The truth about hypercasual games

Hypercasual games have seen unprecedented growth over the past year. Using the average lifetime value of hypercasual players based on data from ironSource’s platform on user level revenue, we estimate the approximate market for hypercasual games to be in the region of $2 billion to $2.5 billion in annual revenue. Even Goldman Sachs is getting in on the game with a $200 million investment in hypercasual powerhouse Voodoo. That’s why we decided to take an in-depth look at the size of the market for hypercasual games, what’s fueled its growth, and what its impact has been on the wider industry — is it cannibalizing other genres and just how sustainable is it really?

What supported hypercasual’s growth

To understand the effect that hypercasual games have had on the industry, it’s important to understand why this genre exploded at such a fast rate. There are two main reasons for this — the demographics and behavior of today’s mobile game players, and what kind of games appeal to them. The image of the gamer is not what it used to be, with a third being over 45 and women representing 55 percent of the market — not the typical image of the hardcore gamer. The EEDER report on mobile and tablet gaming further reveals that how and when people play games is also changing. Instead of lengthy playing sessions, the No. 1 time people play games is while multitasking at home, followed by waiting for someone, while on traveling, taking a break, and then in the bathroom.