Hyper-casual Games

Discover the essential steps to self-publishing a hyper casual game in this guide. From developing a captivating concept to scaling and monetization, learn how to navigate the world of self-publishing and maximize your game's potential. Explore strategies, tips, and insights for success in the competitive mobile gaming market.

Sonja Ängeslevä, CEO and Co-founder of Phantom Gamelabs talks with Peggy about why the free to play games playbook needs to change, and how to do it. Sonja has vast experience in product management, CI and data analytics in the fields of mobile gaming and B2C product development.

In this article, we take a look at how the hyper casual pie is sliced between publishers and studios, and how games that end up on the scrap heap could be targets for self-publishing.

The reality is that the fundamentals of hyper-casual games remain broadly the same as they did five years ago. They’re simple and cost-effective to make, they’re free for players, have a super wide potential audience of basically anyone, generate a lot of informative data, and if you’re lucky can go viral based on their mass market appeal and shareability. 

Both self-publishing and going with a publisher have clear pros and cons, and we discuss both in our Hive interview with Riley Andersen, CEO and founder of Umami Games. Umami Games is a creative powerhouse that specializes in creating hyper casual games based in Copenhagen.

What sort of preflight checks do you need to go through when looking to launch a new game? During a Pocket Gamer #4 panel, our CEO and co-founder, Martin Macmillan talked to three experts about what to look for and the questions to ask.

Hyper-casual games are hot — and investors are taking notice. In the world of hyper-casual games, the lifespan of each game follows a predictable path. Always having the latest, greatest titles in your line-up is important to keeping users’ attention. But what makes one game stand out from the next in a vertical where mechanics and gameplay are simple by design? During a Pocket Gamer #4 panel, our CEO and co-founder, Martin Macmillan talked to the experts about just what it is that’s catching investors’ eyes.

Hyper-casual games have a predictable life cycle — starting with an idea and funding, moving on to scaling. Our CEO and co-founder, Martin Macmillan headed a panel on this topic at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #4 to explore the intricacies of navigating this cycle with the help of three mobile gaming experts.

Hyper casual success stories are the games that rocket up the charts, supported by big UA budgets to achieve and sustain a position in the top download charts before eventually falling back down. Developers looking to self-publish need to be 100% on top of their UA metrics and also be able to build financial models to enable them to envisage how they could scale, and what capital is required to achieve this.

Hyper casual games are hugely popular among users of all age groups. However, while some hyper casual developers have experienced considerable success, their ability to achieve full scale is often hampered by a lack of funding and having to wait for payouts by advertising networks before reinvesting back into user acquisition (UA).