Hyper-casual games: what it is and how to monetize them | IronSource.

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From the moment the appearance of the App Store is 10 years ago, we watched as MID Corps, casual and hardcore games captured a mobile ecosystem. But today the fourth category of applications dominates in charts – hyper-casual games.

Over the past few years, hyper-casual games have survived unprecedented growth, and this trend is only enhanced.

So what makes these games are so popular? In what direction do they develop? We bring to your attention a complete guide to the rapid development of hyper-casual games and tell me how best to monetize them.

hyper casual games

As the name follows, hyper-casual games are simple games with elementary mechanics, in which an instant transition to the gameplay occurs. Literally "click, and play."

Thanks to its fundamental "simplicity", hyper-casual games are not only easy to pass, but they want to play again and again. Think – how many hours did you spend the game in Chat Master this week? (Let's honest).

The combination of simple mechanics with minimalist UI provides an affordable and incredibly fascinating user experience without any learning. In contrast to other genres, players can instantly immerse themselves in the process and "gathering" to the game.

Also, the difference from other genres, which have a narrower audience, hyper-casual games are created for everyone. "If you can show your game in advertising, and people will immediately understand what it is about, meaning it is a hyper-casual game. She must impress a wide audience, "said Paul Woodbridge, director of Mag Interactive design in one of the release of LEVELUP.

The flourishing of hyper-casual games

Hypercassual games are not quite a new phenomenon, in the sense that they are in some way to revive the arcade of the 70s. However, only recently they became a sensation, taking 10 out of the 15th places in the most loaded charts, when only a few years ago they occupied only 3 places in the top charts.

The flourishing of hyper-casual games can be explained by three main factors: hyper-casual games remain a global phenomenon, IPM (installations per 1000 shows) for hyper-casual games over the past year grew by 70% (which ultimately led to an increase in installations) and that The fact that more and more hyper-casual developers appear. In fact, low entry barriers to the industry helped several previously unknown developers climb the top of the charts.

"As Casual Games are introducing deeper, sincere functions, they become more fascinating, but also more complex. This, in turn, opens the segment for dominating hyper-casual games – games that are easy and fun to play, "the founder of the Deconstructor of Fun Mishka Katkooff said in an interview with IronSource LEVELUP.

Purchase income in Appendix (IAP) in comparison with other genres

Although hyper-casual games are dominated in charts, most of them still can not compete with Clash of Clans for the title of the most profitable game – but there is no need.If MIDKOR and casual games receive the bulk of their purchases from purchases in the application, then hyper-casual games are mostly monetized by advertising. Such a business model is suitable for them due to a huge number of downloads. "While buying income in Appendix (IAP) is relatively small, and the scale of installations are huge, thanks to the video advertise and Cross-Promotion, the developers have the opportunity to scale the business," said Katkooff.

With such scales, developers creating several hyper-casual games, it is not necessary to rely on purchases from purchases in the annex, and, in connection with this, some hyper-casual games do not even accept IAP into account when analyzing LTV.

"This is another business model. You are not interested in building relationships with a player, as a result of which he feels the need to spend money. This is a more short-term relationship when you want the user to quickly pass the level and continued to watch advertising, "Tom Kinniburg said, the founder of Mobile Free to Play on Levelup podcast.

How to monetize hyper-casual games

As we have already noted, hyper-casual games due to their relatively simple economy rely on advertising both on the basic form of monetization, so the choice of the right advertising formats and monetization technologies is extremely important. Both are the key to achieving the goal of the monetization of hyper-casual games – an increase in ARPU.

In addition to the assessment of certain advertising formats, the developers should take into account factors such as the duration of the game session and the number of sessions per day, when developing their advertising strategy. Both of these elements make it possible to deliver users more shows, which, in turn, increases yield. An example of popular hyper-casual games with excellent monetization strategies can be Join Clash and Samurai Flash Designed SuperSonic.

