Casual Games Report 2024

C asu al
Gam es
Report
2024 :
Follo w in g
5 Route s
to
Succe ss

For the casual mobile games market, 2024 was the year when strategies shaped by the
challenges of the past three years began to take form. As some doors closed—like
easier funding from investors and cheaper user acquisition—developers opened others,
shifting their focus to boosting LTV
through LiveOps and deeper monetization, and not
just in casual games but hypercasual and hybridcasual genres as well.

As a result, the Tier-1
West
casual gaming market grew by 11.7%
YoY ,
while downloads
increased by a modest 4.1%. Today ,
the casual market stands at $15.2B in IAP revenue
alone—a vast ocean filled with opportunities to seize. But where to go and how to
choose your niche for 2025?

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T o
explore the matter,
we’re diving into the five casual genres that reflect key market
trends, showcase different
growth paths, and highlight the challenges of breaking into
various niches. By doing this, we can better understand how to approach these spaces
in 2025. That is why,
for this research, we’ve focused on Match-3 with Complex Meta ,
Merge-2 with Complex Meta , Match 3D , Sort Puzzle , and Casual Casino .

T o
produce the report, we use the data on casual games from Tier-1
West
countries,
which include the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany.
We
chose
these markets because they offer
the most useful insights for Western
developers, who
are, quite certainly,
most likely to be reading this.
These are but a few points we were able to cover and draw insights into as a result:

● What the hottest genre in the industry is right now—and how to spot the next one
up;

● Why market structure can matter more than whether or not a genre is growing;
● How UA challenges are reshaping monetization strategies of casual games;
● Why developers need to think about long-term retention and LiveOps earlier on
than ever.

Without further ado, let’s
dive into the first genre!

M atc h -3
wit h
Com ple x
Meta :
Th e
Roya l
Gen re

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wit h
Meta
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In 2024, Match-3 games experienced a 21% YoY
decline in downloads but delivered an

impressive 13% growth in revenue. A big part of this growth boils down to
Royal
Match
—an absolute market leader responsible for just over half (51%) of the genre’s

revenue share in Tier-1
Western
countries. If we exclude Royal Match , however,
the
picture isn’t as positive—the market actually declined by 8% YoY
in revenue.

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wit h
Meta

For Royal Match , 2024 was the year when audience scaling gave way to focusing on
ways to improve monetization and LiveOps. This is also reflected in the revenue per
download (RpD) ratio, which grew quite steadily throughout the year and reached an
impressive $55 in December.

Previous market leaders—
Gardenscapes
,
Homescapes
,
Project Makeover
, and other
long-standing titles—went through a similar transformation some time ago. Now,
it’s
the
market’ s
unicorn’s
turn to mature and evolve.

R oya l
Matc h :

R eve nue
and
Dow nlo ads
Dash board

This pattern of revenue growth outpacing that of the downloads will actually appear
many times throughout this report. While it might seem repetitive, don’t worry—behind
those numbers lie many success stories worth analyzing, and that’s
exactly what we’ll
do!
In the case of Royal Match , that shift was successful because of the following changes:
● Personalized LiveOps grid: The Live Ops grid in the game is divided into two
categories—calendar-based and trigger-based, for active players who have
completed all events in the main grid.

● Older features reworked: The previously permanent album feature was
replaced by limited-time events, such as the
Royal Collection
and
Summer
Collection
, which proved to have a positive effect
on player engagement due to
their time-limited nature.
●
New social features: Events like the
Archery Arena
leaderboard and the
T eam

T ournament
were added for players to compete in teams.
● Innovative event integration: For example, Dream Games adopted co-op
events from the Casual Casino genre. Starting with
Dragon Nest
earlier in the
year ,
they refined the concept and wrapped up 2024 with the successful
T rain

Journey
event in December .

In 2024, the genre’s
top 10 remained largely stable, with minimal changes compared to
2023. The top 4 spots— Royal Match , Gardenscapes , Homescapes , and Project
Makeover —held firm, continuing to dominate the market and securing the majority of
T ier-1
West
revenue for yet another year.

