Table of Content
(935 views)
Quick summary
Gone are the days when you thought gaming required expensive games and a lot of time on your hands. Today, people enjoy small sessions of casual gaming, and they are not getting bored with it. Smartphones have upgraded the way we do many things in our lives, but who would have thought the gaming industry would ultimately be baptized by the increasing use of smartphones. So, here we are today, explaining casual gaming in and out and sharing with you unique ways to make a successful marketing plan for casual games.
Introduction
The gaming market has evolved in various aspects in the last few years. An article from Think with Google suggests that today gamers are not just going for niche-based interest games. They are far from the traditional image of a player hidden in a dark room behind the game console playing multiplayer role-playing games. Instead, today they are exploring the gaming industry and variant of game experiences over smartphones.
Mobile phones have changed a lot of traditional notions. They have democratized the gaming community by coming up with solutions such as casual gaming on apps, which has made all the difference.
What Are Casual Games?
As the name suggests, they are casual and do not have very complex mechanics. They are time restrained and have a flat learning curving. The grinding part of the game is usually missing in these types of games.
Casual gaming refers to games that are spontaneous, irregular, and infrequent. They don't require a gamer to invest their time extensively to play, win and enjoy. People can engage themselves in a quick game of casual video games over their smartphones during their short breaks, which has opened a whole new segment for iOS and Android game development companies.
How do you promote a casual game?
Casual games are usually built for web-based gaming, desktops, tablets, and smartphones. A casual game is launched in an app store so people can download it. Various monetization opportunities accompany casual gaming apps, such as microtransactions, premium access, advertisements, and more. We shall discuss that later in the blog. However, the first channel is to get people to download the app so that you can inspire them to spend money. Here are some tips for promoting your game app.
Get YouTubers to Pick up your game
You can engage with influencers and ask them to drop a video or a post that would help you get noticed in the market. Usually, you would have to pay them for that, but you can try other variants of engagement, such as providing them a percent of every download or sale you make through their video. You can engage with iOS and Android game development services to integrate a referral program. That would help you manage things better.
Soft Launch your game
The soft Launch is like a beta launch that allows you to launch the app and test the users' response. Factually, you can get some remarkable insights from the users to improve the gaming experience and add more value.
Once you have strategically improved the game, you can invest in the marketing and go full-fledged in promoting the game. One of the good ways to start is to try out the game in the hyper-local market. Here is a proven pathway to make a soft launch plan:
- Conduct market research
- Testing the theme
- Rearrange KPIs
- Learn
- Adapt
- Launch
Press Release
Mobile gaming is a comprehensive market and many magazines, newspapers, news portals over that section. People love to see what are the new-happenings of the tech market. Engage with a PR team, and they would be able to identify the right press people that can spread a word in the market through publishing your news and writing compelling articles/ blogs.
Social media
Social media is another way to attract people to your platform. You can create a compelling video or a trailer to inspire people to download the game. You can use social media to run ads and boost your downloads. Begin with teasers and start unfolding more details. Have a strategy and stick to it.
If you have a range of games, you can have a company profile from where you can announce all the activities on the game development, pique interest with great teasers, player reviews, run ads, and
Website and Forum
Having a website is one great advantage. Gamers love to know about the company before they start the download. Also, download links on the website would be a great lead conversion point. Most of all, SEO, digital promotion, blogging, linking websites to the forums, and promoting games there can help in lead generation and game promotion.
Create kick-ass trailer
Trailers can help gamers sneak a peek inside the game. Make the trailer as kick-ass as possible, including all the necessary details such as engagement points, music, the objective of the game, etc. Going further like this would help you in engaging the users.
Good publisher
Gaming on smartphones is not new. There are some fantastic games already on the market, and new ones get published every day. Unless you know your market, it will become complicated for you to promote the product.
Game publishers help significantly in marketing and promotions. They know app distribution and advertising, they would have the right set of skills to help you successfully navigate the market, which can primarily benefit your business.
Why are casual games so popular?
The popularity of the games can depend on many things, mainly on the gamer's preference. In a recent study, casual games are the most popular genre for Android devices. Many companies offer game development services for various casual games and have a reach to more than 60% of total smartphones. Here is what makes them a successful investment.
Easy
The games are elementary and not at all complex. The game is straightforward to play. It does not require multiple inputs and the difficulty level is essential. Game rules are not hard to follow, and most importantly, they can be played with one hand. These qualities make it rule the smartphone market.
