3.5 billion hypercasual games were downloaded in the third quarter of 2023, according to Appmagic’s latest report. This figure, while massive, does represent an 8% fall from 3.8 billion in Q2 2023, and a 12.5% decrease from the same period in 2022.
There has been a steady decline in the popularity of hypercasual games over the past few years, leading to Voodoo’s Alex Shea to infamously announce “Hypercasual is dead'' at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2023.
Despite the decline, Tier-1 East reported a 7% quarter-on-quarter increase in hypercasual downloads, reaching 113 million. However, this wasn’t enough to offset the decline elsewhere - Tier-1 West saw a 10% decrease to 529 million, while the rest of the world saw a 7% decline in downloads to 2.8 billion.
Success in numbers
My Perfect Hotel continued its strong performance to be identified as the world’s most successful hypercasual game of the quarter in terms of both installs, being downloaded 31.5 million times and generating $2.47 million. As such, the game’s cumulative revenue per install stands at $0.06, being the only game among the top ten to exceed $0.05.
Race Master 3D - Cat Racing was close behind My Perfect Hotel's lead in terms of downloads, with 30.32 million downloads. However, the game generated just $291,341 in revenue, meaning revenue per install on the title was just $0.009.
My Perfect Hotel is one of just three newcomers to the top 10 charts, alongside Magic Piano Tiles:music game in seventh place (23.25 million downloads and $298,492 in revenue) and Twerk Race 3D - Running Game in ninth place (22.71 million downloads and $6,805 in revenue).
AppMagic identified no specific trends in the top ten inspired by social media, which the report notes as an oddity. However, clones of existing titles persist.
The report also notes an increase in hybridcasual titles, and identified a trend of games that have previously garnered attention rising in the ranks thanks to refining their mechanics and creatives, returning to the charts in the process.
Last month, a report by analytics company Diandian identified My Perfect Hotel as one of Europe’s most downloaded games in August.
