art style.

Given the monumental success of MiHoYo’s other titles, it should be no surprise that Zenless Zone Zero drew in some major numbers. Within 72 hours of its release on 4 July, the title had already passed 50 million downloads. Revenue-wise, the title is less impressive, performing well below that of Genshin Impact, although it still ranks among the top 100 grossing titles. It’s worth noting that all three of MiHoYo’s titles feature crossplay with PC and console, which may skew these figures to some extent given that players may be spending money on other platforms.

Rise of crossplay

By allowing players to party up with their friends regardless of their hardware, games with crossplay can grow massive communities that span the entire gaming ecosystem. They also allow developers to bypass the costly store fees on iOS and Android, as players can purchase in-game items and currencies via a different platform or a dedicated web store. 

Crossplay games arguably make playing more accessible too, as there’s less of a requirement to access costly hardware. If you don’t have a console or gaming PC, you can simply join your friends using your phone. Crossplay games also allow all players to take their gaming wherever they please. They can enjoy the big-screen experience at home and then continue the adventure right where they left off while traveling to work, sitting on a lunch break, and so forth. 

We’ve already mentioned a few of the biggest crossplay mobile titles that were recently released earlier in this blog. Zenless Zone Zero, Wuthering Waves, and Solo Levelling: Arise are all available to play on PC, with the first two also on PlayStation consoles. Other examples include Zynga’s Star Wars Hunters (Switch and iOS/Android), Sword of Convallaria (PC and iOS/Android), and Stumble Guys — which only came to console earlier this year. 

The one drawback to these crossplay games is that they can be much more expensive to create than a standard mobile game. For one, these games must offer PC and console players an experience that works on a bigger screen, meaning they sometimes have higher production values than you’d typically expect from a mobile title. At the same time, the developers also need to be able to downsize that experience so it works as intended on less hardware. 

We can’t forget about the demands of maintaining a LiveOps pipeline, too. Developers need to release expansive new content updates every month or risk losing their players’ interest to competitors. With all that in mind, it’s hardly surprising that Genshin Impact is on track to become the most expensive video game of all time, costing upwards of $200 million each year to maintain. 

A note on Call of Duty Warzone and cross-progression

One notable title we have yet to touch on that supports crossplay is Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, which is compatible with PC and console—at least, sort of. Activision’s battle royale shooter is a unique example of crossplay in that it only offers cross-progression. This means that progress made in the game’s mobile version, such as a player’s weapon collection and battle pass progress, carries over to PC and console. 

However, mobile players cannot currently join a game with users on other platforms, although iOS and Android users can play side-by-side. Why is this the case? Activision states on Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile’s website that the game needs to “feel well-tuned, natural, and intuitive on handheld devices” and that full crossplay isn’t supported to “avoid any imbalance” with other platforms.

Many first-person shooters like Call of Duty revolve around lightning-fast firefights that depend on quick reflexes and accuracy to rise to the top of the competition. That’s a lot easier to pull off using a controller or a keyboard and mouse than it is using a touchscreen, perhaps so much so that Activision’s early playtests showed it was simply unfair to put mobile players head-to-head with users on PC and console.

Whether this was the right or wrong reason remains to be seen, especially given that the game has disappointed performance-wise — driving significantly lower numbers than that of its predecessor, Call of Duty: Mobile. Either way, it highlights the importance of considering how your game will be controlled on different platforms, especially in titles such as this, which revolve around highly competitive multiplayer.

Keep a lookout for these mobile titles

From popular LiveOps trends to costly crossplay and anime RPGs, there’s a lot to wrap your head around to fully understand what’s popular with mobile players. But that’s far from everything. Here are a few other notable titles coming in the near future that are worth keeping on your radar.

• Fading City & Earth Revival: Fading City is a survival MMO from Netease that’s already available in China but is due to launch worldwide in the near future. It’s notable for its uncanny resemblance to Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us. Similarly, Earth Revival from NuVerse is reminiscent of EA and Bioware’s Mass Effect. It shows that if you have a major console franchise and don’t pursue mobile, you risk someone doing it for you.
• Racing Master: This new racing title from NetEase and Codemasters was released last Summer in China, where it’s been performing relatively well. It strongly focuses on a story-based carrier mode and offers plenty of car customization options. Racing games have struggled to make much impact in the West on mobile, but it remains to be seen if this one can buck that trend when it launches worldwide later this year.
• Royal Kingdom: This spiritual successor to Dream Games’ super hit Royal Match is finally expected to be fully released later this year after a long soft launch period. It has a similar cartoonish Royal-theme to its predecessor, and the same swapping match3 core mechanics. The main difference is that Kingdom changes the perspective change from room to kingdom map on the construction meta, and allows players to execute “light competitive” attacks on other players.
• Project Mugen: This new RPG from Hangzhou and Montreal Naked Rain seems to be very similar to Zenless Zone Zero. Both of these games focus on urban “street fashion,” which seems to be gaining traction in Japan (and potentially China) as a recurring theme. It’s set to launch later this year on mobile, PC and PS5.
• Pokemon Trading Card Pocket: The TCG market will likely get a major shakeup in the near future as a mobile version of the Pokemon trading card game is set for release at the end of October. There’s currently very little information on hand about the title, but it’s expected to play similarly to how the card game works in real life. 
• Playrix’s next match-3 title: Playrix is one of the top mobile studios for the match3 genre, having had great success with the Scapes series. At the time of writing, the studio has four new titles in soft launch: Aqua Match, Austin’s Odyssey, Roomscapes, and Familyscapes. While nothing has been confirmed, it’s only a matter of time before one generates strong enough metrics to release fully.
• Assassin’s Creed Jade: Ubisoft has previously attempted to bring this major single-player franchise to mobile, but this is the first time the studio has gone all out with a full-fledged RPG. Given that the PC and console titles are paid for with a one-time fee, this one is worth keeping an eye on to see how it approaches monetization without alienating the core fanbase. It was originally expected to land later this year but has since been delayed sometime into 2025. 

