In the State of Play series, we share in-depth interviews with featured industry experts at Unity events.
In our first interview, we sat down with Samantha Benjamin, Director of Growth and LiveOps at Supersonic from Unity. At Appfest 2024, Samantha analyzed mobile gaming’s industry-wide shift from hyper-casual to hybrid-casual games. Here, she shares her insights into the trends that brought about the transition, what the shift means for both publishers and advertisers, and Supersonic’s approach to both defining and publishing hybrid-casual games.
1. What is the current state of the hyper-casual market and how did we get here?
The hyper-casual market has seen significant growth since its emergence around 2016. It was once a fast-growing genre, bringing in a huge number of new players and offering advertisers massive volumes of ad inventory. However, as of 2022-2023, it faces a decline in installs and market interest.
This slowdown is attributed to factors such as post-COVID economic adjustments, rising user acquisition (UA) costs, and diminishing eCPMs. As advertisers face more competitive markets and declining returns, hyper-casual’s once-dominant position has been challenged. Despite these challenges, it still accounts for around a third of mobile gaming ad impressions, which shows its lasting importance as a supply source.
2. How has hyper-casual contributed to the current state of the mobile gaming and app ecosystem?
The hyper-casual genre played a pivotal role in bringing new players into the mobile gaming ecosystem. By offering easy-to-understand gameplay and high marketability, it effectively acted as a "funnel" for converting non-gamers into mobile gamers. Furthermore, hyper-casual helped expand the ad ecosystem by generating a massive volume of impressions that advertisers could buy. This expanded supply helped major gaming studios diversify their UA strategies, reaching users more effectively through ad-supported apps.
"The key takeaway is that while UA costs are higher, we now have the tools and models to maximize revenue potential by making better use of the available inventory and targeting the right user segments more efficiently."
3. As you mentioned, UA is highly competitive today. But eCPMs are still rising. What has contributed to this and what can we take from this trend?
The rise in eCPMs is largely due to the maturing ad networks and improvements in their data science and optimization algorithms. As the mobile gaming industry faced challenges such as privacy restrictions and rising costs, networks focused on improving targeting precision, ad placements, and data analytics. This optimization has allowed for better monetization, even in a more competitive environment.
For us, the key takeaway is that while UA costs are higher, we now have the tools and models to maximize revenue potential by making better use of the available inventory and targeting the right user segments more efficiently.
4. How have the changes in CPI rates affected game publishers and studios?
As CPI rates have risen, publishers and studios have been forced to adapt by increasing their focus on lifetime value (LTV) and retention. With higher UA costs, studios now need to ensure they can generate sufficient revenue from users over a longer period. This has led to greater adoption of hybrid monetization models and a focus on optimizing the user experience to improve engagement and monetization. And as a result a new mobile game genre has emerged, hybrid-casual.
"At Supersonic, we see hybrid-casual games as a combination of the mass appeal and marketability of hyper-casual games with the deeper, more engaging gameplay and content usually affiliated with casual games."
5. How does Supersonic define a hybrid-casual game?
At Supersonic, we see hybrid-casual games as a combination of the mass appeal and marketability of hyper-casual games with the deeper, more engaging gameplay and content usually affiliated with casual games. Hybrid-casual games usually offer a balance between ad-based monetization (IAA) and in-app purchases (IAP), with IAP becoming a significant revenue stream.
For us, a hybrid-casual game must appeal to a broad audience while also providing enough complexity to retain and monetize users long-term. It integrates mechanics and monetization strategies from both the hyper-casual and casual game genres.
6. How does Supersonic evaluate the success of a hybrid-casual prototype in terms of both its UA and monetization?
When evaluating a hybrid-casual game prototype, we focus on several key metrics:
- User Acquisition: Strong marketability and a good CPI-to-LTV ratio are critical. The game should have a broad appeal and show potential for scale.
- Monetization: We assess both IAP and IAA performance. The game should show healthy IAP conversion rates and a mix of monetization strategies (e.g., rewarded ads, interstitials, and in-app purchases).
- Engagement: Retention metrics (especially Day 7) and user engagement (e.g. session length, playtime) are key to assessing long-term potential.
- Balance: A successful prototype will offer a balanced monetization strategy, where ads and in-app purchases co-exist without cannibalizing each other.
7. How long does it typically take to create a hybrid-casual game and what kind of resources are required?
Typically, the development time for a hybrid-casual game is longer than a hyper-casual game - taking around 12-18 months from initial concept to launch, as the game requires more complex mechanics and content.
Additionally, you also have to balance the game economy to effectively create pressure points to monetize users through IAP and ad offers. So, a strong development team is required to handle the core gameplay and complex monetization mechanics as well as balance the game’s economy.
8. How does Supersonic optimize and iterate on hybrid-casual games?
We apply a rigorous testing and iteration process for hybrid-casual games that includes constant A/B testing and retention and engagement optimization, particularly for Day 7 and beyond. We also employ creative iterations for UA and data-driven adjustments to improve monetization models.
9. How do creative strategies differ for hybrid-casual games compared to hyper-casual?
Creative strategies for hybrid-casual games are more complex and targeted than for hyper-casual games. For hybrid-casual games, we focus on deeper, more engaging gameplay in the ad creatives, that highlight both IAP and ad monetization opportunities and segment ads based on user behavior.
"Hybrid-casual games represent the future of mobile gaming, providing publishers and studios with the ability to scale their games more sustainably."
10. What will be the long-term impact of the hybrid-casual genre for publishers and studios?
Hybrid-casual games represent the future of mobile gaming, providing publishers and studios with the ability to scale their games more sustainably. Over the long term, we expect more stable revenue generation due to a balanced monetization model, a lower volatility in user acquisition costs compared to hyper-casual games, and a higher quality of user. Hybrid-casual games will also encourage greater innovation in game development and monetization strategies.
11. From an advertiser’s perspective, what does the continued rise and dominance of hybrid-casual games mean?
For advertisers, the rise of hybrid-casual games is a positive development. It offers high-volume impressions from games with a broad appeal, while creating new avenues to reach higher-quality users who are more likely to make in-app purchases and engage with ads. Hybrid-casual games also provide longer engagement and more playable ad opportunities, especially with rewarded videos. These represent better monetization opportunities for advertisers and the ability to target a more diverse inventory which can help scale campaigns in a more sustainable way.
