10 trends in the mobile gaming market in 2014
It is always interesting to predict what will happen in the future. 2014 for the mobile gaming industry at its peak will definitely be rich in events that can make major changes in the balance of power in the market. Producers from KamaGames Studio decided to share their expectations of the coming year, backing forecasts with weighty, in our opinion, arguments.
Even the superheroes of the market will not get the right to take a breather in 2014 ...
Last year was definitely the year of the clones. Companies have cloned successful titles - both third-party and their own, squeezing the maximum out of a loyal audience. The current year has maintained this trend in force, but its positions have shaken dramatically after a sharp surge of negative feedback from players.
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The release of the new original titles will shake up the market, which has fallen into a certain band of stagnation, if we talk about grocery diversity. In our opinion, innovation will manifest itself both in completely new mechanics and in rethinking old gameplays. And then we will again see dozens of clones of these new games. So this market is arranged.
What to do: Reconsider old, long-forgotten toys. Analyze the mechanics that are now very popular. Try to come up with a game from this that will potentially be of interest to the mainstream player.
We will immediately clarify that by “sociality” we mean not just integration with Facebook for using its viral channels. Games will be social on their own. The interaction between users will be increasingly close and active. The exchange of gifts and help each other, which have become almost the norm in games, will acquire a new layer of “transactions” between players. Coop-mechanics, joint raids and events, clan PvP and much more will appear more and more in games. Players want to play with others.
What to do: Initially, lay social interaction into the gameplay, think over it more carefully. Stop thinking in terms of singles toys.
Sorry for the play on words, but the importance of the markets of individual countries will only grow. Individual countries will attract increasing attention from developers. Previously, all were aimed mainly at the United States. To enter the mass market of this country, millions of dollars of marketing investments are needed. In the face of fierce competition, you have to fight for the player against the “all-consuming” in terms of traffic King, Supercell and Kabam. Complicating the situation is the fact that the number of daily downloads of applications in the US on the iPhone has not been growing for more than 9 months! We are confident that developers will begin to focus on local markets. They will “go” to individual countries at least in the form of localizations (the average number of available locales for TOP-100 games will grow), as a maximum - by aggressively attracting users.
It is important to clarify that local markets will no longer be determined solely by geography. First of all, we mean instant messengers.
What to do: Study the results of research. Find the markets for the third (or second - although there already closely) waves with good dynamics of the growth of the audience and money. Look for ways to go there.
Not only will Asian markets continue to grow at a tremendous pace (we mean both the number of players and revenues), so the Asian games will move en masse to the western stor! There are plenty of successful examples now, but then there will be even more! The myth of genre specifics will be finally dispelled!
Running games in the US is expensive, but in Asia it is often not clear how. Mechanisms to attract users are significantly different, there are subtleties and rules. To understand, you need a lot of time and money. Therefore, there will be bundles of large Western and Eastern companies that will exchange users and promote each other's games where they are good at it.
What to do: Learn Asian stor, seek contact with local developers and publishers.
Last year, Japan has already overtaken the United States in terms of revenue from mobile applications. For one year, Japanese gamers began to pay more than 3 times. If this year South Korea shows the same growth, then it is quite likely that the United States will rank third in the charts of the countries with the highest level of player spending on purchases in mobile stores.
What to do: Learn to work with the Korean market!
No, don't show us the bird that flies through the pipes. Similar examples have been and always will be. But in general, the trend of self-publishing games is already booming. The feature gives incomprehensible one-time traffic, the cost of attracting the user continues to grow. In the current environment, indie developers simply cannot survive. If earlier “homegrown” games could have been fired due to the low competition in the niche, organic matter in stores or Apple's number, now this will not happen. To achieve success without a good team (1), real, not theoretical experience (2), money for the development and polishing of the game (3), considerable marketing budgets (4) will be impossible. It's time to understand and accept.
What to do: The obvious way is to go to the publisher. And negotiate. The publication itself will have so many variations that the head will spin. But keep in mind that publishers need serious quality games, and not just another puzzle of 40 levels that can be completed in a few days.