If you’d like to learn more about the biggest trends in mobile gaming this year, check out Episode 53 and Episode 57 of the Mobile Games Playbook.

The post Breaking Down the Biggest Trends Shaping the Mobile Gaming Landscape appeared first on GameRefinery.

But Rollic wasn’t the only studio to make a statement in July, as we saw the long-awaited release of Hoyoverse’s Zenless Zone Zero. While the title has no doubt driven some serious numbers with over 50 million downloads at launch, there’s a general sense that the title is lagging slightly behind in revenue when compared to the monumental success of Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail. 

Elsewhere, we also saw one of the most unusual minigames in quite some time, as Goddess of Victory: NIKKE took the plunge with a transformation into Dave the Diver. Marvel Snap also became one of the few CCG titles to implement a guild system, while Stumble Guys encouraged its players to get serious with the launch of its first-ever ranked mode—as well as introducing the ability to wield disruptive special abilities.

For more information about the biggest mobile game updates, developments, and game launches across July, read our latest analyst bulletin below. 

July’s casual game updates

Rollic’s Twisted Tangle became the first hybrid casual title in the US top-grossing 200 to implement a seasonal collectible album. The Tangle Collection will be available for around two and a half months, with players collecting cards by participating in events or making purchases. 

The album feature should boost engagement by giving Twisted Tangle a fresh, long-term progression vector that ties all its events together, making gameplay more meaningful. To that end, it’s perhaps fitting that its launch was accompanied by various other additions, such as a daily reward system, a new recurring task event, and a season pass system.

As part of its July update patch v0.75, Stumble Guys launched a new competitive mode designed to showcase players’ skills and provide them with incentives to perform well in matches.

In Ranked Season (SS0), players earn Reward Points (RP) based on their performance. Those who earn enough Reward Points will rank up and earn rewards (which include experience points (XP) and games), with higher ranks granting bigger prizes. There is also a Season Leaderboard that rewards players with additional RP depending on their rank, which can be claimed at the end of each season.

Patch 0.75 also introduced upgraded “Abilities” (previously known as “Special Emotes”) that can give players an upper hand in matches, such as a speed boost or special attack they can use to throw competitors off balance. Additionally, these abilities can be enhanced using Ability Keys and Ability Tokens, gained as rewards from battle passes, wheels, and other events.

Social win streaks, made famous by Royal Match, have continued to grow in popularity and spread to the likes of Candy Crush Soda Saga’s Yeti’s Challenge and Seat Away’s Turbulence Challenge.

Speaking of Candy Crush, Candy Crush Saga had an eventful summer, introducing various new events—far more than we usually see in a single month. Among them were competitive “Factory Frenzy,” collection events like “Don’t Feed the Troll” and “Top That,” the level-completion challenge “Volcanic Panic,” and the win streak event “Jelly Streak.” You can find out more about all of these using our Live Events Tracker.

Additional casual gaming highlights and other news

Hybrid casual puzzle games are currently one of the hottest trends in the market. Several games are scaling successfully by following similar principles: offering unique, hyper-casual-inspired puzzle gameplay, adopting a hybrid monetization model (combining IAP and IAA), and expanding a live event framework to enhance and sustain the core gameplay loop. Rollic Games has been spearheading this movement, launching several titles that have climbed high up the IAP grossing charts. 

The latest chart-topping entry is Seat Away, a game in which players move around differently-colored seats inside vehicles to allow matching-colored passengers to reach their destination in timed levels. It is heavily inspired by one of Rollic’s earlier titles, Bus Jam, with the same tried-and-true recipe of unique gameplay, a combination of IAA and IAP monetization, and a busy LiveOps calendar filled with popular casual event types.

Many of Rollic’s older titles have also been scaling admirably. We touched on the recent update to Twisted Tangle earlier in the bulletin, but there’s also Screw Jam. Both of these titles regularly tweak their IAP and live events, often incorporating offerings that are similar to other top games on the market.

Domino Dreams has been scaling since its launch in January earlier this year and finally breached the top-grossing 100 in the US iOS Market last month. The developer behind the title, SuperPlay, is best known for its “Casual Casino” hit title, Dice Dreams, which is among the biggest games in that genre (alongside Monopoly GO! and Coin Master). With that in mind, Domino Dreams is something of a radical departure in that it is mahjong solitaire, an up-and-coming genre that we highlighted in Liftoff’s 2024 Casual Gaming Apps report.

July’s midcore game updates

While guilds (also known as clans or teams) are popular in midcore genres like MMOs and 4X strategy, they’re not a feature commonly encountered in CCGs. As such, we were particularly surprised to see the feature added to Marvel Snap in July.

Alongside the feature’s launch, players who joined an Alliance were also invited to complete bounties for their group. Each alliance member could select up to three Bounties (from a pool of eight) at a time to complete for points. After the week is over, members of the Alliance got rewards—including boosters, credits, and mystery card variants—depending on which Personal point milestones they reached and what Alliance point milestones their alliance reached.

Marvel Snap also continued the trend of mobile games using blockbuster movies as inspiration for new content, launching several live events inspired by the launch of Deadpool and Wolverine into theatres. These included a dedicated battle pass (with Gwenpool as an unlockable card), a limited-time PvP mode Deadpool’s Diner (which was the only way to unlock the Cassandra Nova card, the film’s main antagonist), and a competitive leaderboard event called Deadpool League.

The game saw a 300%+ spike in revenue on July 10, the day after the launch of the Deadpool-themed battle pass, which saw it reach 21 in the top 200 grossing on the US iOS market. While this may sound impressive, it largely follows the same trajectory as previous battle pass updates, slightly surprising given the film has been crowned the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time after grossing over $1bn worldwide.

Goddess of Victory: NIKKE introduced a unique collaboration with Dave the Diver that recreated the latter’s gameplay within its own world.