M atc h -3
wit h
Meta :

T o p
10
Gam es

When it comes to newcomers, there were only two new entries into the top league:

Matching Story – Puzzle Games
by Vertex
and
Mystery Matters
by Playrix, which
replaced
Home Design Makeover
and
Decor Match
in the rankings. Both were launched
in 2023, showing that breaking into the top tier of the Match-3 genre takes time, even for
the best-executed titles.

On the one hand, consistency at the top highlights the ongoing dominance of
established leaders, leaving little room for new players to carve out significant space in
the genre. On the other hand, the 8.3% success rate of new titles demonstrates that

there is still some wiggle room to build successful projects, even if they don’t break into
the top 10 right away.

Out of 60 new titles launched in Tier-1
West,
five managed to reach the $50k/month
success benchmark we set for this report:
●
T ruck
Star
by Century Games: A male-first Match-3 game that makes great use

of the trucker aesthetic, targeting a newly found niche in the market.
●
Hollywood Crush: Match3 Puzzle
by YOTT A
GAMES: A fashion-focused game
similar to Project Makeover , but with a stronger emphasis on red carpet themes
and celebrity glamor.

●
Ellen’ s
Garden Restoration
by Storm8 Studios: This game leverages the
personal brand of the well-known comedian and TV host Ellen DeGeneres;
●
Christmas Match: Home Design
by Narcade: Launched at the end of the year,

the game leans into its Christmas theme with visuals and ASO fully tailored to
holiday and New Year
searches.
●
Roomscapes
by Playrix: A new title from one of the genre leaders that underwent
its test drive in 2024. While traffic
acquisition has currently been suspended, we
might see a return in 2025.

A unique and easy-to-grasp concept is one way to capture the audience’s
initial
attention and stand out in an oversaturated market. However,
building on that first
success is a far more complex and critical task. In this regard, Century Games’ Truck

Star stands out as the prime example: launched in May 2024, the game exceeded
$10M in IAP revenue by the end of the year.
A huge part of this success can be
attributed to its engaging and well-structured LiveOps, which has been very rich and
immersive from the very start.
T ruck
Star follows the formula established by
Chrome Valley
Customs
, which holds the

10th position on the market. The game has essentially created a new subgenre of
Match-3 games specifically targeting the male audience. We
explored the success of
both games in
our previous reports
, discussing the emergence of this new subgenre.

M ale -fir s t
Matc h -3
gam es:

M ore
in
th e
H1
2024
re port
.
W ait,
there’s
actually a fourth success story from last year.
This one was far more

predictable—some might even say inevitable. You’ve
probably guessed it already:
Royal
Kingdom
, the second game from Dream Games, the creators of the hugely successful
Royal Match .

Soft-launched back in April 2023, Royal Kingdom went global in late November 2024.
During that time, the game generated over $23M in revenue, reaching an impressive
$5M per month by December.
It’s
an incredible achievement—but is it enough for one of

the most successful studios in gaming history? Surprisingly,
the
trajectory is quite similar

to Royal Match , which also reached its $5M–6M monthly revenue range about the same
time after going global.

R oya l
Kin gdom
by
Dre am
Gam es

However ,
it’s
still too early to predict the long-term success of Royal Kingdom . While
Royal Match stood out with numerous USPs compared to other market leaders at the
time, some might argue that Royal Kingdom doesn’t differentiate
enough—from Royal
Match itself. Here are a few reasons why it might not become the next market leader:
● The biggest gameplay change in Royal Kingdom is the introduction of PvE levels,
which show up every five levels. Beyond that, however,
most of the gameplay
feels very similar to what Royal Match already offers.

● The game’s
LiveOps are mostly just reskinned versions of Royal Match events.
● The meta gameplay also lacks any significant novelty apart from a slight thematic
change that doesn’t fundamentally alter the player experience.
W ant
to
be
th e
fir s t
to
le arn
Roya l
Kin gd om ’s
eve nt
sch e dule
and
it s
best
pra ctic e s?

R each
out
to
us
and
get
yo ur
fr e e
dem o!

