Game Refinery

JANUARY 5, 2023

They say imitation is a form of flattery, and there’s no shortage of mobile games that share a striking similarity with other popular titles in the PC, console and mobile markets. Why isn’t there a mobile version of Fall Guys? That said, there are arguments for and against releasing a mobile version of Fall Guys.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Mechanics Racing 52

Big Games

JANUARY 31, 2024

Switch to a high-speed Wi-Fi network, or consider using your mobile data if you have a reliable and fast cellular connection. This battle royale sensation has taken the gaming world by storm, offering fast-paced action, engaging building mechanics, and a vibrant virtual world.

Console 52

Console Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile 52

Game Refinery

APRIL 6, 2023

With increased competition from IDFA regulation changes and new games consistently entering the market, two of the biggest challenges facing publishers and mobile game studios are acquiring new players (UA) and keeping those players in your game (player retention).

Mechanics 81

Mechanics Puzzle Mobile Mobile 81

Game Refinery

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

Competition is fierce in the mobile game market, but even more so for developers of casual and hyper-casual games. So, what can mobile game developers do to increase the chances of their games performing well? The game mechanics are simple: players trade fidget toys and aim to get the best trade. Satisfying to Watch.

Build 52

Build Mechanics Mobile Gaming Puzzle 52

Game Analytics

DECEMBER 5, 2022

This time, we’ll look at the top games that use storytelling as a core mechanic and show you that you don’t need sparkling design and intense gameplay to create a hit. Available on mobile, console and PC. Available on mobile devices, Apple watch and PC. Available on mobile devices only. Available on mobile.

Horror 109

Horror Games Mobile Mobile 109

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 9, 2023

They launched a new game from a new studio entering the most competitive genre on mobile in the midst of Apple’s privacy apocalypse and has generated a billion dollars in revenue in two years. And while still too early to truly compare, the soft launch RPD data for Royal Kingdom is promising. Back to the original question: what’s next?

Puzzle 69

Puzzle Mechanics Feature Build 69

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 31, 2021

Unless otherwise specified, all the data has been provided by the powerful Sensor Tower and analyzed by the author(s). Data from China, Korea, and Japan are excluded as this analysis focuses on Western markets only. All revenue numbers show net revenues. Finally, please take the numbers presented with a giant grain of salt.

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Mobile Mobile Games Feature 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 24, 2022

Summarizing an entire year of mobile gaming while providing predictions for what is going to happen next is a challenge that we at Deconstructor of Fun undertake every year. An essential data platform for all mobile gaming studios. Data from China, Korea, and Japan are excluded as this analysis focuses on Western markets only.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile 52

Game Refinery

JUNE 21, 2023

User acquisition has become increasingly challenging for mobile marketers ever since Apple introduced its App Tracking Transpency (ATT) policy in April 2021. With that in mind, mobile marketers should focus on identifying better ways to push monetization opportunities to their existing audiences.

Mobile Gaming 16

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Games 16

iXie gaming

JUNE 23, 2023

Here are some examples of the most common wearable technology: ● Smart Watches: These devices offer features like fitness tracking, notifications, messaging, music control, and mobile app integration. For instance, they can use motion sensors and biometric data tracking capabilities to create immersive and interactive gaming experiences.

Technology 52

Technology Game Developer Game Development Development 52

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 13, 2022

An essential data platform for all mobile gaming studios. Data from China, Korea, and Japan are excluded as this analysis focuses on Western markets only. As people were locked down and real-life casinos shut down, casino games on mobile made bank. Casino on Mobile Trends, Demographics, Audience, and IPs.

Games 52

Games Mobile Mobile Puzzle 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 13, 2021

Unless otherwise specified, all the data has been provided by the powerful Sensor Tower and analyzed by the author(s). Data from China, Korea and Japan are excluded as this analysis focuses on Western markets only. In fact, Hypercasual games alone made up for ~45% of 2019’s total download volume across all mobile games.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Puzzle Advertising Studios 52

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

Supercell CEO’s annual blog post is a personal, inspirational, and sincere communication method from the top brass of a major mobile games company. As a result, Supercell has fallen from the top-10 mobile publishers’ list. This constraint will be a forcing mechanism to “get s**t done” as Mr. Paananen eloquently put it in his blog post.