In Aegis the Diver, players dived, fished, and foraged for ingredients to use in a restaurant management simulator— just like you would in Dave the Diver—using fan-favorite Goddess of Nikke characters. The event looked the part too, utilizing the same pixelated art style used in Dave the Diver. Despite being just a “minigame,” there were also lots of reasons for players to stay engaged, with a purchasable battle pass and several missions to complete.

Dave the Diver isn’t actually available on mobile, which meant that, arguably, this live event was the first time it was playable on the platform. In many ways, the event acted almost like a demo for Dave the Diver, with the full game on sale across PlayStation, Switch, and other platforms. All players could also get a special Goddess of Victory skin for their boat in the full game by entering a code.

While this may sound unusual, it’s actually the second time Goddess of Victory has turned itself into a completely different title. In November last year, the game launched a roguelike reverse bullet hell-type minigame reminiscent of Vampire Survivors, leading us to suspect that we’ll see another transformative crossover in the near future.

Additional midcore gaming highlights and other news

Zynga launched a new puzzle RPG based on the Game of Thrones IP. Game of Thrones: Legends is mechanically very similar to Zynga’s evergreen hit Empire & Puzzles, just with added Game of Thrones characters and theming. The title has only seen a modest amount of success, barely scratching the top-grossing #200 in the US, which is surprising given the recognition of Zynga in the market coupled with the airing of a new season for the Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon.

Hoyoverse launched its new action RPG, Zenless Zone Zero. Given the popularity of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, it should come as no surprise that the title made a substantial impact at launch—securing more than 50m downloads in its first three days and generating over $25m in revenue in its first week. Nevertheless, the game’s performance on mobile is generally below that of its two sister titles. 

All three of Hoyoverse’s titles share similar thematic stylings, so it’s entirely possible that we’ve now reached a point where they’re directly competing with one another, which may explain why it’s not reaching quite the same highs. 

However, Zenless Zone Zero is much more action-packed than Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. It features frenetic combat in tight spaces that require fast reflexes and careful coordination from the player. In fact, the game clearly draws inspiration from the fighting game genre, even acting as one of the headline sponsors of EVO 2024, the world’s biggest fighting game tournament. And while the game plays perfectly well on mobile, there is a sense that it shines best played using a controller on a PC or console—and it might be that the vast majority of its audience is actually based elsewhere.

Netease launched an unusual battle royale game in China called Naraka Bladepoint, which utilizes AI to create NPC dialogue. The game was released across PC, console and mobile platforms, with all the different versions interconnected. Naraka Bladepoint has been scaling exceptionally well, holding steady at #4 in the top-grossing ranks and #1 in downloads in China. 

The post Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review July 2024 appeared first on GameRefinery.

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Join our expert guests, Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst, and Erno Kiiski, also a Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery, a Liftoff Company, who bring their extensive knowledge and experience to share insights into what these trends mean for the future of mobile gaming, in order to help you stay ahead of the curve.

You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

Topics we will cover in this episode:

1. Introduction
2. Supercell’s 2024 strategy shift
3. Squad Busters: Launch and market reception
4. Supercell’s China strategy and Hay Day relaunch
5. Supercell’s IP and interconnectedness
6. Asian publishers’ growing RPG presence in Western markets
7. Call of Duty Warzone Mobile: Cross-progression challenges
8. Hybrid casual trends
9. Microfun and merge games

The post Episode 57: Mobile Gaming in 2024: A Mid-Year Deep Dive appeared first on GameRefinery.

June also saw several significant updates launch in the casual market, including a new competitive take on Monopoly GO! ‘s Partner events. The interactive story game Chapters also launched an unusual limited-time game mode that combined aspects of dating apps with its regular gameplay loop. At the same time, NYT Games: Word and Sudoku saw a massive 200% increase in daily US revenue from a half-price sale on subscriptions. 

Over on the midcore side, much of the attention was placed on seasonal events that tied into Pride Month. Highlights included Marvel Strike Force and Marvel Contest of Champions launching separate pride-themed events that spotlighted LGBT comic book heroes, as well as Beatstar’s dedicated Pride Month-themed battle pass Love Spectrum.

You can find more information about the biggest mobile game updates, developments, and game launches from June below.

June’s casual game updates

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Monopoly GO! ‘s Partner Events. After all, we named them the Casual Market’s Best Social Event in our Mobile GameDev 2024 Awards. But in June, Scopely took these to an all-new level by creating a competitive spinoff, Tycoon Racers (which also marked Monopoly GO! ‘s first new event mechanic of 2024). 

Tycoon Racers follows a similar structure and mechanics to the original partner events, just with more of a competitive focus:

• The event begins with a “build your team” phase where players can receive and send team-up invites to friends and suggested players with a similar in-game progression. 
• Each team must race to collect as many progression points as possible by pressing a Pop-o-Matic style dice popper using event currency – earned by simply playing the game (rolling dice, progressing in other events, etc.).
• As players earn progression points, their team races around a track. Whichever team collects the most points before time runs out (each race lasts a day) wins. 
• Players receive rewards based on their team’s ranking. The winning teams receive large amounts of dice rolls and a Wild Card.

Monopoly GO! also added its first Piggy Bank event alongside Tycoon Racers. In this event, each time a player rolled a double during regular gameplay, they would deposit a dice roll into their Piggy Bank. These Piggy Banks could each hold a certain number of dice rolls based on the player’s overall progression level. Players could draw from the Piggy Bank for free once it was full, or pay a small, real-world fee to dip into their savings pot early.

Gossip Harbor added a new minigame event with a thinking core themed around painting pottery. In Clay Color Combos, players must use energy to collect paint jars (effectively event points) and then figure out how to arrange them on an event-specific game board to earn rewards. ​Prizes included merge item generators (which provide either a choice of merge item or a random one), energy, and collectible cards for the concurrent seasonal collectibles album event.

