Hungry Shark World hits 10m, King pulls its soft-launched midcore game, and why Clash Royale players are churning
Clash Royale is a great game, there's no doubt about it.
So why then is it starting to lose so many of its players, with estimates of up to 20% of players leaving the game?
Michail Katkoff thinks he knows why, and people are clearly interested in finding out, because our article about his blog post over at Deconstructor of Fun on the matter was the most read of last week.
Taking the second place spot is the news that King has already pulled its midcore title, Hero, from the Google Play store, less than a week after we found out it even existed.
Shark week
Third up is Ubisoft and Future Games of London's Hungry Shark World, which has managed to generate 10 million downloads in just six days.
And finally, our Mobile Mavens discuss King's ability to successfully make a midcore game, and we talk to Poki about Color Switch and how using web portals can help drive mobile downloads.
Click the link below to find out more about the articles that caught our readers' eye last week.
#5: How web portal Poki is helping Color Switch reach 150 million downloads
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How web portal Poki is helping Color Switch reach 150 million downloads »Getting your game into the hands of as many people as possible is surely the main goal for most casual developers, especially on mobile.
So if you're looking for somewhere new to put your game, you may consider web portal Poki, which recently signed up Color Switch to its service in an effort to push the game's downloads to 150 million.
We chatted to its co-founder, Michiel van Amerongen, about the service, and what he thinks it can do for other games out there on the mobile market.
Amongst other things, he points out that "with cut-throat competition in the app stores, the web is a cost-effective alternative for game developers to promote their mobile game."
#4: It dominates casual gaming, but can King also be successful in midcore - whatever that is?
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It dominates casual gaming, but can King also be successful in midcore - whatever that is? »King going midcore is big news, that much is obvious. But is the developer even capable of doing it well? And what on Earth is midcore anyway?
To answer both of these burning questions, we threw it over to our Mobile Mavens, who were more than happy to share their thoughts on the matter.
Adam Telfer, Product Lead at Wooga, thought it would go well, saying "King has a leg up compared to most midcore studios in that they have a massive audience they can leverage and cross-promote within."
Meanwhile, on the topic of what midcore actually is, Devin Nambiar, Director of Product Management at Kabam, said "the more I try to define what this is, the more I'm inclined to throw out the label entirely."
Nambiar also commented on King's previous attempts to try things that aren't match-3 games, like the ill-fated Paradise Bay, and suggested that the company may pull it off now it's been acquired by Activision Blizzard.
#3: Looks like Ubisoft has a mobile hit on its hands as Hungry Shark World does 10 million downloads in 6 days
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Looks like Ubisoft has a mobile hit on its hands as Hungry Shark World does 10 million downloads in 6 days »People really like sharks, it would appear. Even though they're big and scary, and have huge teeth and will happily eat people given the chance.
But that hasn't stopped people from downloading Hungry Shark World - it's managed ten million downloads in just 6 days.
Its predecessor, Hungry Shark Evolution, has managed 80 million downloads, so there's a good chance that this new game may well reach the same level of popularity over the next few years.
But it's also doing quite well on the grossing charts, too. At the time the article was published, Hungry Shark World was sitting at #50 on the US App Store top grossing charts, which is impressive given its softer monetisation strategy.
#2: King's soft-launched midcore title, Hero, pulled from Google Play
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King's soft-launched midcore title, Hero, pulled from Google Play »Remember that time King soft-launched a midcore title called Hero, and we all got very excited about it and asked our Mobile Mavens what they thought and everything?
Well, this week King pulled the game from the Google Play store, giving no reason why and leaving us all wondering what on Earth is going on.
It's doubtful the game has been cancelled - after all, the interest surrounding the game is already apparent.
Instead, one would assume that King has reached a target number of downloads, and is now testing the game in that controlled group before launching worldwide, or at least re-entering a public soft-launch.
#1: Here's why players are churning in Clash Royale
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Here's why players are churning in Clash Royale »Players churn. That's a fact of mobile gaming, and games in general - no matter how good it is, after a while, players get bored and move on to another game.
So while Michail Katkoff thinks that Clash Royale is "the best mobile game made to date", he has also taken the time to outline why players are leaving the game in droves.
SurveyMonkey has suggested that the game has lost 20% of its audience over the past month, and while Katkoff can't definitively say why, his points do make a lot of sense.
In particular, he highlights the "grindy" nature of progression in the game, the consistent punishment of experimental play, and the lack of daily variation.