Mobile 59

Mobile Mobile Communications Mobile Gaming 59

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

Eric is the author of the book Freemium Economics and the founder of Mobile Dev Memo , the ultimate growth blog and podcast. It is tempting for mobile games marketing teams to think of 2021 as being dominated by Apple’s impending new privacy policy for iOS, App Tracking Transparency (ATT). Access all of our previous predictions.

Advertising 52

Advertising Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

And that is having the ad monetization mechanics. This mechanics is comprised of rewarded videos or interstitials or even banners, which we are not using due to their relatively poor performance. With the tool from ironSource we know the fee, we have total control and we have full transparency over our data.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Art Advertising Data 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 29, 2024

Events with different mechanics sometimes complement each other, but at other times they divert players' attention, resulting in reduced activity and monetization. We had a case with an event based on merge mechanics. They just liked the mechanics and continued playing until the event had ended. Try different combos, too.

Mechanics 98

Mechanics Content Puzzle Mobile Gaming 98

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 20, 2020

Mobile developers look up their fake AppStore accounts and download with excitement wondering what the new game could be. A bold move for Supercell, going against giants that continue to rule the casual puzzle space. Curiously, market data shows that the simpler “Scapes” style games actually perform better than Fishdom.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Mechanics Content Data 52

Deconstructor of Fun

SEPTEMBER 28, 2020

This analysis is written by Taras Koshelev (Lead Game Designer at My.Games Venture Capital) who focused on game mechanics and loops and Michail Katkoff (Founder of Savage Game Studios) who covered the market and marketability. Playrix released Puzzle Breakers into soft-launch in late 2019. Puzzle RPGs on Mobile.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Tile Mechanics Build 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 3, 2020

This post is written by Nebojsa “Nebo” Radovic , who’s an experienced mobile marketing professional who currently heading the user acquisition for N3TWORK’s Scale Platform. They were also one of the first companies to run puzzle ads at scale, that are now used by pretty much every larger advertiser in the space. Nebojsa Radovic.

Games 52

Games Mobile Mobile Art 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 20, 2024

With a knack for puzzle, arcade, and simulation games. Making a successful Match-3 is one of the most challenging tasks a mobile game developer can tackle. They had a specific take on the metagame, focusing on underserved male puzzle players, and built their visual style towards that goal instead of increasing production complexity.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Games Simulation Game Engine 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 14, 2020

We pulled the data of top 1000 games from last three years from the one and only App Annie and aligned the data with the categories, genres and sub-genres. ❤️ App Annie for unrivalled data support. Alrighty then, lets kick off the predictions with the Puzzle genre! Puzzle Games Continued to Grow.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Games Tile Mobile 52

Game Analytics

DECEMBER 20, 2022

Don’t make it like a mobile game. Often, developers coming from the mobile gaming industry will assume that they can replicate their success by rebuilding their games on Roblox. They just make a game with a few mechanics, but without thinking about the social element. The typical principles you might expect are quite different.

Mobile Gaming 96

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Bug 96

Deconstructor of Fun

AUGUST 29, 2021

The game can be described as Supercell’s take on Settlers for mobile. This conviction is not until yet backed by KPIs (data from Sensor Tower). In other words, villagers are the pacing mechanisms in the game. Nevertheless, Everdale is not a placement puzzle like a typical city-building game. Everdale = Hay Day 2.0?

Simulation 52

Simulation Build Balance Mechanics 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 3, 2019

The reason for this acquisition was the success of Small Giant’s hit game, Empires & Puzzles. Since mid 2017, Empires & Puzzles has raked in $260M in net revenues with only 34M installs. There was also this no-name developer Supercell that launched their first mobile games just few miles away back in 2012. Wooga GmbH.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Build Feature Balance 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 31, 2022

An essential data platform for all mobile gaming studios. In this analysis, data from China, Korea, and Japan are excluded as this analysis focuses on Western markets only. This is because we don’t want to reduce the actionability of the data with games that succeed massively in what can be described as closed domestic markets.

