“We have improved the efficiency of hypothesis testing,” said Ivan Gorchakov from Belka Games about the results of 2024

What was the year like for the company?

Regarding Belka Games, I'd like to highlight two points.

• I took over the baton from Sasha Bogdanov and assumed the role of CEO — I am extremely grateful to him and the whole company for their trust.
• A number of new functional roles have been introduced within our team, and we are already seeing positive results from the decisions made. For example, one of our hypotheses shows great potential, and in R&D, we have increased the speed of testing hypotheses.

How has the situation in the gaming market changed from your perspective?

It can confidently be said that 2024 was a year of significant change.

New products are setting trends for the entire game development industry: cross-platform development continues to grow actively, and hybrid-casual titles have set a new "success bar" for all participants in the race. Social interaction is now not just an "option," but one of the key foundations of a successful project. Companies are forced to rethink conventional approaches and development pipelines to remain flexible and increase their chances of achieving set goals.

The most crucial and positive aspect is the return of the gaming industry to a state of albeit small, but nevertheless growth, according to the latest reports from analytical platforms.

In terms of the mobile gaming market as a whole, I would highlight several factors that have changed the rules of the game:

• User privacy: New rules and requirements are released every year, with everyone anticipating the release of Google Privacy Sandbox. This has prompted developers to adapt their data collection and user acquisition strategies. Combined with evolving consumer behavior, this has led to the need for adopting hybrid monetization models regardless of genre;
• The rise of GenAI: AI and machine learning are increasingly being used to enhance various aspects of game development, marketing, and community management, including personalized experiences, automated content creation, and improved player retention;
• The enforcement of the DMA Act in the EC, as well as similar initiatives in other regions: such regulations, combined with other industry changes noted earlier, encourage developers to even more actively seek new ways of distributing games, diversify revenue sources, and build direct relationships with players.

What was the year like for the genre in which you operate?

We are currently working across several niches. We are simultaneously developing our casual products and launching new projects in entirely new genres for us.

Speaking of match-3, the market is globally very mature and established, with an increasingly high entry barrier for new products. It’s clear that older projects have almost hit the ceiling in terms of new features and often just tweak something that has burned out. There are no breakthrough stories. However, there's an interesting trend towards densifying event launch calendars and synergizing different features.

Which trends in your niche do you expect to strengthen or emerge in 2025?

The growth of the hybrid-casual monetization model is clearly visible. With the increase of CPI, hyper-casual is becoming less profitable, and investments are taking longer to pay off. Therefore, many hyper-casual studios started actively borrowing practices from IAP products, and casual studios began developing less heavy projects with a significant focus on ad monetization. This is the most "lively" niche right now, one we closely monitor and where we are trying our hand.

Entering the mid-core segment is becoming more challenging and expensive each year. Creating something truly novel in terms of presentation and marketing, delivering high-quality, content-rich projects is required. This makes the development of such products a "leap of faith" that few teams are willing to take, and it's great when they decide to. But the niche itself continues to be very interesting and profitable.

What are the company's plans for the upcoming year?

We are actively preparing for new releases in 2025. Work is in full swing, plans are ambitious — we’ll be sharing details soon.

We are grateful to all our partners who help us move towards our set goals and we look forward to continuing our productive collaboration in the new year. Onwards and upwards!