This similarity means that Royal Kingdom might struggle to attract a new audience and
risks becoming more of an alternative option for Royal Match players. With a parallel

LiveOps schedule and reskinned events, players are likely to feel torn between the two
titles—and it wouldn’t be surprising if many decide to stick with Royal Match .

That said, Royal Kingdom is a fantastic game, and if Royal Match weren’t already out
there, we’d probably be a lot more optimistic. The game has some big shoes to fill, and
we’re excited to see what Dream Games has in store for 2025!
Match-3 With
Complex Meta: Key Thoughts
The success rate of 11.7%
in Tier-1
West
might sound impressive, but don’t let this
number deceive you. It comes down to just four games, two of which were created by
some of the most prominent studios in mobile gaming: Dream Games and Century
Games. While there’s
still room for creative ideas and fresh approaches in the genre,
long-term success will also depend on bigger budgets for LiveOps, UA, and top-tier
talent to compete with the best.
M erg e-2
wit h
Com ple x
Meta :
Adva n cin g
Mon etiz a tio n
an d
Perfe ctin g

L iv eO ps

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In 2024, the Merge-2 with Meta genre experienced a significant 43% YoY
increase in
downloads, rising to 60 million from 42 million in 2023. Even more impressive was its
revenue growth, which soared by 106% YoY ,
doubling from $250M in 2023 to $515M in
2024.

● The growth in the Merge-2 with Meta genre was fueled by market leaders
adopting new monetization and LiveOps strategies. However,
unlike Match-3 with
Complex Meta, the market structure here is quite different,
with no single game
capturing half of the genre’s
revenue. Before 2023, this was different,
and the
majority of revenue was generated by one single leader:
Merge Mansion
. Today ,

Metacore’ s
hit shares its success with several other long-standing titles from the
genre, including
T ravel
Town
,
Gossip Harbor
, and
Seaside Escape
.

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wit h
Meta

This collective growth can largely be attributed to the strong focus on LiveOps. In 2024,
developers not only got faster at copying and testing successful ideas from within the
genre but also actively adopted best practices from other genres, such as Casual
Casino and Match-3.

For example, Gossip Harbor and Seaside Escape were clearly inspired by
Coin Master
,
leading to the introduction of customizable and growth offers
shortly after they debuted
in Moon Active’s
flagship title. At the same time, the developers of Gossip Harbor likely
kept an eye on Merge Mansion updates, testing similar features—such as the
Secret
Supply
event with its gacha machine mechanic.

T o
see how much work has gone into Gossip Harbor , just take a look at its event
schedule. In our LiveOps & Updates Calendar,
you’ll notice a clear increase in both the
variety and frequency of events, especially the Seasonal and the Irregular.
The same
picture can be seen across all the top games in the genre today!

G ossip
Harb or
’s
eve nts
in
AppM agic ’s

L iv e O ps
& Update s
Cale ndar

The competition is heating up, making it even harder for new titles to break through. To

succeed, newcomers will need not just a polished core but also a well-structured event
schedule right from the start.

That environment is reflected in the quite dynamic Top
10 ranking, where almost every
app changed its position over the year:
● Travel
Town
claimed the top spot;
● Gossip Harbor surpassed Merge Mansion to secure the second place;
● Seaside Escape has already outperformed Merge Mansion in Worldwide

revenue, and Tier-1
West
is likely to follow.

M erg e-2
wit h
Meta :

T o p
10
Gam es

T wo
games outdoing the mighty Merge Mansion mark a new era for the genre, which
had been dominated by Metacore’s
title for over three years!

However ,
developers didn’t take the loss lightly.
By the end of 2024, Merge Mansion
began testing best practices from other casual games: for example, they introduced an
Album event that, from the start, made use of the industry’s
best tips and tricks. All this
led to a new all-time high revenue worldwide that December.
Will the game manage to

snatch the number-one spot once again? Looking forward to finding out!