If that all sounds relatively familiar, that’s because Clay Color Combos is similar to Royal Match’s Magic Cauldron event from last September.

Chapters added a limited-time game mode that combined aspects of dating apps into the title’s regular interactive story gameplay.

In Chat & Date, players could match or unmatch with multiple virtual characters, similar to how you would in most dating apps, by swiping left or right. When players found a match, they could start chatting with them. In conversation, players chose from multiple predetermined options to answer, with some answers requiring premium currency. 

After some chatting, the player could go on a date with a match. This is when the event reverted to Chapters’ regular gameplay, with players customizing their avatars and following a short, interactive storyline. Matches also occasionally sent the player photos and voice messages, unlocked by spending premium currency. Players could also go to a dedicated collectible album view to see how many pictures and voice messages they had obtained and how many dates they had completed.

Since it first appeared as Lava Quest in Royal Match, the social win streak has become one of the most commonly encountered event types in the casual market, appearing in numerous top-grossing titles. Late June saw another prominent title jump on the bandwagon, Rovio’s Angry Birds Dream Blast.

In River Rush, players are put into groups and must beat a specific number of consecutive levels before reaching the destination to earn rewards. The twist is that when players reach the destination, instead of the winners sharing an equal amount of soft currency (as in other social win streak events), they each get to pick one reward, which is then removed from the prize pool. This means players are encouraged to beat levels as fast as possible so they don’t miss out on the best prizes, making it into an actual competition.

Additional casual gaming highlights and other news

NYT Games: Word and Sudoku saw an over 200% increase in daily revenue in the US on June 9 following a half-price sale (which is still active) on monthly and annual subscriptions. 

A paid subscription gives you access to additional features and content in all the games playable within the NYT Games app. For example, in Spelling Bee, free users can only access today’s puzzle, while paid users can access the entire history of past puzzles. Additionally, the daily crossword, which is arguably the main draw for most users, is only available to subscribers.

A new mobile installment in the Uta no Prince-sama series, a multimedia franchise that began life as a rhythm game for the PlayStation Portable, launched in Japan last month and spent several days at the top of the download ranks. Uta no Prince-sama: LIVE EMOTION also peaked at 15 in the grossing ranks. The game has since fallen out of the top 100 but is maintaining a steady pace overall.

In terms of gameplay, Uta no Prince-sama: LIVE EMOTION is a fairly standard offering in the rhythm genre, with players tapping to the beat of the background music. It only features four tappable nodes, making it somewhat more accessible than other rhythm titles on the Japanese market. Live Emotion follows the previous Uta no Prince-Sama mobile title, Shining Colors, which did well for years but has now dropped off the charts.

Netease released a new AR/Location-based game in Japan based on the Onmyoji IP, Onmyo Hyakki Monogatari GO. The game features turn-based RPG battles and a focus on local folklore characters. Players can level up their characters by going on walks and exploring their neighborhoods.

Games with location-based mechanics like Monster Hunter Now and Pokémon GO are prevalent in Japan, with around five or six currently populating the grossing top 200. Despite this, Onmyo Hyakki Monogatari GO has only seen a moderate level of performance since its launch and has since fallen out of the top-grossing 200 entirely.

June’s midcore game updates

As we approach the Summer period, it’s common for many game developers and studios to take a short break from the demands of maintaining a live events schedule. However, while June may be light on major midcore updates, there were a noticeable number of seasonal events themed around Pride Month across several popular titles:

• Players could earn a Pride-themed banner, icon, and chest item in League of Legends: Wild Rift by completing certain limited-time missions.
• Beatstar themed its latest battle pass around Pride Month, highlighting LGBT artists such as Lady Gaga and Elton John. There was also a task event and a limited-time gacha offer.
• Marvel Strike Force’s Coming Out! event saw players participating in a Pride-themed scavenger hunt to unlock character shards, credits, and other rewards. The event took place over three days, during which players had to find and collect two unique pride items hidden throughout the game. 
• Marvel Contest of Champions launched Pride Is For Everyone, a task event that required players to obtain, level up, or win battles using LGBTQ+ Marvel characters like Black Cat and Star-Lord to progress. Earning enough progression points unlocked exclusive Pride-themed icons and frames.
• Call of Duty (PC & Console) launched a pride-themed weapon skins pack for Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone. The pack was free for all players throughout June.

Additional midcore gaming highlights and other news

Chinese mega-hit Honor of Kings launched for the second time in the West following its previous attempt some years ago under the name Arena of Valor. While Arena of Valor wasn’t a failure as such, it didn’t have the same monumental impact that Honor of Kings has had in China, where it has generated over $15.6 billion in lifetime revenue. We imagine that developer Level Infinite hoped that launching the rebranded version would act as something of a reset and give the game a second chance in the region. 

The new version of Honor of Kings made a significant splash at its US launch on June 22, debuting at five in downloads and 98 in the grossing ranks. However, the game’s popularity quickly waned. By July 1, just one week after its release, it had dropped out of the top 200 in both categories.

Alongside Honor of Kings, Level Infinite also launched a new MMORPG last month called Tarisland. It features incredibly high production values and has crossplay with PC.

MMORPGs have struggled to succeed in the Western mobile market historically, and this title appears to be no exception. At launch on 21 June, the game was placed at six in downloads and 163 in the grossing ranks. Just five days later, on 26 June, it completely dropped out of the top 200 titles in both ranks. The game has also followed a similar downward pattern in China, suggesting that there may be more at fault here than simply regional taste.

After being in soft launch for several years, Zynga’s Star Wars: Hunters has officially been released worldwide. Given the prolific studio behind it and the popularity of the Star Wars IP, it should come as no surprise that the game made a substantial splash after its official global launch, reaching grossing rank 77 and download rank 1. However, since the initial hype died down, the game has been on a steady decline and has fallen out of the top 200 rankings.

