Hyper-Casual Grew Share of Top New Game Downloads to 78% in 2019

The growing popularity of hyper-casual titles such as Fun Race 3D and Sand Balls is seeing the genre represent an increasingly larger share of installs of the top-downloaded new mobile games each year. Of the 2.1 billion installs amassed by the 20 most downloaded games released in 2019, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data reveals that 77.6 percent were for games belonging to the hyper-casual genre.

Characterized by simplified graphics and undemanding gameplay, hyper-casual game downloads made up approximately 68 percent of the installs garnered by 2018’s 20 most downloaded new games. The increased percentage in 2019 reflects a continuing shift in consumer tastes in mobile games and growing user acquisition spending among hyper-casual publishers. Overall, 16 of the top 20 new mobile games by downloads last year were hyper-casual, up from 13 in 2018.

Leading the charge was Fun Race 3D, which, with 219 million global downloads, accounted for 10.4 percent of all installs among the top 20 new games released last year. Its developer, Good Job Games, had three other titles in the top 20 as well—Run Race 3D, Color Fill 3D, and Color Hole 3D—with their combined downloads comprising 23.8 percent of all installs.

Hyped Up

While these figures demonstrate download growth for the hyper-casual category, it’s at the expense of games within all other genres in the top 20. The record-breaking shooter Call of Duty: Mobile may have managed to reach No. 2 on the ranking, but its 187.6 million downloads in 2019 were more than doubled by installs of the four top 20 games in Good Job Games’ repertoire. With the hyper-casual genre having demonstrated its growing share of first-time downloads, developers who favor the installs metric should be cognizant of trends within the category that may be winning over so many new players—thus helping to inform their own success.