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and
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Dash board

While the top five games in the ranking are locked in fierce competition, the rest of the
T op
10 is equally dynamic, with two games maintaining their positions and three being
replaced by fresh entries:
●
Adventure Island Merge
by FlyBird: With a setting similar to Travel
Town
, the
game uses misleading creatives to lower CPI, which helped it climb to the 6th
spot.
●
T aylor ’s
Secret: Merge Story
by Merge Story: Its traffic
acquisition has stopped,
and if this continues, the game is likely to drop out of the Top
10;
●
Road Trip:
Royal merge games
by Vizor:
The game features a meta that is
unique for the genre, built around an expedition mechanic that was already
mastered in
Klondike Adventures
—V izor’s
flagship title.

M erg e
Pris o n:
Hid den
Puzzle
and
Merg e
Adve ntu re :
Merg in g
Gam e

As for the success rate, only 2 out of 64 titles released this year made it past our
$50K/month success benchmark:
●
Merge Prison: Hidden Puzzle
by the Hong Kong-based publisher Blue Ultra
Game: The game’s
female prison setting is similar to the popular Netflix series
Orange Is The New Black , while its meta gameplay resembles an Escape Room
puzzle, creating a fresh thematic blend for the genre.
●
Merge Adventure: Merging Game
by the Cyprus-based Green Pixel. The game is
a blend of adventure and merge genres. Just like in the above-mentioned Vizor ’s

Road Trip
, the game implements meta from Playrix’s
Scapes titles.

In fact, having two successful games is a positive sign for the genre! Throughout all of
2023, there were none—you can read more about this in
our previous report
. This low
success rate suggests that, despite the genre’s
growth, competition is too tough for any
new well-grossing games to appear regularly.

Merge-2 with Complex Meta: Key Takeaways

Although the market grew significantly in 2024, it hasn’t exactly become any more
welcoming to the new kids on the block. On the contrary,
breaking into the genre in

2025 will require new titles to experiment with meta and focus heavily on their LiveOps
grid early on—at a stage where developers would typically be polishing concepts,
refining core gameplay,
and building early meta. The upside? The Merge-2 top league
has become a hub for the best practices in the casual market, so you know where to
look for inspiration!

W e
have five Merge-2 games in our LiveOps & Updates Calendar,
where you can find
everything about their events, including their evolution and their impact on performance.
Y ou
can read more about the tool in
this short article
.

M atc h
3D :
Tra n sit io nin g
to
Casu al

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Match 3D saw one of the most impressive yearly growth rates, nearly doubling its
revenue with a 97% YoY
increase. Once again, revenue growth outpaced that of the
downloads, mirroring the trends we saw in the previous two genres. However,
unlike
Match-3 and Merge-2, the growth in Match 3D was driven by new titles rather than
long-established games simply boosting their revenue.
In fact, the only game that made solid IAP revenue and dominated the genre for 18

months straight,
T riple
Match 3D
by Boombox Games, saw its Tier-1
revenue decline
from $10.6M per month in Dec 2023 to $6M in Dec 2024, gradually losing ground over

the year .

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By March 2024, a new leader had seized its place—
Match Factory!
by Peak Games,

which generated $158M in yearly revenue and is now responsible for a tremendous
42% of the genre’s
total revenue.

Part of the reason behind the success of
Match Factory!
is how the game expands the

original Triple
Match 3D formula. It introduces meta-features and social mechanics—like
clans, leaderboards, and goal-setting—that enhance long-term retention while the core
gameplay remains quite hypercasual. There’s
something else that’s
hard to ignore—and
even harder to put into words: the unique touch that Peak Games brings to its titles. It’s

reflected in the top-notch visual quality and that distinct feel, don’t you agree?

W hile
this success has shaken up the genre’s
Top
10, it wasn’t the only noteworthy
change. Four new titles entered the rankings, pushing out older games and marking a
significant shift in the genre’s
competitive landscape.

M atc h
3D :

T o p
10
Gam es

Interestingly ,
two of the Top
10 titles—
Match Villa:
Makeup ASMR
and
Match Frenzy –

ASMR Tycoon
—embrace the viral “gross” aesthetic built around the removal of
exaggerated imperfections, like popping pimples or clearing out dirt. It ties perfectly into
the ASMR theme and emphasizes the oddly satisfying experience. Plus, it works well
for creatives and boosts CTR, which is why this aesthetic is often used across many
casual genres!

