5 trends of hyper casual games in 2021 from Supersonic Studios

Hyper Casual games remain one of the most actively developing areas of mobile gaming. Supersonic Studios specialists told us what you should pay attention to when creating and studying projects in this category this year.The original material was published on the pages of VentureBeat.

It was written based on a conversation with the leading game designer of Supersonic Studios, Tomer Geller, and the head of the company’s in-game division, Niv Touboul. A little below is a squeeze of the material.

1. Universal hypercazualizationToday, developers are ready to implement almost any mechanics and idea as a hyper-casual game.

Someone borrows minigame mechanics from console titles, someone borrows actions from real life, and someone else borrows approaches originally invented for advertising creatives (for example, Save the Girl and Chat Master).Geller and Tobul suggest that this year we will see even more hyper-casual games using unexpected sources of inspiration.
2. Introduction of deeper mechanics

In contrast to the first trend, other developers will try to combine the gameplay of midcore games with hyper-casual mechanics.

This can lead to the creation of new subgenres.As an example, Supersonic Studios cites the Ancient Battle game, which combines strategic and hyper-casual mechanics.
If this trend develops, hyper-casual projects may stop forgiving players for mistakes and return to their roots, becoming more demanding of users’ skills.
3. Using hypercausal mechanics in already existing IP

In 2020, only 5% of hyper-casual games were based on third-party IP.

After Zynga‘s purchase of the Turkish studio Rollic, MY.GAMES‘ investment in Bamboo Games, as well as other similar deals, this situation may change.The symbiosis of large publishers (who have a portfolio of large IP) and hyper—casual developers can lead to the appearance of games based on large franchises on the hyper-casual market.
Adding hyper-casual mechanics to existing IP will help companies expand the audience of their projects.
This approach can also become an entry point to the gaming market of well-known brands, as was already the case with the adventure and puzzle genres at the time (using the example of famous IP like Frozen and Harry Potter).
4. Consequences of IDFA changes

Changes in the rules regarding IDFA can change the market for hyper-casual games, since they are strongly tied to advertising monetization.

The specific consequences will depend on exactly how the innovations will eventually work and how publishers will be able to adapt to them.Some experts suggest that hyper-casual games will have an advantage due to the extensive user base.
This will allow publishers to promote games in other projects in their portfolio.5. Visual above all

The genre of hyper-casual games is strongly tied to advertising creatives, on the success of which the popularity of the project itself depends.

That is why games with the most unusual and even strange visual will have an advantage.Supersonic Studios experts believe that the graphics themselves in hyper-casual projects will become more realistic and may move away from the usual cartoon style.
With the development of technology and changing user requests, more complex projects from a visual point of view will appear on the market.