The market has passed that point of no return, when successful ones become even more successful, and the weak die. The monsters, whose top games are in the grossing of the most earned countries, will only increase their influence. Every month they have millions (tens of millions!) Of free installations only due to their status, tops of grossing and incessant conversations about their products. All these companies continue to buy new players for any money and are willing to pay $ 7–10 for the installation. At the same time they try not to give their users. Their goal is to collect as many players as possible. Launching new titles allows you to monetize and retain your audience.
What to do: Alternatively, look for a way to be absorbed. Look closely at the new publishing programs - traffic, like blood, needs a system for circulation. And the newer the vessels (games) in it will be, the healthier the organism will be.
The American company is already informally turning to the developers of the most successful games on Google Play, the benefit of “Android One.” At Amazon, they don’t even hide the fact that they will be glad to see at their disposal strong players who have been offered new development tools (analytics and testing in one package) and promotion (which costs advertising on a wake up screen) applications. Bezos has everything for the ecosystem, and 2014, perhaps the last, when there is a chance to become “another” large platform. It will be interesting to watch this trend in the light of the fact that the new Microsoft CEO (everyone has already learned his name?) Is also waiting for movement towards mobile. The capabilities of companies are incommensurable, and, nevertheless, the chances of success with Amazon, in our subjective opinion, are much higher.
What to do: Look on Amazon for bingy contacts on LinkedIn, they can be met even at specialized conferences in Russia. The company is open to dialogue and is very loyal to the developers and their problems - at least, it declares it.
Analytics services will massively launch (possibly absorb) testing services (such as Testflight). Read back to front - the meaning will not change: tools that are useful for developers will increasingly go “in one package”. So does Amazon, so does Testflight. One SDK - all services.
What to do: Choose! A lot of money will be “buried” in the market for such services in 2014. You just have to choose the best solution. But be careful: put on the wrong horse - and you will have a painful migration process after the “death” of the next startup. And one more tip: look carefully at who you share your data with - sometimes such a nice startup may have shareholders (investors, founders) associated with your competitors.
Just leave it here :-) There must be one crazy prediction!
Share your predictions - crazy and measured. Speak out in the comments. It will be interesting to hear your opinion. A year later, check.
Even the superheroes of the market will not get the right to take a breather in 2014 ...
1. Time of original games
Last year was definitely the year of the clones. Companies have cloned successful titles - both third-party and their own, squeezing the maximum out of a loyal audience. The current year has maintained this trend in force, but its positions have shaken dramatically after a sharp surge of negative feedback from players.
')
The release of the new original titles will shake up the market, which has fallen into a certain band of stagnation, if we talk about grocery diversity. In our opinion, innovation will manifest itself both in completely new mechanics and in rethinking old gameplays. And then we will again see dozens of clones of these new games. So this market is arranged.
What to do: Reconsider old, long-forgotten toys. Analyze the mechanics that are now very popular. Try to come up with a game from this that will potentially be of interest to the mainstream player.
2. Real sociality
We will immediately clarify that by “sociality” we mean not just integration with Facebook for using its viral channels. Games will be social on their own. The interaction between users will be increasingly close and active. The exchange of gifts and help each other, which have become almost the norm in games, will acquire a new layer of “transactions” between players. Coop-mechanics, joint raids and events, clan PvP and much more will appear more and more in games. Players want to play with others.
What to do: Initially, lay social interaction into the gameplay, think over it more carefully. Stop thinking in terms of singles toys.
3. Local markets will become “global”
Sorry for the play on words, but the importance of the markets of individual countries will only grow. Individual countries will attract increasing attention from developers. Previously, all were aimed mainly at the United States. To enter the mass market of this country, millions of dollars of marketing investments are needed. In the face of fierce competition, you have to fight for the player against the “all-consuming” in terms of traffic King, Supercell and Kabam. Complicating the situation is the fact that the number of daily downloads of applications in the US on the iPhone has not been growing for more than 9 months! We are confident that developers will begin to focus on local markets. They will “go” to individual countries at least in the form of localizations (the average number of available locales for TOP-100 games will grow), as a maximum - by aggressively attracting users.
It is important to clarify that local markets will no longer be determined solely by geography. First of all, we mean instant messengers.
What to do: Study the results of research. Find the markets for the third (or second - although there already closely) waves with good dynamics of the growth of the audience and money. Look for ways to go there.