Cross platform 52

Cross platform Platformer Puzzle Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 27, 2020

Playrix is one of the powerhouses in the puzzle genre thanks to Gardenscapes and Homescapes’ current success. Township has been on mobile platforms since 2013 and generated around a Billion Dollars in life-time revenues. Data from the best in business, Sensor Tower. exclusive and then on Facebook canvas. All revenue is net.

Co-op 52

Co-op Puzzle Games Mechanics 52

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

And games haven't been the most value-driven industry in my opinion (referring to the abuse of addictive mechanics in games for profit, massive company layoffs to meet financial targets and the pressure on teams to deliver, leading to crunch and toxic behaviours, etc.). Will you make another puzzle game?”. These are valid questions.

Studios 52

Studios Build Puzzle Concepts 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JULY 23, 2020

This post is written by Eric Seufert , a strategy consultant and the owner of Mobile Dev Memo In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of events, including a great battle, foretold to lead to the death of a number of great figures and gods, natural disasters and the submersion of the world in water.

Mobile Gaming 52

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Co-op 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 20, 2020

Unless otherwise specified, all data is gathered from the one and only App Annie and analysed by the author(s). This makes RPGs the third largest genre on mobile after Strategy ($5.4Bn) and Puzzle ($4.5Bn) games. Idle RPGs (not to be confused with Idle games) and Puzzle RPGs were the biggest growing sub-genres in 2019.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Fighting Studios Art 52

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

In the world of mobile gaming, creating an outstanding game is just the beginning. They analyse market data, from competitors' average downloads to revenue figures, searching for hidden opportunities. In the realm of product marketing, timing is crucial, and every decision is a piece of the puzzle.

Communications 52

Communications Games Data Advertising 52

Deconstructor of Fun

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

In the latest episode of the DoF Podcast, Mishka reconnects with Rina Onur Sirinoglu, CEO of Spyke Games, to talk about her exciting new mobile gaming venture, which recently secured a $55 million seed round. Yet, the real game-changer came when they borrowed a fraction of these strategies and applied them to an entirely new puzzle game.

Tile 65

Tile Co-op Games Puzzle 65

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 21, 2021

Unless otherwise specified, all the data has been provided by the powerful Sensor Tower and analyzed by the author(s). Data from China, Korea, and Japan are excluded as this analysis focuses on Western markets only. This makes the genre second largest on mobile in (outside key Asian markets) after Puzzle games.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Cross platform Puzzle 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 14, 2023

Last week in Istanbul, Google and Deconstructor of Fun brought together a thousand-strong group of high-level mobile game execs to talk about the future of the business. His data and insights were based on US data as a proxy for the western market, and focused on platform privacy, or the “Apple global mobile game recession”.

Games 59

Games Cross platform Mobile Mobile 59

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 25, 2022

The card-battling RPG genre was one of the first in mobile games that enjoyed success at scale and popularity around the world. By embracing and encouraging gamers’ motivation to collect and to cultivate, the card battling genre has become a proven formula for mobile companies and studios to maximize their revenue.

Baking 52

Baking Simulation Build Animation 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 20, 2019

Matchington Mansion is a top 5 puzzle game with raking in over $15M a month in net revenues. Data in this deconstruction is provided by ultra awesome Sensor Tower. Puzzle is the biggest category on mobile while Match & Blast games is the biggest sub-category with $3Bn in 2018 revenues and almost 30% year-on-year growth.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Studios Tile Mechanics 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 6, 2022

The fact that Battle Passes have been successful on audiences so alien to each other like MOBAs and Match-3 Puzzle fans shows how versatile its design can be. For most players (including payers) the Pass is primarily retention and an engagement mechanism. It will be interesting to see how it turns out in the long term.

Content 52

Content Mechanics Balance Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2020

Unless otherwise specified, all the data has been provided by the wonderful services of App Annie and analysed by the author(s). Kudos to their unrivalled data support! Here are the three things you need to know about ironSource: #1: They’re developing the most robust, data-driven growth engine for mobile games. #2:

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Mechanics Platformer Studios Data 52