Game Refinery

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

To put you on the right track, we’ve taken a deep dive into four games that have delivered innovative storytelling in four subgenres: Merge Puzzle from the Casual category, and MMORPG, Action RPG, and 4X Strategy from the Mid-core category. Player motivations data: Merge games (Average) vs. Gossip Harbor (source: GameRefinery platform).

Mobile Gaming 93

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Games 93

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 11, 2023

Another mechanic to get all of the mentioned above that two games out of five use is the Fortune Wheel. Thief Puzzle: to pass a level Another new hit with 27M downloads is Thief Puzzle: to pass a level. In the mid term, Mob Control promotes the Battle Pass to both increase retention (no ads, more rewards) and boost the LTV.

Tile 104

Tile Racing Puzzle Games 104

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. Fortnite Fortnite needs no introduction.

Console 52

Console Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 24, 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. 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.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile 52

Game Analytics

DECEMBER 28, 2022

Think of this as a hyper-casual Beyblade game with a merge mechanic mixed in the middle. What we liked about Spinner Merge is how they came about the idea of bringing in the merge mechanic. relied on data to figure out what they wanted this game to be. The core gameplay follows a ‘build and battle mechanic’.

Mobile Gaming 98

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Mechanics 98

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. Three Minute Games also included a time mechanic to make it feel even more realistic. Horror in the Darkness is a text-based horror puzzle-esque game.

Horror 109

Horror Mobile Mobile Games 109

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 6, 2023

Although the Tactile team has several titles under their portfolio, the well-known swapping mechanic is not very common among their games. Especially with their two most recent titles Lily’s Garden and Penny & Flo , Tactile has been a stronghold for story-driven puzzle games with the collapse mechanic.

Balance 52

Balance Puzzle Mechanics Animation 52

Brand Game Development

AUGUST 5, 2019

It’s a puzzle-solving, tile placement board game for 1-4 players where you play as a fantasy monster who’s hungry for villagers. To sell in this awfully noisy, competitive board gaming environment, you have to have mechanics and art that people really enjoy. On the note of mechanics, we were really lucky.

Art 130

Art Games Tile Mechanics 130

iXie gaming

JUNE 23, 2023

One of the key advantages for game developers lies in the ability to explore and implement innovative gameplay mechanics that take full advantage of the unique features offered by wearables. 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

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. Mediation platforms have access to a large scale of marketability data across many publishers. Nothing new really.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Puzzle Advertising Studios 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

Game Refinery

JANUARY 5, 2023

When a game with a unique style and appearance becomes a hit, it doesn’t take long for new games to emerge, hoping to emulate that success by using the same gameplay mechanics, visual style and features. You’d be forgiven for mistaking Stumble Guys for Fall Guys. In total, Stumble Guys raked in over 219 million downloads.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Mechanics Racing 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2023

Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Korean markets were excluded from the overall numbers as these markets are highly concentrated and nearly impossible for Western publishers to compete in and the genre data from those markets would significantly skew overall numbers. Until next week. ?

Mobile Gaming 52

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Sandbox 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. Demographic data of top Casino titles indicate the following: Poker / Cards have a higher male user base and a relatively younger average age of players.

Games 52

Games Mobile Mobile Puzzle 52

Brand Game Development

MARCH 25, 2019

However, what made me look into all this data was the overwhelming amount of people on my Facebook group, social media channels, and chat room saying one of two things: Board gaming is getting stale and all the games look the same. RPGs won’t scratch the board gamer itch for puzzles or crunchy heavy board games.

Games 130

Games Puzzle Communications Media 130

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 20, 2020

A bold move for Supercell, going against giants that continue to rule the casual puzzle space. The match 3 success trifecta generally consists of: a fun core match mechanic a good metagame with a clean sense of progression a new feature or innovation that brings something different to the space. Can Supercell succeed in this space?

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

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.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Games Feature 52

Raph Koster

SEPTEMBER 2, 2023

I thought it would be interesting to contrast this to Word Dad , a puzzle game made by my friend, master game designer John Cutter. A brief aside on puzzles All three of these are more correctly called puzzles, of course. This means that really, puzzles and games are terms that are matters of degree, not kind.

Puzzle 119

Puzzle Build Data Content 119

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

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

Luckily, you - our dear reader - have the Deconstructor of Fun crew who combine public data and insights to read between the lines and interpret what was left unsaid by one of the most influential game executives in the World, Mr. Ilkka Paananen. But because Supercell is not a public company, these post are not analyzed with the same zeal.

Mobile 59

Mobile Mobile Communications Mobile Gaming 59

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

ATT is the privacy framework that prevents developers from using various pieces of user data for the purposes of targeting ads to those users. For example CPMs in Word games may actually increase as they provide great traffic for puzzle games. Will CPMs fall enough to offset the impact on CPIs for most advertisers?

Advertising 52

Advertising Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile 52

Game Refinery

JUNE 21, 2023

Companies have since been forced to seek permission from app users before tracking their activity across other apps and websites for advertising purposes, meaning they now lack much of the valuable data previously used to build highly-effective UA campaigns. This keeps the momentum going and encourages further investment in the game.

Mobile Gaming 16

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Games 16

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

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. data from the ever amazing Sensor Tower. data from the unrivalled GameRefinery. It has been there ever since. Wooga GmbH.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Build Feature Balance 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 3, 2020

This article is the last and, the most important piece of the “scaling” puzzle focusing on the nothing less than the game that is being promoted and the teams that are promoting it. 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.

Games 52

Games Mobile Mobile Art 52

Deconstructor of Fun

AUGUST 29, 2021

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. The issues we previously raised on lack of advanced mechanics (no specialization, no trading.),

Simulation 52

Simulation Build Balance Mechanics 52

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 27, 2020

Playrix is one of the powerhouses in the puzzle genre thanks to Gardenscapes and Homescapes’ current success. Data from the best in business, Sensor Tower. Playrix has been trying out many interstitials, banners, videos and playable ads based on solving puzzles/saving animals by moving the pins in the right order.

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

Game Analytics

DECEMBER 20, 2022

They just make a game with a few mechanics, but without thinking about the social element. It’s less about the mechanics and more about how the players will be able to interact with one another. In Wacky Wizards, the player solves puzzles and makes potions. You’ll need live data. And so it just doesn’t work.”.

Mobile Gaming 96

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Bug 96

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

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. This data isn't just a tool; it's the foundation upon which finely tuned marketing strategies are built.

Communications 52

Communications Games Data Advertising 52

Deconstructor of Fun

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Yet, the real game-changer came when they borrowed a fraction of these strategies and applied them to an entirely new puzzle game. Optimization, in its many facets, lies at the heart of Spyke's development ethos: “We optimise for speed, for quality, and for data-driven decision-making. That is my number one priority”.

Tile 64

Tile Co-op Games Puzzle 64

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

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

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

APRIL 25, 2022

The game won over millions of gamers with the adorable Cookie characters and a perfect mashup of RPG and Build & Harvest mechanics. Therefore, Cookie Run: Kingdom ’s similar but improved art style with a casual Build & Harvest and in-depth RPG gameplay makes it easier to win over adult players, which is supported by the user data.

Baking 52

Baking Simulation Build Animation 52

Astral Clock Tower Studios

JULY 31, 2021

Thankfully, this risky decision has already paid off immensely when it comes to Kristala's programming and gameplay mechanics, and we couldn't be more excited to unveil our programming team's fresh work at the upcoming Play NYC convention. Music is an important piece of the Kristala puzzle. link] Kristala Original Soundtrack.

Dev 52

Dev Demo Concepts Animation 52