Monetization options
Rewarded Video – Video With Remuneration

When it comes to monetization of users, in many relationships with remuneration video (RVDED video, "RV") is the most effective advertising format. In addition to increasing income for developers, adding video with remuneration also increases the deduction and duration of the session (unlike the intestitial and banners that can sometimes have the opposite effect).

Despite the fact that adding video with remuneration to hyper-casual games can be difficult (due to the lack of a complex application economy), it is worth thinking about creative ways to implement this format. Developers who want to write more video with remuneration can try to add different levels to their games or provide various valuable awards, such as precious stones, extra time, additional life, etc., to increase the player's involvement. The good purpose will be the level of involvement (ENGAGEMENT RATE) from 40% and above, and 4 shows per user per day.

Banners and intestitial

Even if the developers optimized their videos with remuneration, it is impossible not to notice that more than half of users do not interact with this advertising format (and even less shopping in the appendix). It makes Interstitial (full-screen banner) and banner advertising with the best friends of the developers of hyper-casual games, helping them successfully monetize their users.

For Interstitial, two main factors should be taken into account. The first is the number of ads shown in the game session, and the second is its type: Static, Video, or Playable. It is also very important to decide whether the announcement will have the "Skip" option, and if so, after how many seconds it appears? A more aggressive approach (a larger number of sessions, including Playable and video, the Skip button, which will appear only after 5 seconds) will lead to a higher ARPDAU, but can also simultaneously reduce the duration of the session and push away users – so it should be careful .

Ultimately, everything comes down to the search for the golden middle, at which the balance is made between user experience and monetization, to maximize LTV and ARPU. The best way to find a combination, providing the highest LTV is A / B-Testing (A / B Testing). We would recommend to strive for 3 advertising tests for one session.

Developers who want to implement a more complex monetization strategy should think about creating individual advertising slots for different segments. For example, for users who watch videos with remuneration and actively buy in the store will suit a less aggressive approach in the advertising display, since these are users with a high level of involvement and probably also with a high level of deduction. For users who are not monitored by purchases in an application or video with remuneration, a more aggressive approach will be suitable to increase income from hyper-casual games.

Measuring advertising income

Although in hyper-casual games, the main part of income is advertising, obtaining data on this income at the level of the devices is as important as their receipt for games oriented to IAP. As the share of advertising from the overall income of the application increases, this information becomes more important to attract users and for the monetization process as a whole. In a sense, advertising can be very similar to IAP in the sense that you have "Whales" who spend a lot in applications. You can also have "ad Whales", that is, users who bring significant income from active interaction with advertisements. Thus, developers are important to correct its strategy based on data on how users interact with advertising and on these devices at the level of devices. For example, the IronSource advertising revenue measurement tool allows developers to see which user segments do not interact with the video with remuneration, and which can be shown more Interstitial and banner advertising.

In-app bidding

Beyond the implementation of ad units, the monetization stack that powers them is just as important for hyper-casual developers. Acting as an auction among ad networks, in-app bidding, which has gained significant popularity in recent years, allows developers to efficiently automate monetization while maintaining the maximum cost per impression.

Since the monetization of hyper-casual games relies heavily on ads, and hyper-casual developers often have large portfolios of advertisers, activating in-app bidding will help reduce optimization resources. Basically, instead of spending hours manually optimizing multiple waterfalls to maximize eCPM, in-app bidding technology automatically allocates impressions to the highest paying ad network.

For example, IronSource's LevelPlay – In-app bidding is the first solution on the market that gives developers immediate access to leading in-app bidding networks such as Facebook Audience Network, Snap.

The Future of the Hyper-Casual Market

As Cutkoff points out, “hyper-casual games and ads go hand in hand,” changing the game monetization landscape in the process. With a plethora of hyper-casual games coming out every week, developers may need to implement deeper features to stand out from the competition. Hyper-casual games have opened up a whole host of new opportunities in the market, and it will be interesting to see progress in this category this year.

Listen to our first hyper-casual podcast series and subscribe to LevelUp to find out how popular games are made!