Angry Birds Epic is the first game of the second wave of midcore

On June 13, the world release of Angry Birds Epic took place, an unusual project based on hardcore mechanics, which Rovio tried to simplify as much as possible. Now is the time to look at the first sales results and think about what prompted the Finns to create such a game.

Some time ago, a difficult situation developed in the mobile application market: only hardcore titles, usually devoid of gameplay (Kabam games) and a wide audience, had a high ARPPU, in turn, casual titles could bring high income only in the case of a huge number of unmotivated downloads.

At the junction of this problem, the midcore genre arose. In my opinion, midcore is a combination of a "hardcore body kit" (role–playing system, complex monetization, PvP) with casual gameplay ("three-in-a-row", farm).

He seemed to have solved the problem. The developers were able to effectively monetize and engage a wide audience.

But everything led to a new problem: after the first wave of experiments (adding a "body kit" and casual gameplay), until recently it was impossible to talk about the onset of the second wave. Instead of following in the footsteps of Puzzle & Dragons (collectible "body kit" plus match 3) and Clash of Clans (PvP plus "farm"), many chose to clone them (rather than experiment with genres and monetization).

Epic, it seems to me, is the new wave (it can also include Shadow Fight 2 from Nekki and Running Shadow from Game Insight).

But in Angry Birds Epic, the gameplay is based not on casual game mechanics (such mechanics can be called: runner, "three-in-a-row", hidden, "cookies" and so on), but hardcore, from Japanese role-playing games (the player's team fights with the opponent's team, the player chooses who to attack, when to use special strikes, heals potions for fighters, creates equipment for them, and so on). The "body kit" is also far from casual: the player must collect items from earned resources, but the possibility of creation depends on the case. Casual in the new Rovio game is only the pitch.

It is difficult to say how successful one of the first representatives of the new wave of midcore experiments will be.

Last week, when the game was promoted on both platforms, it was doing well.

Downloads (App Store)

Box Office figures (App Store)

Downloads (Google Play)

Box Office figures (Google Play)

Google Play data for Sunday from the United States, apparently, has not yet arrived.

The project earns daily on iOS (according to AppInTop):

• $12 thousand in Russia;
• $66 thousand in the USA;
• $10 thousand in Germany.

In a month's time, we will definitely return to the project again, see how successfully it will demonstrate itself.

But, most importantly, what, for example, I am really looking forward to: new experiments. And what do you expect from the new wave?