Mobile Mavens on the biggest games industry trends of 2024 part two: Rewarded UA in vogue, generative AI, and hybridcasual success

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As soon as once more it is that point of yr the place all of us begin feeling reflective and look again on the yr simply gone.

So to that finish, we thought we would ask our Cell Experts – a set of video games business specialists – just a few questions concerning the yr passed by. Right here we ask:

What had been the most important video games business traits of 2023?

You may learn half one proper right here.

Uncover extra concerning the newest video games business traits at Pocket Gamer Connects London on January twentieth to twenty first, 2025.

There isn’t a doubt that there have been elements of the business that struggled – and but, there have been additionally vibrant spots for sport builders that embraced digitally-native, real-money rewards to drive engagement and retention. This can be a pattern I count on to proceed.  

Rewarded UA has for certain been a giant pattern in 2024 and offered a vibrant spot in an in any other case bleak yr for cell gaming UA.

I’m not simply saying that as a result of we’re part of that area and had an amazing yr, different firms providing rewarded site visitors additionally appear to be doing nice, which I like to see, as we’re nonetheless within the massive blue ocean section of this market.

There’s a lot potential for bettering consumer engagement with rewards and I’m certain subsequent yr will likely be even higher. 

This yr’s key pattern has been a decline in sport retention charges coupled with rising site visitors prices. On this context, Ludus has emerged as a real phenomenon. The truth that our product demonstrates development even in right now’s difficult market circumstances is nothing wanting miraculous.

On the event aspect, AI and generative applied sciences has been a dominant theme. Everybody has been in search of methods to combine it into manufacturing and content material creation.

Nevertheless, it is truthful to say that nobody has totally cracked the code but. We have additionally been experimenting with these applied sciences and plan to include them into our future video games.

This yr we witnessed a defining shift from hypercasual to hybridcasual video games, revolutionising in-game monetization methods. Studios moved away from a purely ad-based income mannequin towards a balanced mixture of in-app purchases and in-game adverts.

This design transition introduced new challenges, significantly round growing content material and mechanics to assist this hybrid method successfully.

AI has been a strong and fast-growing wave, with new, groundbreaking fashions and applied sciences making headlines nearly each week.

The hype surrounding AI is immense, fueled by jaw-dropping advances in what AI fashions can obtain, from producing lifelike photographs to automating advanced duties. But, there’s a noticeable dissonance between this hype and the way AI is definitely used within the video games business.

Whereas firms are desperate to undertake AI, they usually battle to combine and monetise these subtle applied sciences into each day operations in a significant approach. Sensible, day-to-day functions of AI stay restricted, with solely a handful of use circumstances proving viable for instant influence.

In actuality, the primary utilization of AI in enterprise is coming from the underside up — from staff who leverage AI to streamline duties and work extra effectively — reasonably than as top-down initiatives from firms directing staff on how one can use AI.

Bridging this hole between AI’s potential and real-world implementation has grow to be a key problem for companies aiming to harness the true energy of AI.

As predicted, there’s little question 2024 has been a troublesome yr for the video games business at giant.

Nevertheless, there’s additionally been loads of optimistic adjustments inside the free-to-play ecosystem: hybridcasual video games are actually firmly established and there’s been a visual mindset shift in the direction of monitoring lifetime worth of gamers and long-term development.

In our enterprise – video games distribution and monetisation – we see a transparent pattern of sport builders and publishers investing in various distribution and monetisation. Various shops distribution, internet payshops, and many others. are simply examples of a pattern that we consider will develop in 2025. 

2024 has been an impressive yr for bringing genuine digital likenesses to video games.

Titles like Justice League: Kill the Suicide Squad delivered outstanding facial animation, and I anticipate seeing related high-fidelity facial performances in subsequent yr’s releases, corresponding to Demise Stranding 2 and GTA VI.

Third-party shops are beginning to acquire visibility because of legislative adjustments.

AI is changing into an integral a part of on a regular basis work life.