2019 ended and 2020 arrived with games that became trends or will become trends. Investors in mobile games need to know what is being released so they can find strategies suited to their own market. In the past few years mobile games have met with striking uptake and that means every smartphone user is very likely to have at least one mobile game. In 2019 the United States alone claimed a share of 209 million people among mobile game users. The same can be expected in 2020 as well, because mobile games had the greatest benefit in the gaming industry in 2019.
2020 trends you need to know
Trends are changeable and the reason should be seen as technological advances such as augmented reality, virtual reality, the cloud and 5G. The growth of the casual games genre and various methods of monetization are among the other causes of colorful trends.
Augmented reality, growth! Growth! To infinity!
Augmented reality in gaming is nothing new. Until just a few years ago people were searching the streets for Pokémons (pokémon)! With that said, augmented reality technology is still advancing and that means the emergence of new opportunities for augmented reality games. Creating innovation in monetization for sellers of this type of game has led companies such as Google and Apple to make large investments in these games.
The engaging and interactive nature of this type of game has made augmented reality unique in mobile games; so it is no surprise if the largest category of app stores among mobile games is monopolized by augmented reality!
Older augmented reality games are still popular among users, such as pokémon Go and Ingress. New titles such as Harry potter:Wizards unite and Minecraft Earth have been added to this genre. All of these titles have obtained top ranks in the app stores and have striking popularity. The good news is that the augmented reality games trend in 2020 will keep pace with technological progress.
Popular augmented reality mobile games
- Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
- Minecraft Earth
- Pokémon Go
- Ingress
- Temple Treasure Hunt
- Army of Robots
- Zombie GO
- Jurassic World Alive
- Ghostbusters World
Virtual reality: attractive headsets, reality on mobile!
Virtual reality too, like augmented reality, has found its way onto mobiles. Virtual reality is more focused on computers and consoles, but there are always ways to enjoy this style of games on mobile. Google Cardboard and Gear vr are virtual reality games on mobile phones that can be obtained at a reasonable price. Many new mobiles support the virtual reality capability so that meeting expectations of this type of game becomes smoother. Although virtual reality still has many untrodden paths, expecting progress in 2020 is not far from imagination.
A few popular mobile games in this style
- Hidden Temple VR Adventure
- VR Noir
- Vanguard V
- Proton Pulse
- Sisters
- Zombie Shooter VR
- vTime XR
- Hunters Gate
- Twilight Pioneers
Big brand names are entering the mobile game arena
The most important mobile game of 2019 was without a doubt Call of Duty: Mobile . This big company finally decided to enter the mobile games market and its results were also satisfactory. Another popular game that entered the mobile games arena in 2019 is The Elder Scrolls: Blades. This game, because it was a simplified version of the original Elder Scrolls game and had a good match with mobile, was able to appear successful. Turning a computer or console game into a mobile game is a challenge. Even so, both Call of Duty and Elder Scrolls were successful. In 2020 we can wait for other big companies to take this path and release their mobile games.
Game cloud on mobile: a wave from the future
The game cloud is a capability that allows you to run the game on servers other than the device itself. This means that players no longer need to equip their computer with the best hardware or buy the best mobile phone for running games. The only thing they need to run the cloud in the best way is a device equipped with a 5G connection. Even so, 5G connectivity is not yet universal, but it will probably become universal by the end of 2020. Since using the game cloud is easy and cost-effective, there is a possibility that it will transform the mobile games market and bring into being a new type of modern gamer.
Cross-platform play becomes more popular among gamers
Most of the time, gamers use several devices for playing. A gamer may have a personal computer, a console, a tablet and a smartphone. Using mobile phones while traveling is very easy, whereas playing with a console or a personal computer at home seems more logical. But if we want to play the game on different devices and have our progress in it saved as well, what then? The solution is cross-platform play and it is becoming popular among gamers. Among popular games that can be played on several platforms one can name Minecraft, Fortnite, PUBG and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
The casual games genre
At the end of 2019, the value of the casual games market reached more than 2 billion dollars. In fact, many of the top games of 2019 were casual. The ubiquity of games in this genre that we witnessed means these games are placed in a genre of their own and are no longer a subset of another genre. According to VentureBeat, casual game players watch in-game ads twice as much as other players. In addition, they download games ten times as much as other players. It does not seem that in 2020 game makers will stop making casual games or that the popularity of this genre will diminish. What does seem to be the case is that casual games will become one of the most important mobile game genres.
Popular casual-style mobile games
- Sand Balls
- Fun Race 3D
- Perfect Slices
- Bouncemasters
- Tiles Hop
- Dig It!
Monetizing mobile games has become more important than ever
Monetization is of special importance for all game makers and publishers. Although making money from a mobile game is not very easy, there are many ways to do this. In 2020, in-game ads will remain one of the best ways of monetization. As a result, mobile ad mediators will become more important than ever.
Another important way of monetizing mobile games is videos with rewards. The idea behind this method is simple: the player watches a video in order to benefit from in-game rewards. This is a very suitable way because game makers, players and advertisers all profit from it. The usual price of each minute of internet video advertising is between ten and fifty dollars, which is more than any other type of advertising video.
The most important monetization methods in mobile games in 2020
- In-game ads
- Rewarded advertising videos
- Mobile ad brokerage
- In-game payments
- Paid games
Bonus: the best advertising methods for mobile games in 2020
Mobile game market strategies are directly influenced by market trends. One of the biggest trends in mobile game advertising is pre-sale campaigns for games in the app stores.
Marty Dorn, sales director at Gamingrig, says: "In 2020 game makers can use users' curiosity as their biggest weapon. Pre-sale campaigns in the app stores can be the most effective method of advertising and sales in 2020.
Gamers, with the offer of a discount on in-game purchases, are persuaded to pre-order games. One of the advantages of pre-selling is that these apps have news notifications. When game makers build a page in advance for their game in the app stores, users receive a notification when the game is released.
With this method, there is a good chance that a game will have many downloads on its release date. This raises the app's rank in the app stores, and the makers quickly get a high score. If they add a unique capability to a game, there is a possibility of getting a score of 4 or above. In pre-sale campaigns, video and screenshots of the game are published as a teaser to attract the audience's attention.
Here we read all the advertising methods for mobile games that you should try in 2020:
- Pre-sale campaigns
- Advertising videos of the game
- App store optimization
- Releasing the game for a limited number of users
- Advertising using other products
- Using influencers' help
- Video advertising on social networks
- Advertising according to the audience community (language, culture, ...)
- Guerrilla marketing
The mobile game industry will finally explode
According to Statista statistics, by the end of this year there will be 2.4 billion mobile gamers around the world. It can be said the mobile gaming market is exploding. It will be interesting to see what this year will bring and how it will shape the gaming industry. Is it possible that we will finally see 5G technology replace 4G across the whole world? It is hard to judge. But when this happens, the mobile games market will change forever. By visiting Namafar, have access to up-to-date and interesting statistics of the world in the field of mobile games.
Machine-translated from Persian by Namafar; the Persian original is authoritative. Read the original in Persian