An unusual new strategy game, Beast Lord: New World, was launched in China, where players assume the role of a lord in a post-apocalyptic world. They must gather and train various animals, build alliances, and manage resources to ensure their survival. It’s possibly the first Lion King-themed Strategy game to enter the mobile market worldwide. 

In terms of performance, the game is currently holding steady, currently ranking around 50 in downloads and between 30 to 40 in the grossing ranks.

The post Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review June 2024 appeared first on GameRefinery.

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Join our expert guests, Kentaro Sugiara, Senior Performance Marketing Manager at Rovio, and Christie Crable, Head of Activations at GameRefinery, who will share actionable insights and proven techniques to help you develop a successful user acquisition (UA) strategy. Whether you’re a seasoned game developer or just starting out, this episode of the Mobile Games Playbook offers a roadmap to navigating the ever-evolving world of mobile UA.

You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

Topics we will cover in this episode:

1. Introduction
2. User acquisition in mobile gaming
3. Angry Birds 2 and UA strategies
4. Creative strategies and challenges
5. Exploring different channels
6. The role of AI in user acquisition
7. Future of user acquisition and AI integration

The post Episode 56: Beyond the Hype – Building a Winning UA Strategy for Your Mobile Game appeared first on GameRefinery.

But it wasn’t just game launches that impressed last month; there were also some significant updates to existing titles. Both AFK Journey and Last War: Survival debuted their inaugural Season, with the latter’s Crimson Plague sparking a gradual surge in downloads that peaked at an astonishing increase of over 400%. Over in the world of battle royale, Free Fire pitted gangsters against agents in a new Outlaw mode that appeared to take heavy inspiration from Roblox’s Jailbreak.

There were some notable collaboration events, too. LEGO Fortnite celebrated Star Wars Day by launching an expansive new map area for players to explore, complete with its first-ever battle pass. Clash of Clans meanwhile joined forces with the Norwegian football star Erling Haaland, kicking off its latest season with a range of football-themed challenges, rewards, and other exciting additions. 

Keep reading to learn more about the biggest updates, developments, and hottest new titles that were launched across the mobile market last month. 

May’s casual mobile game updates

Matchington Mansion looked to Playrix’s Scapes series for its next match-up, introducing a merge2 minigame called Picnic Potluck that works almost exactly the same as a similar event type added to Homescapes in late 2022. 

Picnic Potluck revolves around a closed, merge2 board where players must strategically combine different items to fulfill food orders and collect Merge Tokens – which move the player through a reward ladder that unlocks various goodies, including exclusive Delicious Dessert furniture decorations. 

The mode features several mechanics that will be familiar to most merge game fans, such as the ability to use Merge Energy (which replenishes over time but can also be earned through regular gameplay or acquired through IAP) to generate more merge pieces for the board by tapping on Item Generators. There are also different merge chains, bubble piece offers, skipping timers, and a dedicated shop offering a variety of useful merge items.

While merge2 events like this are commonly encountered in more complex match3 games (especially those with a story-based meta), it’s rare to see them in heavy hitters like Royal Match, Candy Crush, and Toon Blast. These more popular titles typically target casual players, meaning they lean towards straightforward gameplay and simple, easy-to-understand event mechanics that don’t require a significant amount of resources to develop.

Meanwhile, Triple Match 3D added a new permanent win-streak system. Beating five main levels one after the other now activates a Meteor Strike that automatically destroys 21 junk items at the start of each new level. Once activated, the strikes continue until the player fails a level, encouraging them to invest in IAP – which includes continues and extra moves that help to ensure a streak lasts for as long as possible. 

This loss aversion-based win streak system bears a similar logic to Royal Match’s Super Lightball, which resulted in a moderate uptick in revenues. Matchington Mansion Picnic Potluck Event

Merge Mansion’s Secret Supply minigame event swapped out the game’s usual merge grid for an arcade machine that combines elements of the casino and merge genres. Pulling the arcade machine causes one of several items to drop: when two or more matching items align, they merge and reward the player with points. Some items are worth more than others, so players must hope they’ll be lucky enough to get a valuable match.

Players are limited as to how much they can use the arcade machine. After so much use, the machine “overheats” and requires a Mystery Token to be reactivated. These tokens regenerate automatically after a certain period, although players can speed up the process through IAP.

While Secret Supply may motivate players who enjoy the thrill of chance and fast-paced action, it’s arguably less appealing to Merge Mansion’s core puzzle-solving audience.

As we touched on in our last bulletin, sticker collection events are appearing across more and more casual games following the success of Monopoly GO!. That trend seems set to continue, with Royal Match being the latest title to get stuck in.

Royal Match’s limited-time collection event is remarkably similar to Monopoly GO!’s implementation, with players collecting cards from packs earned from other events and chests awarded after completing meta-renovation areas. Each event iteration consists of multiple albums to complete (each requiring specific cards), with players unlocking an in-game reward for completing each album. Those who acquire every album also get a unique Royal Badge next to their name to show their achievement. 

Interestingly, this isn’t Royal Match’s first experience with collection mechanics. This limited-time event actually replaces a previously permanent collection mechanic that had been in place for some time. In the old event, albums were simply unlocked after reaching specific levels in the main progression and weren’t time-limited, so there was less incentive to rush. The newer version also introduces the ability to donate cards to your friends, encouraging players to trade to complete their collections.

Additional casual game highlights and other news

Gakuen Idolmaster (学園アイドルマスター ) danced its way into the top-grossing 10 in Japan, peaking at the top spot for multiple days. In the game, players manage and train their own group of idols, building personal connections with each character through a story-driven experience built around high-quality visuals and cinematic concerts. It’s based on the popular Idolmaster multimedia franchise, renowned for its rhythm games and anime series.

Gakuen Idolmaster shares many similarities with Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (ウマ娘 プリティーダービー). Uma Musume dominated as the top-grossing game in Japan between 2021 to 2022 and continues to maintain a strong, sustained ranking around 15th place.

