
The Growth of Hypercasual Games - ohjeez
https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/24/the-truth-about-hypercasual-games/
======
so_tired
This is just a spam piece from the spam company ironsource.

They try to put their spam-bundleware-crapware-search-bar into everything.

And this is just another article trying to convince app developers to make yet
another spam app with spam bundle-ware

~~~
derin
> spam-bundleware-crapware-search-bar

Ironsource doesn't offer any sort of "search-bar" as far as I am aware -
they're a mobile advertisement/UA company.

~~~
so_tired
Seriously dude :

[https://www.benedelman.org/news-021815/](https://www.benedelman.org/news-021815/)

[https://blog.infostruction.com/2018/10/26/adware-empire-
iron...](https://blog.infostruction.com/2018/10/26/adware-empire-ironsource-
and-installcore/)

~~~
derin
Yes, correct. Ironsource is an advertisement/UA company that doesn't offer any
"toolbar". What you're angry at (and rightly so) is the fact that their
network was used to offer malware/adware. As per the first article you linked:

> IronSource is likely to blame third party "partners" for most or all of the
> defects we have listed, but our analysis indicates that IronSource is
> importantly responsible.

Also from the second link:

> That’s not to say that IronSource is necessarily aware that a publisher
> (pay-per-install) is redirecting visitors to sites that impersonate Google
> Chrome.

This is a clear failure on Ironsource's part to secure their network, but it
isn't evidence of any malitious intent on their part.

> This is just a spam piece from the spam company ironsource.

It's their job to deliver ads. And ad mediation. And UA.

> They try to put their spam-bundleware-crapware-search-bar into everything.

They don't have a "spam-bundleware-crapware-search-bar". You're frustrated at
specific advertisements on an advertisement network/the security of the
network as a whole.

> And this is just another article trying to convince app developers to make
> yet another spam app with spam bundle-ware

s/yet another spam app with spam bundle-ware/a mobile application utilizing
advertisements/

I'm not saying anything about the quality of Ironsource as a network, but lets
not make them out to be the boogeyman. They are, at worst, inept.

I am serious, my dude.

~~~
sandworm101
>> but it isn't evidence of any malitious intent on their part.

I don't care. Whether a company acts deliberately evil, or is only negligent,
is a legal distinction. What matters is what happens to me, the user. If they
deliberately do bad things or negligently allow others to do bad things
through them, the net results is bad things coming my way from that company.
My defensive action is the same: avoid.

~~~
derin
Completely valid response.

------
sundvor
I've gotten tired of these superficial kinds of games and find myself
returning to / relearning such heavyweights as Elite Dangerous and Eve Online.
The learning curve especially on the latter is stellar but as a way of really
really chilling out they are both amazing. I've probably always enjoyed the
learning part the most.

Having said that I'm guilty of having way more titles in my Steam library
(most probably still far deeper than what the article regards) than I'll ever
play. There's a certain addictive element, combined with the optimism of
having the time to do them all.

(I prefer to read HN or watch Netflix if I need chill time on the mobile, and
keep it free of games, even though my S10+ is just about the latest and
greatest.)

~~~
teh_klev
> returning to / relearning such heavyweights as Elite Dangerous and Eve
> Online

I just moved house and finally dug out my thrustmaster for a bit of E:D
action, though I do find it a wee bit "grindy". I've also been toying with re-
activating my paid-for Eve accounts and seeking out my old corp. The problem
with Eve though is that it becomes all consuming. One minute it's 6pm on a
Friday evening, in a flash it's suddenly 9am on a Sunday morning.

~~~
ethbro
Eve stops being fun when you start having to carry a corp pager.

~~~
chii
Or it starts getting fun when you have to carry a corp pager!

No other game can pull you in this way, where geo is important because you
live in a timezone opposite to the defender's, and thus can prep and ambush
for when the target's prime-time comes online.

------
twic
> Today, the majority of hypercasual inventory is sold to other hypercasual
> games, or to cross promo campaigns from the same publisher — either way it’s
> hypercasual advertisers running campaigns on hypercasual supply.

Just another day in this perfectly normal and sustainable industry.

------
mihaifm
I would be more interested in the psychology of people spending money in these
games. I played countless casual mobile games, but uninstalled all of them
without spending a dime. It's probably out of principle, since I don't see any
value in buying 10 gems in a mobile game. I also didn't find the need to buy
cosmetic items either (skins and funny hats that some games offer as an
alternative to paying the full price of the game).

However I did encounter a lot of people who gave in to temptations, either out
of frustration, or the need to compare with others, or some other factors that
I don't fully understand. That kind of analysys would've been more
interesting.

~~~
Kiro
I agree and would gladly participate in such a study (since I'm a whale,
having spent five figures on mobile IAP).

~~~
knolan
Can I ask for some context?

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mxfh
It's all about the play situation. It's a genre adapting to one-handed
interaction and 30-second engagement loops or shorter. If you can't play it on
a public transport commute, it doesn't qualify.

Yet somehow the majority of F2P games adopted an outright abusive artificial
"idle"-component, that's heavily monetized, it's just bad, if you see one just
stay away, no good will ever come from that place.