4. The dominance of Asia
Not only will Asian markets continue to grow at a tremendous pace (we mean both the number of players and revenues), so the Asian games will move en masse to the western stor! There are plenty of successful examples now, but then there will be even more! The myth of genre specifics will be finally dispelled!
Running games in the US is expensive, but in Asia it is often not clear how. Mechanisms to attract users are significantly different, there are subtleties and rules. To understand, you need a lot of time and money. Therefore, there will be bundles of large Western and Eastern companies that will exchange users and promote each other's games where they are good at it.
What to do: Learn Asian stor, seek contact with local developers and publishers.
5. The United States by the end of the year will be the third country in revenue
Last year, Japan has already overtaken the United States in terms of revenue from mobile applications. For one year, Japanese gamers began to pay more than 3 times. If this year South Korea shows the same growth, then it is quite likely that the United States will rank third in the charts of the countries with the highest level of player spending on purchases in mobile stores.
What to do: Learn to work with the Korean market!
6. Hard times for indie developers
No, don't show us the bird that flies through the pipes. Similar examples have been and always will be. But in general, the trend of self-publishing games is already booming. The feature gives incomprehensible one-time traffic, the cost of attracting the user continues to grow. In the current environment, indie developers simply cannot survive. If earlier “homegrown” games could have been fired due to the low competition in the niche, organic matter in stores or Apple's number, now this will not happen. To achieve success without a good team (1), real, not theoretical experience (2), money for the development and polishing of the game (3), considerable marketing budgets (4) will be impossible. It's time to understand and accept.
What to do: The obvious way is to go to the publisher. And negotiate. The publication itself will have so many variations that the head will spin. But keep in mind that publishers need serious quality games, and not just another puzzle of 40 levels that can be completed in a few days.
7. Successful companies will strengthen their position.
The market has passed that point of no return, when successful ones become even more successful, and the weak die. The monsters, whose top games are in the grossing of the most earned countries, will only increase their influence. Every month they have millions (tens of millions!) Of free installations only due to their status, tops of grossing and incessant conversations about their products. All these companies continue to buy new players for any money and are willing to pay $ 7–10 for the installation. At the same time they try not to give their users. Their goal is to collect as many players as possible. Launching new titles allows you to monetize and retain your audience.
What to do: Alternatively, look for a way to be absorbed. Look closely at the new publishing programs - traffic, like blood, needs a system for circulation. And the newer the vessels (games) in it will be, the healthier the organism will be.
8. Amazon will make another attempt to conquer the market.
The American company is already informally turning to the developers of the most successful games on Google Play, the benefit of “Android One.” At Amazon, they don’t even hide the fact that they will be glad to see at their disposal strong players who have been offered new development tools (analytics and testing in one package) and promotion (which costs advertising on a wake up screen) applications. Bezos has everything for the ecosystem, and 2014, perhaps the last, when there is a chance to become “another” large platform. It will be interesting to watch this trend in the light of the fact that the new Microsoft CEO (everyone has already learned his name?) Is also waiting for movement towards mobile. The capabilities of companies are incommensurable, and, nevertheless, the chances of success with Amazon, in our subjective opinion, are much higher.
What to do: Look on Amazon for bingy contacts on LinkedIn, they can be met even at specialized conferences in Russia. The company is open to dialogue and is very loyal to the developers and their problems - at least, it declares it.
9. All-in-one tools
Analytics services will massively launch (possibly absorb) testing services (such as Testflight). Read back to front - the meaning will not change: tools that are useful for developers will increasingly go “in one package”. So does Amazon, so does Testflight. One SDK - all services.
What to do: Choose! A lot of money will be “buried” in the market for such services in 2014. You just have to choose the best solution. But be careful: put on the wrong horse - and you will have a painful migration process after the “death” of the next startup. And one more tip: look carefully at who you share your data with - sometimes such a nice startup may have shareholders (investors, founders) associated with your competitors.
10. Unity will buy someone very big
Just leave it here :-) There must be one crazy prediction!
Share your predictions - crazy and measured. Speak out in the comments. It will be interesting to hear your opinion. A year later, check.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/213769/
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