GameRefinery has published a large study of the American social casino market. The dominance of slots in this category continues — they account for most of the total revenue. Analysts also talked about the main trends and mechanics that distinguish social casinos from other genres.The main thing from the report
In the fourth quarter of 2020, social casinos became the second highest-grossing category of mobile games in the United States.
- They accounted for 17.2% of the total revenue of the American App Store.80% of the revenue of social casinos is accounted for by slots.
- There is the highest competition in this subgenre, and it is impossible to clearly distinguish the leader.The situation is reversed for poker/card games and bingo subgenres.
- They have one leader, who accounts for from a third to half of all revenue.Social casinos have their own features and monetization systems that are unique to the genre.
- For example, the piggy bank system — during the game, users can fill it with premium currency, after which they can buy all its contents for real money [in fact, piggy banks are no longer a unique mechanic for social casinos, it is also actively used by match-3 developers — approx. App2Top.ru].Market situation
The top five titles in the social casino subgenre are very close to each other in terms of revenue.
- The shaky leadership of Slotomania made the competition even stronger.Most of the projects from the top 100 in the category of social casinos have been on the market for many years.
- They continue to hold the lead, leaving almost no chance for new games to claim high places.Chart of the box office of old and new games in the slots subgenre (X—axis — how much time has passed since the release, Y-axis – the position of the game in the top 200)
A third of the revenue in the poker/card games subgenre comes from the World Series of Poker.
- However, according to analysts, Poker Face, which is in the top five, has a chance to impose a fight in the future.Chart of the box office of old and new titles in the poker/card games subgenre (X—axis — how much time has passed since the release, Y-axis – the position of the game in the top 200)
46% of the revenue in the bingo subgenre is accounted for by Bingo Blitz.
- It is well ahead of the competition, but the three games following it — Bingo Party, Bingo Story Live and Bingo Bash featuring Monopoly — are almost level.Chart of the box office of old and new games in the bingo subgenre (X—axis — how much time has passed since the release, Y-axis – the position of the game in the top 200)
Mechanics and features of social casinos
20% of the most popular games in the genre use the following mechanics: regular live events (there are 100% of top projects), irregular live events (93%), progressive jackpot (93%), piggy bank (87%) and dynamic standings (80%).
- At the same time, the popularity of these mechanics in general in social casinos sometimes differs greatly.
- For example, the piggy bank is used only in 36% of all projects, despite its success and presence in most of the highest-grossing titles.Top 10 most popular mechanics found in most games from 20% of the highest-grossing social casinos
Social casinos often have albums in which users can collect various items.
- The popularity of this feature gives players a sense of progression and achievement of new goals, while not disturbing the game balance.Examples of albums in social casinos
Another feature of social casinos are guilds.
- They are well suited to projects of this genre and help developers to integrate other social functions into their titles, such as cooperative tasks and competitions.Excitement, competition and collecting are the main motivators of social casino players.
- They should be taken into account when developing any project in the category, regardless of the subgenre.The main motivators of social casino players
