Our much-awaited industry report is here! “From Hyper to Hybrid in 2024,” provides an in-depth analysis of the evolving trends in the mobile gaming industry. The report primarily focuses on the hyper-casual and hybrid-casual genres, and the user acquisition trends for both genres / business models.

The shift from hyper to hybrid represents a significant development in the mobile gaming industry, as developers blend the simplicity and accessibility of hyper-casual games, with the more engaging game mechanics typical for casual games. A crucial aspect of this evolution is the monetization strategy. Traditionally, hyper-casual games relied predominantly on in-app advertising (IAA) for revenue. However, the hybrid model is unique in that it integrates in-app purchases (IAP) with IAA—creating a more diverse and potentially lucrative revenue stream.

We started 2023 with the apocalyptic sentence: “Hyper-casual is dead”. But that was only part of the story. Hyper-casual isn’t dead. It has undergone two significant changes. Firstly, it has persevered in its original form in emerging countries like Vietnam. Secondly, it’s adapting its business model to capitalize on IAP revenue, giving rise to a new trend known as Hybrid-Casual. Hybrid-Casual represents an evolution of Hyper-Casual. Not a rupture.

In a competitive market like mobile games, it’s almost a miracle to come up with new forms of revenue. In 2024, we’ll see non-hypercasual studios trying to develop Hybrid-Casual games, such as “Match Factory!” by Peak, and Hyper-Casual studios consolidating their Hybrid-Casual business strategy, discovering the best sub-genres to pursue, like SayGames and Supercent with Idle Arcade and Voodoo with Puzzle. This year will be the year of the Hybrid-Casual.

– Carlos Pereira – Mobile Game Researcher and Business Analyst

Here is a sneak-peak of some insights from the report:

1. Android continues to see a rise in ad spend share, while iOS experiences a record high in average CPI
2. Japan, despite its high CPI, remains a key market for advertisers on iOS
3. The USA maintains its dominance in terms of ad spend share both on Android and iOS
4. Applovin, Mintegral, Google Ads are battling each other for the #1 position in various ad network rankings