Another game that got Japan moving to the beat last month was Break My Case (ブレイクマイケース), which spent most of the month in the top-grossing 100 (peaking at 32). In this musical match3 game, matched icons disappear only when a line that’s synchronized to the beat passes through them. Each match also produces sounds that harmonize with the stage’s soundtrack. The game’s meta focuses on collecting and upgrading a roster of attractive male characters.

May’s midcore game updates

The 4X strategy game Last War: Survival launched its first-ever in-game season, The Crimson Plague, which will last approximately eight weeks. Each week reveals new world dynamics and milestones that reward all server players upon completion. All players and their allies were also randomly relocated to the edge of the world map at the start of the season.

One of the most interesting additions to these seasons is the Professional Hall, where players can view and study different professions and skills. For example, the Engineer can optimize production to boost resource efficiency and strengthen allies​, while the War Leader can enhance troop combat effectiveness. Players need Professional EXP to level up their profession, earned by killing monsters, capturing cities, and upgrading buildings.

This first season also introduced several new approaches to in-game monetization, including a purchasable weekly subscription (including daily gifts and seasonal gameplay boosts) and two different task-based seasonal battle passes. This update, largely considered the biggest in the game’s history, caused a notable uptick in performance. Most notably, daily downloads began to spike on 23 May, peaking at a 400+% increase on 27 May.

But Last War wasn’t the only prominent mobile title to embrace Seasons in May. AFK Journey also launched its inaugural limited-time Season, Song of Strife, which will run until September. Similar to 4X strategy games, progress will be reset at the end of the season. 

The season is only available to players who have maxed out their characters to level 240 and completed the main story, as well as all AFK Stages. It comes with seasonal upgrade mechanics, a new storyline, battle mechanics, tasks, and in-game purchases – including a battle pass, gachas, and a paid progression plan.

We’ve gotten used to heading to a galaxy far, far away each May, with numerous games launching collaboration events every year to celebrate Star Wars Day (4 May). This year’s intergalactic standout had to be LEGO Fortnite’s Rebel Adventure (playable through the main Fortnite App on all available platforms), which introduced an expansive new map area for players to explore based on the Star Wars universe. 

In the new area, players are tasked with helping the Rebels settle in the world of LEGO Fortnite by collecting resources, building an Outpost, and defeating enemies found in “Imperial Bunkers.” The event added various new items, including building blueprints and iconic weapons (such as lightsabers and Stormtrooper’s blaster rifles). Many of these items are expected to remain available long after the event concludes.

The collaboration also introduced the first-ever LEGO Fortnite Battle Pass, the Rebel Adventure, which features a Free and Premium tier. Those who opt for the paid upgrade automatically receive a Chewbacca outfit and access to more cosmetic rewards. 

Free Fire introduced the Outlaw mode, a limited-time PvP experience in which players must decide whether to be agents or gangsters. Both roles ultimately result in the player earning in-game currency, just in slightly different ways. Agents are tasked with apprehending gangsters, with each successful capture generating a reward, while gangsters aim to steal valuables and cash them in at designated points across the map.

Unlike most modes in Free Fire (and battle royale games generally), Outlaw is a neverending mode with no time limit. Players can leave the mode without penalty whenever they wish (taking any earned cash and unlocked vehicles with them) and jump back in at their leisure. The mode is very similar to one of the most popular Roblox games, Jailbreak.

With the UEFA Euro 2024 Championships on the horizon, Clash of Clans aimed to capitalize on the football fever by launching a major collaboration event with renowned sports star Haaland for its latest seasonal update.

Highlights included Haaland’s Challenge, a month-long event in which a new football-themed challenge map was unlocked every two days. The challenge maps had players engaging in battles to destroy a specially themed base using a pre-selected roster of units, unlocking exclusive football-themed decorations on completion. Challenge attempts were also ranked on competitive leaderboards, with gems (in-game currency) rewarded to the best players.

The collaboration also featured a limited-time battle pass, Clash with Haaland, which ran for 17 days and featured both a free and premium tier. Progression through the pass required Footballs, which could be obtained from a dedicated event building and by raiding players’ bases in multiplayer battles. The reward path contained goodies like limited-time troops (Giant Thrower), a limited-time spell (Yellow Card), currencies, boosts, and more.

It’s worth noting that, despite Haaland’s football fame (he was voted the best player in the world by The Guardian in 2023) and the numerous gameplay additions, the collaboration event didn’t appear to drive more revenue or downloads than past seasonal updates.

Additional midcore gaming highlights

Solo Leveling: Arise, an action RPG based on a popular Korean web novel, debuted in the top 10 in the USA and Japan. It’s since started to fall through the US ranks but continues to perform well in Japan. One of the most intriguing aspects of this game is the unique leveling system for the main character, which allows players to allocate points to desired stats after each level-up. Additionally, the game features two distinct combat modes: one exclusively for the main character and another where only side characters can be used.

There was much anticipation for the launch of Genshin Impact-like Wuthering Waves, and, as expected, it sent ripples throughout the market when it finally launched last month: the game rapidly rose to the top 10 download ranks in the US and Japan. 

While the game shares several similarities with MiHoYo’s open-world monolith, it also has some unique mechanics that set it apart. For example, Wuthering Waves has a Pokémon-style monster-collecting feature (which also doubles as the game’s artifact system) where players can capture enemies and use them as skills. The combat also has a lot of depth, with each character offering distinctive gameplay mechanics.

It’s worth noting that many players have voiced concerns about Wuthering Waves’ leveling experience, with developer Kuro Games releasing an apology statement to try to address the situation. Players also received a free 5* character and gacha tokens as part of the apology, which seems to have prevented any detrimental effect on the game’s overall performance.

Squad Busters, Supercell’s latest game, finished its short soft-launch period and entered the global market at the end of May. The game brings together characters from all of Supercell’s titles into a squad-based PvEvP battle arena in which ten players compete to see who can acquire the most gems. It ranked number 1 in downloads and spent the first week in the top-grossing 10, although only time will tell how well the game will perform long-term. 

