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Maintaining with business traits is essential to staying forward within the video games business and making certain you do not fall behind.
At Pocket Gamer Connects, we often run our ‘International Tendencies’ observe, offering an expansive view of the sector’s newest ttrends, information, figures and insights from all over the world. In truth, the observe will return as soon as once more at PGC London 2025 on January twentieth to twenty first.
On this sequence, we have reached out high business leaders to share their insights and expectations on the state of play and the way they see the subsequent few years shaping up.
We spoke to My.Video games CEO Elena Grigorian about her ideas on the most recent high business traits, and why direct-to-consumer methods are an enormous alternative for builders.
PocketGamer.biz: May you inform us a bit about your organization and what you’re at the moment engaged on?
Elena Grigorian: My.Video games is a number one European writer and developer headquartered in Amsterdam, with over one billion registered customers worldwide.
The corporate develops video games for cell, PС, and console platforms. Warfare Robots, Hustle Citadel, Rush Royale, Left to Survive, and plenty of different video games are produced by My.Video games. The corporate unites 10 improvement studios and a powerful workforce of specialists working collectively from throughout the globe.
Our main focus is on key tasks in areas important to our enterprise — significantly cell improvement, publishing midcore tasks, and buy-to-play titles for PC and consoles.
“The previous yr has been transformative for My.Video games, marked by strategic expansions and launches of recent titles throughout numerous markets.”
Elena Grigorian
We carefully analyse sport efficiency to determine titles with distinctive market potential, permitting us to focus on our efforts on optimizing and increasing these video games. We proceed experimenting with new mechanics and monetization methods, and naturally, with new launches, with latest releases of Zombie State and Citadel Duels serving as nice examples of this.
We’re additionally centered on additional increasing our presence within the Asian marketplace for each cell and PC tasks. The profitable launch of Warfare Robots in China has been particularly encouraging, and this optimistic reception motivates us to maintain broadening and enhancing our merchandise throughout the Asian area.
How have the final 12 months been in your firm?
The previous yr has been transformative for My.Video games, marked by strategic expansions and launches of recent titles throughout numerous markets.
In April, we celebrated Warfare Robots’ tenth anniversary. With over 270 million registered gamers and $900 million in lifetime income, Warfare Robots has constantly proven year-over-year development.
Our workforce’s dedication and dedication to increasing into new markets, comparable to China, had been instrumental to this success. Acquiring an ISBN and relaunching the sport in China had been key steps, permitting us to faucet into a brand new viewers even after a decade.
Our portfolio additionally grew with the launch of two new cell video games: Zombie State and Citadel Duels. Zombie State combines rogue-like and first-person shooter components for the F2P cell market, breaking new floor within the PvE cell shooter area.
Citadel Duels, our dynamic tower protection sport, has already surpassed a million installs worldwide since its beta launch in July, providing a novel twist on traditional tower protection with real-time PvP battles.
“The cell market is combating for margins in any respect prices, because the market turns into more durable.”
Elena Grigorian
A significant spotlight was the launch of our new publishing label, Knights Peak Interactive, devoted to premium PC and console video games. Whereas My.Video games has huge expertise in free-to-play publishing, this transfer represents our strategic entry into the premium area.
Led by business veterans Eugenio Vitale, Mario Gerhold, and Jan-Eric Lauble, Knights Peak is already supporting six thrilling titles, together with Starship Troopers: Extermination, Hela, and Pathfinder: Kingmaker, with extra tasks within the pipeline.
This label underscores our dedication to reaching new markets and supporting rising and established studios alike.
What do you suppose the largest traits within the business have been over the past 12 months?
After we’re talking of traits making an instantaneous impact on the cell video games market, I can positively spotlight D2C (direct-to-consumer) communication; modifications in rules on the subject of app shops. The cell market is combating for margins in any respect prices, because the market turns into more durable.