Especially don't let your kids anyway near them, your parenting stands no
chance against hyperoptimized gratification loops, that slowly transition over
into Pay2Win-only in the first 8h or less.

~~~
golergka
I think you're confusing hyper-casual and midcore games. Hyper-casual don't
push for monetization and optimize retention at all costs; what you're talking
(especially with idle-time travian-type games) are midcore games with much
higher LTV and UA costs.

~~~
mxfh
Guess I have to adjust my border between casual and mid-core ;)

You can have a hypercasual core loop with midcore meta/economics mechanics on
top, think _Merge Planes_ , any match 3 game with stuff tucked on. Pure hyper
is normally fine.

------
bubblewrap
What would be a good example for a hypercasual game? What differentiates them
from casual games?

~~~
platetone
I read the whole article and could not figure out what "hypercAUsal" meant or
why they didn't explain it... just realized from your comment it's
"hypercasual".

------
scoutt
My casual gaming consists in ~10 mins trying to beat Stockfish
([https://stockfishchess.org/](https://stockfishchess.org/)). App with no ads,
no distractions, open-source, recreative and good mental exercise.

~~~
HNLurker2
You just can't above stockfish 6 in ~10 min.

------
thorwasdfasdf
Hypercasual games seems like the fast food of the gaming industry. I once
evaluated the reviews of many of these so-called "games". review after glowing
review, I see it over and over again: "uhhh great way to waste time", "great
time waster". As a former builder of strategy games, I'm saddened by what
gaming has become for most people: a way to just waste time, I cringe
everytime i hear that.

~~~
beznet
It's a new audience that these games attract, not necessarily the way gaming
is heading. Everyone has a gaming device in their pocket now where as 10 years
ago only people who sought out gaming would play games.

------
rc-1140
The whole discussion of phone games reminded me that more and more developers
are porting/revamping older games for mobile devices, _and some of them aren
't busted_ like the Chrono Trigger PC port. This is honestly pretty excellent.
I just recently learned that Ys 1 and 2[0] and a bunch of older Square Enix
games[1] like Dragon Quest and Secret of Mana were on Google Play for Android.
I'm always surprised when games that are legitimately enjoyable, work properly
on a phone/tablet or support some kind of controller, and have zero
transactions outside of paying for the game come to mobile. I've been
pleasantly surprised by casual games like World of Goo and Greed Corp, plus
there's emulation of certain old consoles, but full-size games on mobile are a
huge step forward. Haven't tried casting, though I've read it's possible;
proper casting would be a game changer.

[0]:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dotemu.ys1...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dotemu.ys1x)
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dotemu.ys2...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dotemu.ys2x)

[1]:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=802601025697058988...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=8026010256970589886)

------
rienbdj
I was hoping for a concise definition and some examples.

~~~
qlk1123
Maybe this?

[https://blog.applovin.com/hyper-casual-mobile-gamings-
newest...](https://blog.applovin.com/hyper-casual-mobile-gamings-newest-
genre/)

~~~
de_watcher
I was hoping to see examples and a definition in clear text in comments.
Nobody reads anything except HN comments any more. :D

------
noer
Unless I missed it, I'm still not really sure what a hypercasual game is. I'm
guessing it's one of those games where the players is given a number of turns
or lives which reset at timed intervals?

I think they're interesting products, but the kinds of dark patterns used to
hook users is a little bit disturbing to me.

------
ArtWomb
A foothold into the games industry. Like indie budget horror films for a young
director. There are many guides to success online. But they mostly require
large ad spends to engineer growth. No one has yet written the book on zero-
budget nano games development.

But Double Coconuts' CEO David Fox recently spoke exactly on said topic at GDC
Mobile 2019. Video posted when available

[https://schedule.gdconf.com/session/the-flappy-bird-that-
lai...](https://schedule.gdconf.com/session/the-flappy-bird-that-laid-the-
golden-egg-success-in-hyper-casual-/863665)

------
derin
One thing to note is that hypercasual can reach a much wider audience than
traditional gaming genres; it isn't male dominated and isn't exclusive to
younger (15-30) demographics. This, tied with increased accessibility thanks
to its f2p nature and simplified game loops, is most likely what lead to its
recent surge in popularity.

Having said that, it does seem to be slowing down some-what.

~~~
xxs
Is there any measurement to tell if hyper-casual is more engaging than say
youtube or streaming services... or even TV.

If there are in a similar boat, calling it entertainment would be just.
Calling it gaming would be a stretch.

~~~
derin
> Calling it gaming would be a stretch.

Maybe by your personal definition it would, but they are most definitely
games.

------
jeffrallen
Yuck.

~~~
Kiro
Hypercasual is a perfect match for phones. Nothing yuck about it. You're
probably confusing it with something else.

------
kochikame
No discussion of Apple Arcade in the article.

If Apple get that right, that could completely upend the whole free-to play,
freemium, "hypercasual" business model

~~~
dmitriid
> No discussion of Apple Arcade in the article.

Because there's nothing to discuss. The service will only available sometime
this fall, and it's entirely unclear how many games will be available, what
games, their quality etc.

~~~
playpause
Apple planning to launch a new platform in this market is definitely worthy of
discussion in an article about the growth of this market. The reason it’s not
mentioned is the article was published before Apple’s announcement.

~~~
pushpop
The point the previous poster was saying is that there aren't yet enough
details about Apple Arcade to make a discussion. Sure, you could write some
speculation piece but there's already enough people doing that and most of the
time peoples speculations turn out to be worthless anyway.

