Who doesn’t enjoy the sense of achievement and satisfaction of untangling a knot, finding yourself on a fun battlefield, knocking your opponents down with a water gun, or smashing stuff with a giant wheel? Hyper-casual gamers know Rollic from Go Knots 3D, the most downloaded app in the world in April. Flipper Dunk, Water Shooty, Wheel Smash, Picker 3D, Pixel Shot 3D, and Wood Shop are some of their titles that reached first place on the US app stores and more than 40 other countries’ top charts. In less than a year, Rollic took its place in the gaming community and with a track record of success, the Istanbul-based game developer and publisher became one of the biggest players of the industry.
For this Publisher Spotlight, we spoke to Rollic co-founders Burak Vardal and Deniz Başaran about the hyper-casual genre, what it takes to build a mobile game, and what the “Next Big Thing” is for the company.
Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime
The popularity of hyper-casual games comes from their ability to reach different audiences. From the 19-year-old young man to the 52-year-old mother, everyone finds something in these games. “At the beginning of a user’s gaming journey, there are hyper-casual games. As these present an easy-to-understand gaming experience, they have managed to gain mass appeal and transcend different audiences. The easy mechanics help build habits for players and the graphics give instant satisfaction to the users,” said Vardal.
As the world gets faster, users are also consuming content even faster. “Hyper-casual follows this and presents daily 10-12 minute fulfilling periods of time to the gamers. As onboarding gets easier, instead of turning on a bigger device like a console or PC, users can get into the action in the fastest way possible,” he concluded.
Creating Hyper-Casual Games
Does easy-to-play mean easy-to-develop? “There is a myth that creating a hyper-casual game is easy. If you manage to create the mechanics that audiences of different ages, genders, and cultures can play instantaneously, this means you are also bringing in players that are new to mobile gaming,” answered Vardal.
In today’s world, developing a game is not enough to reach target audiences and higher- rankings on the top charts. On the user acquisition and monetization side, hyper-casual and casual game genres show differences from the hardcore mobile games. “On the user acquisition side, though we are reaching a large scope of audience, it is important to have meaningful data and understand the behavior of users. How long users spent in the game, which ad units they engage with, and when they come back to the game are some of the things to be considered,.” explained Başaran.
“When it comes to monetization, integration of rewarded ads based on the storyline of the game is a key point. The user expectation is continuity and getting a chance to move on inside the game with the help of the rewards,” he continued.
A Learning Cycle Within the Community
With their video series Hit Stories and blog posts, Rollic opens the doors to the backstage of the creation processes of their hit titles. If you are eager to build your own game or learn more about the industry we highly recommend you take a look!
“The original mechanics of Water Shooty, or the hidden sense in Flipper Dunk that reminds us of the 70s arcade games, are the small things that make us smile and help us believe that Rollic is growing into a better game company every day,” said Vardal.
What’s Next?
With their motto “Next Big Thing”, Rollic is always looking for better ways to engage audiences with their games. With the recent launch of their exclusive SDK Elephant at PGC London, Rollic takes the next steps of automation and creativity based on data. When we asked them about the future of hyper-casual, Vardal replied, “With the increased UA and monetization demand, building the right strategy and scaling with profit is more dependent on publisher know-how and talent. The ones who can combine game design and monetization strategies will be the winners.”
“Our main focus is building games that people can enjoy. While producing massive scaling global titles we are focusing on building a future-proof ecosystem in the gaming industry. Especially merging data with creativity and automation is the key,” said Vardal.
Keep in Touch with Rollic
If you want to be the first one to hear the latest news about Rollic, you can follow them on LinkedIn, reach out to them through their website, and check their games on Rollic’s Instagram account.
About Publisher Spotlight
The AdColony Publisher Spotlight series showcases the finest publishers in mobile gaming. To nominate a publisher to be featured, tweet to @AdColony. To feature your studio, fill out the Publisher Spotlight Questionnaire.
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