Top 10 Hypercasual Games in Q3 2021
The third quarter of the year 2021 is over, and it is time for a quick review of what has changed in one of the most dynamic mobile app categories: the hypercasual games.
— by Diana Levintova
The third quarter of the year 2021 is over, and it is time for a quick review of what has changed in one of the most dynamic mobile app categories: the hypercasual games.This time, we’ve drawn up all the top charts using our new tool: the market segment dashboard. It is an awesome new feature that lets you analyze a particular genre of interest by simply picking an appropriate tag to narrow down your research.
Looking at the graph for the third quarter, we can see several areas bulging at certain points: these represent download booms for the apps (number-coded for convenience). It may look like the market is experiencing a decline of about 20%. But that’s because we have only included the top 100 apps of the genre in the graph. If we check the cumulative downloads of all HC games on our market segment comparison dashboard, we will see that the downtrend is not that dramatic (14% only).
Both of these graphs tell us that there have lately been few large blockbusters on the market, and the tail of the distribution reconfirms that other games outside the top 100 now have a larger impact on the market than before. To rephrase: being short on the blockbuster end in the top 100 makes those outside the top-100 bracket have comparably more influence on the market overall.
Now moving on to the list of top 10 performers, where we see a number of newcomers, as is typical for a market this highly dynamic.
This time round, the leader is Fidget Toys Trading (see number 3 in the graph); launched in June 2021, the game has already acquired more than 78M downloads, peaking in August and now faced with a downward trend. The game itself is quite standard for the trading segment, where the player is expected to exchange, or “trade”, their toys. Interestingly, right before Fidget Toys Trading was released, people did the exact same thing offline—with physical items, streaming their activity on TikTok, amongst other things. Oh, and let’s not forget that we’re given the Gen Z’s ultimate new favourite toy to play with here: the “pop-it”.
Another fresh face in the top 10 is Destiny Run (number 4 in the graph): released in July 2021 and barely having any traction during summer, in September the game finally found its audience, amassing 46M downloads and still on the uptrend. It is a runner where the player collects items while progressing through the level; with items being angels or devils here, they change the appearance of the playing character in real time.
Trading Master 3D (number 1 in the graph) is in the top 10 for the first time. It was released in June, peaked in July at 35M and is now experiencing a downtrend. The concept of the game is similar to Fidget Toys Trading, with the player trading their toys with the opponent. The major standout point for Trading Master 3D is the actual 3D graphics (kind of gives it away in the name, doesn’t it?).
Run Rich 3D (number 2 in the graph), currently coming in 7th, is, too, a newcomer. The app was soft-launched in May 2021 and released officially in June; it was quick to peak in July, reaching 18M downloads, and then fell back, just like many of its competitors in the chart. The game’s idea is similar to that of Destiny Run; it is a runner with the player collecting money along the way.
One more update in the downloads top is *Arrow Fest*—a yet another soft launch of late May to early June and a product released officially in July that went on to boom in August with 17M downloads and is now gradually going down. Arrow Fest is also an excellent example of a very popular type of hypercasual games—it is a runner with the user playing as some kind of an “accumulating resource” (in this case, arrows): as you move forward, obstacles shrink you down and bonuses buff you up, with your goal to keep the damage to its minimum and use the buffs to their maximum.
Interestingly, for most of these games, their major share of downloads comes from Brazil or India, except for Arrow Fest, where the biggest percentage of players (23%) is located in the USA.
To conclude the overview, let’s just have a quick look at the titles that we have already seen in top positions and that are not yet ready to surrender. Count Master climbed up two positions, increasing its downloads by 12% compared to the second quarter. Bridge Race, on the contrary, stepped down, losing more than half of its downloads (51%). However, the app is still in the top free, even though it has been slowly going down over the past two months. Hair Challenge is another game that lost nearly half of the downloads this quarter, shrinking by 42%. Going Balls experienced a downtrend during this period, too, but a 28% decline only. By the way, if you want to learn more about the design and workings of these games, you should have a look at this article. Last but not least, here is Tiles Hop. The game is somewhat of an old-timer on the market, as it was released in 2017; however, since 2018, it has established itself quite strongly, and it does continue to be popular today. Compared to Q2 2021, it lost 3% of its downloads, but then its competitors lost even more, so not too much sweat for these guys just yet!