In terms of cash, there are now three imitation objects on the market for mobile application developers, three players who were not even really present on the mobile market a year ago.

  • Supercell was known in narrow circles only for a dubious browser MMO
  • GungHo became famous for once hosting Ragnarok Online
  • King was late coming to the mobile platform

Their success was impossible to predict. What is especially curious, the project of each of the mentioned teams shot in its own niche. In other words, the path to the box office top of each game was exceptional.

  • Supercell has freed the genre of builders from dull micromanagement, added fights and made the construction stage in the game a meaningful activity, thereby significantly increasing the length of the session
  • GungHo, at the time of the decline in interest in battlers observed in the Japanese market, loaded the project with casual combat mechanics, in fact, diversifying it
  • King, in turn, took advantage of Wooga’s mobile experience, added variety through missions, lowered the entry threshold to the maximum, and at the same time tightened the rigid monetization model

Wanting to explore the phenomenon of success, Newzoo decided to compare the audience of the two central projects of the two aforementioned developers. We are talking about Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga (Puzzle & Dragons is currently presented only in Japan and the USA, and in the States the results are very contradictory, it would be difficult to monitor and compare them with the indicators of European hits).

And here’s what Newzoo discovered:

Age and gender

  • Clash of Clans users are mostly men (77%), in Candy Crush Saga – women (60%)
  • in Candy Crush Saga, men are more likely to pay (54%)
  • the age of half of the Clash of Clans players ranges from 21 to 35 years, only 23% of the users of this application are over 35 years old
  • The audience of Candy Crush Saga is more diverse. The age of 42% of the players is from 21 to 35 years, the age of almost 40% is more than 35 years

Hardcore vs. Midcorners vs. Casual Players

As expected, according to Nezoo analysts, most Clash of Clans players also spend their time at consoles and TV, there are much fewer of them among Candy Crush users: 93% vs. 78%.

Only half of Candy Crash players use portable consoles or tablets. There are much more of them among Clash of Clans players – 71%. From this it is easy to conclude that most Candy Crush users prefer to play on mobile devices, if at all.

65% of Clash of Clans users play on all available screens (TV, computer, tablets, smartphones, portable consoles). There are significantly fewer of them among Candy Crush players – 43%.

Curiously, only 42% of Clash of Clans gamers recognize themselves as hardcore players. For Candy Crush, for obvious reasons, this value is even less – 23%. Moreover, in the latter case, 45% of respondents call themselves casual.

To make it clear, in the questionnaires, the company has derived the following definitions for respondents by type of gamers:

Hardcore (core) – “Games are an important part of my life, I spend a lot of my time on them. I love action-packed projects, I like to compete with other users

Midcore players (mid-core) – “I play regularly, I prefer atmospheric projects. I don’t spend a lot of time and large sums on them. If I had more free time, I would probably spend more of my time and money on them.”

Casual – “I like games, but I wouldn’t say I’m very interested in them. Basically, I play to pass the time and don’t spend a lot of money on them.”

Despite the significant difference between the users of Clash of Clans and Candy Crush, their audiences overlap with each other.

16% of Clash of Clans players play Candy Crush. However, only 6% of Candy Crush users also spend their time behind the Supercell hit. From this we can conclude that hardcore users are more open in terms of entertainment choices than casual users.

A source: newzoo.com

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