The same aesthetic appears in one of the three successful titles that surpassed our

$50K benchmark:
Match Rush 3D: ASMR Care
by AlphaPlay Games. Among the 2024
launches, it achieved the highest lifetime revenue at $575K, though its performance
declined toward the end of the year to $30K/month in December.

The other two games to make our success cut are
Match Party – Tile
3D
and
T riple
Pile

3D
. However ,
both started to decline in January 2025 and could follow the path of Match
Rush 3D: ASMR Care if nothing changes—good traction initially,
but now stagnating
and at risk of fading out.

The most likely reason for such declines is the challenge of retaining the players. This
highlights an important point: polished core gameplay and low-cost user acquisition are
no longer enough in today’s competitive landscape. To
succeed, developers need a
clear strategy for both short- and long-term player retention right from the start—a
lesson we’ve already learned from the previous genre!
U se
AppM agic
to
analy ze
oth er
genre s,
ju st
lik e
we
do
in
th is
re p ort.
Wit h
18
to ols
and
500+

t a gs,
yo u
ca n
fin d
eve n
th e
best- h id den
gem s
am ong
th e
14
mil lio n
apps
on
th e
pla tfo rm .

C onta ct
us
now
fo r
yo ur
fr e e
dem o!

Match 3D: Key Thoughts
Over time, the genre has transitioned from hypercasual to casual. Initially,
a unique and
well-designed core was enough to succeed with an ad-based hypercasual model.
However ,
as the genre evolved, developers began incorporating meta-features,
experimenting with difficulty
curves, and refining their monetization strategies.
T oday ,
many top titles incorporate a simplified Royal Match -like meta, Match-3-inspired
boosters, and event mechanics borrowed from Casual Casino games. Moreover,

developers often experiment with level design and difficulty
curves to make the core
more engaging in the long run. Overall, Match 3D remains a relevant genre with room
for innovation, particularly in enhancing long-term retention and upgrading LiveOps
strategies.
However ,
breaking into the genre is now much tougher than it was a year ago. Wishing
you had been part of the first wave? Don’t worry—there’s
always the next emerging
genre to explore!

S ort
Puzzle :
th e
Hotte st
Gen re
of
th e
Year

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Sort Puzzle is currently one of the fastest-growing genres in terms of revenue. The
genre experienced explosive growth in the second half of 2023 and carried that
momentum into 2024, achieving an impressive x5.6 YoY
revenue increase! Sort Puzzle
games were already popular in terms of downloads in Tier-1
West,
so their recent
success isn’t only about new audiences finding the genre: rather,
it’s
about the
breakthrough in monetization strategies.

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Puzzle s

Y ou
wouldn’t be wrong to state this resembles the trend we saw in Match 3D—a genre
that underwent a similar shift in RpD at the beginning of 2023. Since then, Match 3D
has experienced steady growth before slowing down in H2 2024. Meanwhile, Sort
Puzzle appears to be at a pivotal point and is still showing no signs of losing this

momentum.

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a nd

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Puzzle

Looking at the top charts, it is clear that the market has been flooded with new titles,
bringing a wave of fresh ideas and gameplay twists. Remarkably,
6 of the top 10 games

are newcomers, and one of them is the current leader of the genre:
Hexa Sort
by Lion
Studios with its $28.5M revenue. The game began scaling in January 2024 and claimed
the No.1 spot in just six months, pushing
Block Jam 3D
by VOODOO down to second
place after its 15 months of leadership!

S ort
Puzzle :

T o p
10
Gam es

Looking at the Top
10, it stands out how much the gameplay and themes of the
top-grossing games have evolved. One of the most notable changes is the
disappearance of Water
Sort Puzzles. Back in 2022, 6 out of 10 games were water
puzzles, with three more being simply the reskinned versions of the same gameplay.
By
2023, only two of the water puzzles remained, and in 2024, none made it into the Top

10.

The signs of single-theme dominance are still evident in 2024: 4 of the top 10 games in
the genre include the word goods in their title. These revolve around sorting household
items and food, a natural fit for the genre fundamentally based on organizing and
categorizing stuff!