Free
Usually, the casual games are monetized through the advertisement and are free. In-app purchases are also an excellent way to monetize the app, and people spend a lot of money on microtransactions on casual mobile games. Free games are most likely to attract people as there are no monetary risks involved.
Fun
Since casual games are not exhaustive, many people find them fun and are usually drawn to them when getting bored or free. It is like reading a book, or any other leisure activity people want to enjoy during their boring routine for a break from monotony.
Accessibility
Casual games can be played by people of all ages. They are appropriate for kids and adults and do not require any tremendous deep knowledge of technology or adjustments to fit the device's needs. They are plug and play, and the hardcore game fails to offer that convenience and ease.
Short
Casual games are short and encourage users to keep playing them. Without too much competition, no stress, a gamer can enjoy a great match in a short time and enjoy techniques that engage casual gamers.
Getting in the game: How to monetize and improve monetization?
In-app Ads
There are several ways to monetize casual gaming applications. You capture a lot of data on user preference. You would know the frequency and length of ads a player would like to see during gaming. Since it is a short game, you cannot constantly interrupt the gamers, you must keep the gamer engaged, and the ads should be quick and also think about rewarding the gamers on seeing an advertisement.
In-app purchases
Casual gamers do not tend to make in-app purchases. Only 3.7% of people made in-app purchases on casual game apps, significantly less than other genre apps.
Along with in-app purchases, you can try out other ways to monetize the app, which are:
- Generating loot boxes (Virtual items that help players in the game and require purchase)
- Offer bundles (exciting purchase bundle with discount)
- Promotion boost items (give a free pass to the players on challenging levels)
Offerwalls
Talking of alternatives to in-app ads and purchases, you can try offerwalls. They are non-intrusive and player-initiated, and thus you would not have to work on inspiring buy action. So, it doesn't look like a promotion to the player.
So rather than telling players to buy something that will not add value to the players, you can offer more lives, experience points, exceptional currencies, and other things that can be purchased only on offerwalls.
Improve monetization
Monetizing casual mobile games is not easy; people see them as leisure activities and are not very likely to pay money for features, functionality, or add-ons. Have a strategic approach and expert guidance to make the most of your campaigns.
What are casual games features?
Web-based, mobile with broader appeal
Casual games are usually released for web-based playing. Also, found you can play them over smartphones, tablets, and personal computers. In addition, they have a mass market and are not restricted to the traditional gaming community.
Casual gaming has a simple learning curve and achieves controls in a minimal time. Typically, they require only one finger input or two-finger input, and they make gaming easy on smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.
More straightforward Rules and Required Skills
Casual games have simple rules, shorter sessions, and fewer required skills than hardcore games. As a result, they need less time to play and win and offer great engagement to the gamers for a short period. This makes them highly popular amongst people who are not hardcore gamers with 40+ hours to spend on gaming.
Lower Cost
Hardcore gaming requires investment in the gaming unit and other gears. However, casual gaming requires only a smartphone which is an everyday companion of a person. People are highly drawn towards gaming over smartphones.
Instant gaming or hyper-casual game is straightforward to learn and requires no download and being played in an existing app like web-browser or messaging app, etc.
Genres
There are various genres that you can use for iOS or Android game development. The most popular casual game genres are:
- Puzzle games
- Hidden object games
- Adventure games
- Strategy games
- Arcade & Action game
- Word & Trivia
- Card & Board games
Acquiring players for casual games
The casual gaming industry is growing at a fast pace. Many simple games are available on Android and iOS app stores and depend mainly on app distribution platforms. This is the way the publisher would distribute the app and help you acquire gamers. For more engagement, you can try Facebook advertising and Google App Campaigns.
Relevant Blog:
How can AIS help you advertise your casual mobile game?
AIS Technolabs is a leading digital marketing company that helps you publish the application over various platforms and market it well. We offer professional SEO services, PPC Advertising and management, and social media marketing. Reach out to our experts today to know more about our services, and also, you can connect with us for iOS and Android game development services.
Wrapping Up
Casual gaming is gaining a lot of popularity. It is global popularity, and people love to spend small sessions gaming and engaging in gaming. If you have a great casual gaming idea, connect with our technology experts for cost-effective Android or iOS game development services.
Mary Smith
Mary Smith excels in crafting technical and non-technical content, demonstrating precision and clarity. With careful attention to detail and a love for clear communication, she skillfully handles difficult topics, making them into interesting stories. Mary's versatility and expertise shine through her ability to produce compelling content across various domains, ensuring impactful storytelling that resonates with diverse audiences.