On PC and console, we are able to observe the rise of the doube-A/indie titles, and the final battle of F2P titles releases. Premium appears to safe itself as a main enterprise mannequin on PC/console for some years forward.
Talking of extra basic business traits — AI is an enormous phrase. It’s removed from displaying on the spot outcomes, however the chance of this expertise dashing up and enhancing processes is gigantic.
We’re already implementing AI in some features of our sport improvement, and we’re feeling optimistic about serving to our groups turn into sooner and extra productive in content material creation. This may allow us to launch higher video games that thousands and thousands of individuals worldwide can take pleasure in.
“The general cooling down of the business would possibly play a superb position for everybody to concentrate on the sustainable improvement of their companies.”
Elena Grigorian
From the funding perspective, the market is displaying early indicators of positivity, however I wouldn’t anticipate it ever to be because it was in 2022. Receiving cash now — from traders or a writer— is a difficult process that requires quite a lot of expertise, and an important product.
It feels considerably proper, as the general cooling down of the business would possibly play a superb position for everybody to concentrate on the sustainable improvement of their companies.
What do you suppose are the important thing traits, challenges and alternatives for the subsequent yr, and the way will you be taking them on?
The video games business is dealing with challenges, however key traits — diversification, intense person competitors, concentrate on present hit titles and franchises, and cross-collaborations — are anticipated to develop additional in 2025.
One main pattern is the shift in the direction of direct-to-consumer (D2C) methods, significantly by way of various cost strategies. This strategy strengthens developer-user relationships by enabling direct advertising and marketing and facilitating seamless, direct interactions as much as the cost stage.
This broadens alternatives for a extra partaking person expertise. With restricted concentrating on skills for paying customers, merchandise more and more must enchantment to broad audiences. Video games with vast enchantment are typically proving extra profitable than these with slender focus.
Collaborations and reboots of fashionable IPs will stay central. Launching new merchandise round established IPs with built-in audiences reduces the dangers of constructing new fan bases from scratch and helps the pattern of prioritising safer, much less dangerous investments.
Builders are returning to long-running profitable titles, leveraging identified audiences for greater reactivation and monetisation. Thus, in 2024, newly launched video games generated solely 4.88% of whole income.
Talking about probably the most profitable new releases, hybridcasual ‘puzzle’ video games and ‘idle RPGs’ stood out, making a noticeable affect on their genres.
“In 2024, 78% of recent cell video games incomes over $500,000 month-to-month had been Asian tasks.”
Elena Grigorian
Asian affect in Western markets continues to develop, particularly within the US. In 2024, 78% of recent cell video games incomes over $500,000 month-to-month had been Asian tasks.
Asian builders dominate midcore genres like 4X technique video games, with titles comparable to Whiteout Survival and Final Warfare: Survival Sport rating among the many top-grossing cell video games.
Asian informal video games like Love and Deepspace and Truck Star Match have additionally gained traction. These titles are inclined to seize excessive engagement and income from the beginning, pushed by sturdy neighborhood engagement, pre-registrations, and monetisation fashions based mostly on gacha mechanics and hero assortment.
What do you suppose is most essential to a cell sport’s success in 2024?
In 2024, a cell sport’s success hinges on broad viewers enchantment, seamless onboarding, long-term retention, and sustainable monetisation.
Video games now want to achieve a large viewers, so each easy and sophisticated titles are adjusting their problem to enchantment to a broader person base; the technique of concentrating on solely “whale” gamers has largely light.
Equally essential is a easy onboarding expertise, specializing in fast gameplay with minimal textual content. With the excessive value of every set up, it’s essential to make each preliminary expertise as partaking as potential.
Lengthy-term retention is important, particularly as high builders, notably from Asia, are sustaining engagement by way of intensive stay ops groups that present various content material from launch onward.
Lastly, sustainable monetisation that balances income with person enjoyment is essential; it’s important to customize monetisation methods by particular person or cohort to maintain gamers engaged and keep away from detracting from the gaming expertise.