No items found.
The mobile games market is the largest segment of the overall global gaming market, accounting for nearly 50 percent ($90 billion) of total gaming revenue ($184 billion) in 2023. More than 1,500 mobile games made at least $10 million in revenue, while 13 generated more than $1 billion. These games are further split in a variety of categories based on gameplay, i.e., RPG, strategy, arcade, and sports. Mobile games are also classified into categories such as casual, hyper-casual, hybrid-casual, and hardcore.
Hyper-casual games offer instant gratification as opposed to long and immersive experiences. They're easy to pick up and play without any instruction, and they also have short gaming sessions with social elements, including challengers and leaderboards. This genre has been increasing in popularity since 2017 and includes classic titles like Candy Crush and Crossy Road. While they trailed RPG in terms of revenue, hyper-casual mobile games had the most downloads globally in 2023, during which there were more than 16.4 billion hyper-casual downloads in the US alone.
Hybrid-casual, which combines elements of casual and hardcore games, is on the rise in popularity, but download figures for Q1 2024 suggest hyper-casual games aren't going anywhere soon. Total downloads were up 6 percent (3.4 billion) from Q4 2023. Here's a look at the top five hyper-casual titles by downloads during that period.
1. Pizza Ready!
Supercent is a South Korean developer with more than 100 titles available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Its current biggest hit is Pizza Ready! Released in July 2023, the game received an update in October and has since steadily risen on the top download charts for hyper-casual games. It generated 36.2 million installs during Q1 2024 and was one of only two hyper-casual titles to exceed 30 million downloads.
Pizza Ready! is one of Supercent's many games in the idle arcade space. These games prioritize player engagement and retention with average gameplay time of more than 1,200 seconds. They generally have easy-but-satisfying tasks, such as delivering cash or food to another area, and familiar scenarios in open-world or level-based maps. Because of greater player engagement, they usually have higher profits. In Pizza Ready!, players manage a restaurant and are responsible for making and serving pizzas as well as hiring new employees.
Pizza Ready had an average of 4.3 stars on Google Play through 525,443 ratings as of June 5, 2024. It generated $581,430 in revenue in Q1 2024, which was fourth among the top-10 most-downloaded hyper-casual titles. Supercent's other idle arcade games include Burger Please, Paper Delivery Boy, and Coffee Break - Café Simulation.
2. Build A Queen
Build A Queen, a hyper-casual game released by Supersonic Studios LTD, experienced a 9 percent quarter-over-quarter increase in downloads with 35.1 million in Q1 2024. However, it only made about $3,400 in revenue during that period. Build A Queen is a 3D runner game in which players control a character and navigate obstacles by either ducking, jumping, or moving side-to-side.
3. Race Master 3D - Car Racing
The oldest title on this list, Race Master 3D - Car Racing generated 29.5 million downloads in Q1 2024, down about 12 percent from the previous quarter. Released by SayGames Ltd in April 2021, the 3D racing game features easy swiping mechanics for steering and is similar to Build A Queen in that players have to dodge obstacles. The game has a 4.4-star rating on the Google Play Store, with more than 2.3 million reviews since its release. It made $369,582 in revenue in Q1 2024.
4. Help Me: Tricky Story
The newest game featured on the list of most downloaded hyper-casual titles, Help Me: Tricky Story generated 29.1 million downloads in Q1 2024, despite only being released on January 2. Created by ABI Games Studio, the 2D puzzle game features a variety of brain puzzles that involve everyday scenarios, i.e., swatting a mosquito and popping zits. It doesn't generate money from in-app monetization, but instead has interstitial ads dispersed between levels. It's most popular in Russia.
ABI Games Studio is also finding success with this strategy in another one of its recent games, Left or Right: Magic Dress Up, which had already exceeded 17 million downloads since its release at the end of February.
5. Outlets Rush
Outlets Rush is another Supercent title. The 3D arcade game, in which players manage and expand an outlet mall, was released in June 2023, and it experienced a peak in downloads in November. While downloads have progressively slowed down month-by-month in 2024, the game was still the fifth-most downloaded hyper-casual title in Q1 2024, with 26.5 million installs. It also made more than $938,000 in revenue.
Outlets Rush has exceeded $1 million in revenue since its release, with more than half of that total coming from the US. The game is also popular in India (more than 10 million downloads) and Brazil (more than 2 million downloads).