G et
Colo r
– Wate r
Sort
Puzzle
b y
Zephyr
Gam es
and

G oods
Puzzle :
Sort
Challe nge
b y
Falc o n
Gam es

Y et
the difference
goes beyond just shifting to a more relatable setting—there are also
significant tweaks to the gameplay as such:

● Time
pressure over puzzle-solving : In goods Sort Puzzles, the challenge often
comes from time constraints rather than finding the correct solution or undoing
mistakes. Monetizing time pressure is a proven strategy that is commonly seen in
Hidden Object and Time
Management games.
● Set of boosters : Goods-sorting games frequently incorporate Match-3-style
boosters that help players deal with challenges faster.
These not only enhance
gameplay but also deepen monetization.
● Simplistic decoration meta : Many goods-sorting games include a basic
decoration meta heavily inspired by Royal Match that works well on goal-setting
and, therefore, retention.

At the same time, mechanics inherited from Water
Puzzles, like unlocking new sorting
spaces and the heavy use of ads, bring Goods Puzzles closer to hypercasual territory.

Again, this reminds us of Match 3D, where reworked difficulty ,
refined monetization, and

a simplified decoration meta are commonly found in new titles. And there were plenty of
them last year!

D on’t
mis s
th e
next
big
Sort
Puzzle
tit le !
Sta y
ahea d
of
tr e nd s
and
dis co ve r
em erg in g
nic h e s

w it h
AppM agic ’s
Mark e t
Segm ent
and
To p
App s
to ols .

C onta ct
us
now
fo r
yo ur
fr e e
dem o!

In 2024, 227 Sort Puzzle games were launched, with six of them surpassing our
$50K/month benchmark. While a 2.6% success rate might seem low,
it’s
important to
look beyond just IAP revenue metrics. As noted earlier,
the genre still heavily relies on
ad revenue, which isn’t reflected in these figures.

For instance,
Nut Sort: Color Sorting Game
by Zephyr Mobile hasn’t yet reached $50K
per month in IAP revenue. However,
with over 9.6M installs, its IAA revenue must be
exceeding that benchmark by far!

As for the games that formally surpass $50K/month in IAP revenue, their heavy reliance
on inspiration from competitors stands out. For instance,
Magic Sort!
and
Royal Sort

borrow extensively from Royal Match , not just in UI/UX and art style but also in core and
meta. Others, like
Hexa Master 3D – Color Sort
, experiment with their art style to build
on the success of the Hexa Sort formula.

This trend shows just how vital it is to keep your finger on the pulse of market dynamics
and draw inspiration from leading titles—not just within your genre but across the entire
casual gaming space!

Sort Puzzle: Key Thoughts
Just like Match 3D, the genre is transitioning from hypercasual to casual by
incorporating Match-3-inspired elements such as boosters and simplified meta.
However ,
it’s
still in the early stages of what seems to be a similar journey,
making it a
genre worth having a closer look at in 2025!

C asu al
Casin o:
The
Most
Mono poliz e d
Gen re ?

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The story of Coin Master losing its dominance after Monopoly GO! had disrupted the
market was one of the most fascinating developments of 2023. In 2024, we were lucky
to watch this story unfold as it reshaped the market along the way.
Monopoly GO! firmly
established itself as the No.1 Casual Casino game, which now influences not only its
own genre but other casual games as well.
Scopely’ s
magnum opus defines the Casual Casino to such an extent that discussing
the genre’ s
trends essentially means analyzing how the game’s
revenue evolves. In Q2
2024, Monopoly GO! began to slow its scaling efforts
and transitioned into the

operational phase. This shift explains why our H1’24 Casual Games Report
highlighted

a 146% YoY
revenue growth while the full-year perspective shows a “mere” +60% YoY

increase. When it comes to downloads, Monopoly GO! ’s
shift away from scaling led to a
24% decline in downloads across the entire genre.

C asu al
Casin o:

M ark e t
Segm ent
Dash board

Another major factor likely to influence the Casual Casino genre in 2025 is Playtika’s

two significant acquisitions over the past two years:

— In September 2024, the Israel-based company
acquired
InnPlay Labs, the studio
behind Animals & Coins Adventure Game , the fourth-largest title in the genre, for
$300M.
— In November 2024, Playtika made a $2B
acquisition
of SuperPlay ,
the studio behind
Dice Dreams
, the third-largest Casual Casino title.