Dungeon Fighter Online is one of the highest-grossing games ever made, generating more than 22 billion in revenue worldwide over its lifetime. So, when Tencent announced that it was working with Nexon to develop a mobile version of the game, expectations were naturally very high. The game finally launched on 21 May in China and features the same 2D side-scrolling action and RPG elements as the PC version. It appears to have hit the mark, currently resting at the top spot in both the grossing and downloads ranks in China.

The post Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review May 2024 appeared first on GameRefinery.

Choosing who takes home the trophies is never an easy task, but this year was particularly challenging for our analysts to judge. We saw games igniting player competition and social interaction through innovative LiveOps events, collaborating with beloved IPs to launch all-new gameplay experiences, weaning narrative threads into their content plans, leveraging seasonal themes to keep things fresh, and more.

If you’re struggling with new ways to build on your existing LiveOps strategy, our award winners (which include the likes of Scopely’s Monopoly GO!, Tencent’s PUBG Mobile, and Riot’s League of Legends: Wild Rift) might just have the answers you’re looking for. In this blog, we’ll dive deeper into some of our choices and reflect on the key takeaways.
What makes a great collaboration event?

We’ve written a great deal in the past about the tremendous impact collaboration events can have on player engagement. Theming a live event around an IP that is aligned with the interests of your player base can reengage lapsed players, bring in new players from the IP you collaborate with, and boost monetization through the sale of IP-based skins, characters, and other items. But what makes for a truly great collaboration event?

With around 40% of the top 10% of grossing titles on the iOS US Market incorporating promotional collaboration events into their LiveOps strategies, picking out the best is difficult. All these crossovers come in different shapes and sizes too, spanning everything from fashion brands, automotive, anime, TV, movies, and even other video games.

Some of our favorites last year included Free Fire looking Marvel-ous with a Spider-Man crossover, Roblox turning pink with Barbie, and even Nier: Automata’s android 2B slicing her way into NIKKE: Goddess of Victory. However, two collaboration events in particular really captured our attention.

PUBG Mobile used the Dragon Ball IP to give Battle Royale an Anime Makeover

First up was PUBG Mobile x Dragon Ball Super Z, which won our Best Collaboration Event Award for the midcore market. This enormous event ran for almost two months, from July 13 until September 4. It incorporated all the usual features in these events, including a battle pass, various gacha, and new cosmetic items themed around the partner IP. However, it was selected for the award because of its comprehensive Battle Royale: Dragon Ball Super game mode.

The mode gave PUBG’s regular map an anime-themed makeover, with players flying across the battlefield as iconic Dragon Ball characters like Goku, Vegeta, and Frieza – each of which had unique abilities and upgrade trees. Players could also pick up tons of Dragon Ball Super-themed loot scattered around the map, including armor and Tactical Capsules. There were also portals players could use to fast travel, as well as “wind whirls” used to fly up in the air.

While the mode followed the same “last man standing” principles of battle royale, playing it felt like a genuinely authentic Dragon Ball experience. It demonstrated a rich understanding and appreciation for the IP that transformed what it meant to play PUBG.

Stumble Guys uses IP in live events to introduce new gameplay mechanics

Over on the casual Market, Stumble Guys fumbled home with the other Best Collaboration Event Award. Unlike the rest of the nominees, Stumble Guys stood out for not just one collaboration event but an entire year of them. Throughout 2023 (and now 2024), Stumble Guys has become a collaborative machine, introducing players to everything from MrBeast, Barbie, Monopoly, Spongebob, Nerf, Rabbids, and many more.

Impressively, every collaboration event is just as well executed as the last and acts as the basis for each new season, complete with a battle pass and a wide range of premium cosmetics. Every collaboration introduces a new map themed around the nuances of the IP, many of which have become a permanent addition for players to enjoy, such as:

• The Barbie crossover was based on a neon pink Dreamhouse map where players race to fetch Barbie’s favorite accessories. 
• kuFor the Monopoly collab, players sprinted past GO on a map inspired by the classic board game.
• The Nerf collaboration turned Stumble Guys into a first-person shooter, with players wielding their own Nerf blasters in-game. 

Stumble Guys understands how to do a collaboration event right and does it right so frequently that it’s hard to pull yourself away because you want to see what it will introduce next. More notably, it’s enabled Stumble Guys to fend off tough competition, with NetEase’s Eggy Party and Tencent’s DreamStar struggling to drum up the same consistent engagement without their own stumbling multiverse.

The power of social and competitive events

Building a sense of community is one of the best ways to retain players and drive engagement. Mix that with a sense of competition, and you have an irresistible combination. That’s precisely what Monopoly GO! achieved with its Partner Events, which took home the Best Social Event Award for the casual Market. 

In these events, a player invites four friends to join them. The catch is that rather than simply becoming a team of five, the main player is partnered up with each friend separately to create four teams of two. Each partner event has a theme (like baking a cake, for example), with each team of two having its own target to reach (done by playing the game and building up event currency). Players receive a special reward if they complete the event with all their partners, encouraging them to make the most of their team-ups. 

Social events with a joint goal are usually based around guilds with upwards of 40 players working together. While that’s relatively great performance-wise, because Monopoly GO!’s partner events are much smaller, players typically take these on with their close friends, who are much more likely to encourage them to keep going. This impact is demonstrated in the game’s performance, with the first Partner Event resulting in a surge in daily revenue last July. Similar boosts can be seen each time the Partner Event returns, which is around once a month. 

We’re not the only ones who took note of the partner events either. Royal Match, Phase 10, Clockmaker, Project Makeover, and other mobile games have taken inspiration from Monopoly GO! to launch their own iterations of partner events – many of which have been successful.

