Hypercasual games are shrinking while hybrid casual is on the rise | Liftoff
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The hypercasual games market share has shrunk by almost 20% percentage points in the past year, but hybrid casual games are on the rise, according to a report by mobile growth acceleration platform Liftoff.
The research is part of Liftoff‘s 2023 Casual Gaming Apps Report, revealing which mobile game genres and subgenres are driving the most installs and the latest trends shaking up the casual gaming mobile market.
The total download market share of the hypercasual genre has fallen from around 50% in Q1 2021 to just over 30% in Q1 2023. Mobile game developers are adapting by combining game mechanics and layers from two or more genres to create hybrid casual games.
Hybrid casual games are a new genre that evolved from hypercasual games. They feature hypercasual core gameplay and mid-core game elements. This hybrid nature allows developers to appeal to a wider audience and boost engagement and monetization.
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Hybrid casual games have a broader motivational appeal and more monetization opportunities due to their mix of different gameplay layers, Liftoff said.
Garden Affairs and BTS Island are the only traditional “match 3” games released in the last two years that have managed to become top-grossing titles, with market overcrowding making it almost impossible for emerging titles in the subgenre to breach the charts.
Minigames are on the rise. About 23% of the 200 top-grossing casual games use minigames that differ from their core
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