Playtika’ s
control over the two titles that rank right below the two long-standing market
leaders further consolidates an already highly concentrated market. Meanwhile, if you
think that is all there is to Playtika, there is more! In fact, the company published 4 out of

the top 10 games, including
Board Kings: Board Dice Games
and
Pirate Kings
.

In 2024, Monopoly GO! generated 55% of the genre’s
entire revenue, with Coin Master
holding ~18% and Dice Dreams ~ 7%. This means that nearly 80% of the market’s

revenue comes from just three titles, making it one of the most monopolized genres in
the industry!

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The consolidated nature of the market is evident in the lack of significant movement
within the genre’s
Top
10. Only one new title has entered, with the minor changes

primarily driven by a continuous decline in revenue.

C asu al
Casin o:

T o p
10
Gam es

Due to the tough competition, there were only 17 new releases in the genre in 2024,

and only one of them surpassed our $50K/month success benchmark:
Fishing Travel
by
Ark Game. The game is about fishing (who would have guessed, right?) with realistic
graphics and casts instead of the usual rolls and throws you see in other titles. It seems
like this fresh twist could help bring more male players to the game!

The best way to dive deeper into analyzing the Casual Casino genre is by exploring the
practices and techniques used in Monopoly GO! . Luckily,
we have an extensive

overview of the game’s
LiveOps available
here
!

Casual Casino: Key Thoughts
As Casual Casino remains one of the toughest genres to break into, it is better avoided
unless one has a significant budget and massive expertise. Even for larger publishers,
entering this space isn’t easy,
which is why giants like Playtika often rely on M&A to

acquire successful projects that can be scaled further with more resources and
knowledge.

That said, even if you aren’t planning on making a Casual Casino game, the genre is
packed with innovation in event design and monetization worth checking out. Games
like Monopoly GO! , Coin Master , and Dice Dreams are great sources of fresh ideas to
level up your LiveOps and creative strategies.

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most
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to
yo u?
Or
want
us
to
lo o k
in to
a
s p ecif ic
fie ld ?
We’v e
got
yo u
co ve re d.

R each
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to
us,
and
our
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to geth er
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ta ilo re d
to
yo ur

b usin ess
goals .

C onta ct
us
via
em ail
.

K ey
Ta ke aw ays

Last year was all about casual game developers finding creative ways to adapt to
growing competition amidst post-IDFA
and post-pandemic challenges.

In bigger genres, game-makers doubled down on LiveOps and monetization.
Established titles in Match-3 with Complex Meta, Merge-2, and Casual Casino invested
in their LiveOps heavily to enhance player retention and boost revenue.

Refining event schedules, introducing new features, and borrowing best practices from
other genres have all become must-have strategies for big developers aiming to hold
their ground at the top.

And don’t let the higher success rate of these genres trick you. There are much fewer
newcomers, and they are coming way more prepared!

Emerging genres in 2024 were all about embracing hybridcasual and adding depth to
hypercasual. Both established companies and emerging studios took the simplistic,
catchy core of hypercasual games and layered it with casual features like boosters, light
meta systems, and more refined monetization strategies.

However ,
while these new genres offer
plenty of opportunities, the stories of Match 3D
and Sort Puzzle demonstrate that even in the early stages, startups need to think of
LiveOps and monetization more than before if they aim to stay competitive in the long
run.

Where to look for the next hottest niche? While no one can say for sure, we’d
recommend keeping a close eye on hypercasual subgenres in 2025, especially puzzles.
After all, both Match 3D and Sort Puzzle originated from this space and went on to
stand tall among casual genres in their own right.

Right now,
AppMagic classifies over 50 tags in hypercasual puzzles alone! While it’s

borderline impossible to explore everything, focusing on the largest and most impactful
niches can give you plenty of ideas and innovative core mechanics. Even if these don’t
become the foundation of your next game, they could inspire fresh creatives or
mini-games for your projects. The opportunities are endless!

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