Experiment with live events and identify engaging new gameplay features

On the midcore side, the winner was League of Legends: Wild Rift’s Arena. In this 2v2v2v2 event, fights are broken down into several 2v2 rounds in small arenas, with each team having a limited number of lives. Players are restricted to using a limited pool of randomized Champions, adding an element of strategy to the gameplay. It’s monetized with an Arena Perk Pass that offers extra benefits, such as a new match-to-match progression layer with Seasonal Augment upgrading. 

However, the reason the Arena was selected as the winner was because it’s a standout example of the benefits of LiveOps experimentation. Arena was actually first introduced to League of Legends: Wild Rift in November 2023 as a temporary addition. It proved immensely popular with players, resulting in increases of over 100% in Daily Revenue in the US iOS market in the days following its initial introduction (according to our Live Events Tracker), prompting Riot to bring it back as a full-fledged mode in February this year. 

Just like Riot, you can use limited-time events to test new gameplay ideas and features. Once you’ve identified an interesting concept, incorporate this into your content pipeline as a small temporary mode or feature. If it really resonates with players and drums up a lot of excitement, you can build the concept out further and then bring it back as a permanent feature. This way, you’re only heavily investing in features you know are going to be a hit with your players. 

Seasonal events that are more than just a reskin

For mobile games, seasonal events like national calendar days and religious holidays present an easy opportunity to introduce exciting new content (think spooky Halloween levels or festive winter cosmetics) that will drive player engagement. However, with over 90% of the top-grossing 100 iOS games using seasonal events to boost revenue, you need to do more than just reskin an existing event to stand out from the crowd.

Phase 10 is one game doing just that, which is why it won our Best Seasonal Event Award for the casual market. Its month-long Christmas event incorporated a wide range of different gameplay features that offered something for everyone. 

The main event, Winter Wonder Roll, was centered around a board game where players rolled dice to move their token forward and gain materials to customize holiday rooms – combining a minigame and renovation elements. At the same time, there were also signs of hybridization with casino elements (players could spin a slot machine for bonus rewards), alongside co-op tasks for guilds and a dedicated holiday leaderboard, all of which offered additional rewards. 

According to our Live Events Tracker, the game experienced download spikes after the event began on 7 December, particularly in the run-up to the New Year, with increases of around 160% between 30 December and 1 January. In terms of monetization, the event was bolstered through IAP offers that were available throughout its duration. Some of these, such as the Buy 1 Pack & Get 1 Free (Christmas) Bundle, which contained dice event currency required for the event and other goods, boosted daily revenue by as much as 20% while active. 

If you’re considering expanding your own Seasonal Events, remember that not all holidays demand the same attention. The mobile game audience comprises billions of players based in different parts of the world with varied interests and beliefs, many of which will only celebrate certain occasions and national calendar dates. For example, Thanksgiving will be of massive importance to many US players, but as it’s not celebrated elsewhere, it won’t interest players in other regions. In other words, identify which holidays will resonate with your specific audience and plan accordingly. 

Incorporating Narrative elements into LiveOps

Like a gripping book or TV show, many mobile games use captivating stories and engaging narratives to forge a long-lasting connection with their audience. Once players become invested in the fate of the characters and the game world they inhabit, they’re much more likely to return to see what happens next. By incorporating narrative into a LiveOps strategy, developers can keep players coming back time and again as they unveil each new chapter of the story.

June’s Journey, the casual market winner of our Best Use of Narrative in an Event Award, took a rather bold approach to story-driven live events. With over 70% of the top grossing 20% of games on the US iOS market implementing a battle pass, it can be hard to do something new in this area, and yet here we have a narrative-driven battle pass.

The Travels Pass works like any other battle pass: you progress in the main game and slowly move along the reward track. The difference here is that the game’s story is tied to the battle pass; the only way to see what happens is to progress through all the layers. It’s worth noting that players still receive in-game rewards, which are increased for those who opt into the game’s premium reward layer, but the main driver is the actual narrative (the same for both paid and free players).

Admittedly, June’s Journey isn’t the first game to attempt a narrative-driven battle pass. The merge game, Gossip Harbor, also launched a successful battle pass with storytelling elements. However, this wasn’t to the same extent as in June’s Journey, but players still received small nuggets of dialogue as they progressed through. Most notably, those players who opted for the premium layer got to see an exclusive part of the story if they progressed far enough. 

What can other developers learn from these battle passes? Introducing other elements into live events doesn’t necessarily mean building completely new modes or expansive gameplay mechanics. For example, what if narrative was tied to a daily login or co-op event? With some imagination, you can do a surprising amount with existing features to stand out.

Summarising the biggest LiveOps lessons

Whether it’s boosting downloads, bolstering revenue, or driving overall engagement, each of our 2024 Mobile GameDev Award winners demonstrates the impact an innovative LiveOps strategy can have on a mobile title. If you’re considering sprucing up your own live events based on the work of our trophy holders, here are the key things you need to keep in mind:

• Use IP to create new gameplay experiences: PUBG’s Dragon Ball Z crossover was so successful because it used the crossover to provide an experience that genuinely transformed the game for existing players while also layering on the fan service for newcomers attracted to the IP. To replicate that success with your collaboration events, at the very least, you must have a solid understanding of the franchise you intend to bring into the fold. 
• Smaller can be more impactful for social events. By focusing on smaller groups of friends rather than large guilds, like in Monopoly GO!’s Partner Events, players will feel more like part of an actual team and become more invested in the goal.
• When it comes to seasonal events, research which national calendar days and holidays will be most relevant to your player base. For the most important dates, look to Phase 10’s expansive Winter Wonder Roll for inspiration. For others, a simple reskin of a previous event could suffice.
• If you’re looking for more unusual ways to drive engagement, injecting narrative design into existing elements can effectively get players invested in your game’s world. June’s Journey and its story-driven battle pass are good examples of how storytelling can be introduced into preexisting gameplay features.

For more on our Mobile GameDev Award Winners, listen to Episode 54 of the Mobile Games Playbook. Be sure to also check out the complete list of winners and nominees for even more ideas for your own Live Events.

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