Hypercasual games are a huge part of the mobile games market. As such, much like the rest of the industry, the genre was impacted by the global coronavirus outbreak.
As part of Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #4, GameAnalytics CEO Ioana Hreninciuc took to the stage to discuss hypercasual games under the microscope: what happened in 2020?
Overall, there are at least two billion players each month on mobile devices, with over 100,000 games in 18 genres, 22 billion monthly sessions and 150 million monthly transactions.
"The lockdowns have had a significant impact on the industry," said Hreninciuc.
Over the summer, stats began to normalise. However, given lockdown have started to commence again worldwide, the industry is likely to see an increase in activity also.
"Good year for the industry overall. Let's say the industry is in the green," said Hreninciuc.
Platform differences
Top iOS games have 25 per cent D7 retention, four per cent more than the 21 per cent on Android.
On the whole, Android games tend to have lower retention than iOS. Across the industry, it is around four to five per cent behind Apple's platform.
There was a dip in retention around the time lockdown commenced earlier this year. Therefore, it would be safe to assume that another drop will occur in the new lockdown. Hreninciuc went on to explain that Android also appears to be affected seasonally.
When it comes to iOS, there was only a slight drop at the start of lockdown. However, on the whole, retention is more stable on the platform.
Hypercasual
D7 retention is different when it comes to hypercasuals. Apple devices sit at 21 per cent, while Android has dropped to 14 per cent, this amounts to around 50 per cent more players on iOS than Android at day seven.
"There is a general drop in retention for Android," said Hreninciuc.
When it comes to releasing a game on Android, Hreninciuc claimed developers should "expect the unexpected"
However, while fewer things are played on Android, the platform does accumulate more playtime. Moreover, despite the seasonal downward trends, Android does maintain more hours played than iOS.
For example, when the weather is nice, people tend to go outside, which results in less time spent on games.
Furthermore, there are 50 per cent more sessions on Android than iOS. As is the norm with Android, the platform appears to be impacted more depending on the season.
Regional opportunity
"There is also a regional opportunity," said Hreninciuc.
The average session length has been dependent on COVID 19 within the US. However, in Europe, there has been a stable growth in ASL of 20 per cent. Moreover, consumers in Europe tend to play more games.
However, Hreninciuc pointed out that there is an opportunity in Europe.
Meanwhile, with a lower average session length of 30 per cent when compared to Europe, is Asia. However, the region is on the rise. Moreover, thanks to Tencent investing in Voodoo, more hypercasual games are likely to appear in the Chinese market.
PGC Digital #4 will run from November 9th to November 13th. To keep up to date with all of our coverage, check out the roundups here. There's still time to sign up - to find out more and book a ticket, head to the website.
