One of the hottest trends off the back of Summer BBQs is ingredient gathering/formula events, which are surging in popularity as major names like Coin Master and Disney Solitaire implement these new events to create a larger event framework that incentivizes players to participate in as many events as possible. While most people might associate ingredients with cooking, the formula-based nature of ingredient gathering means this event type can be repurposed for different themes, which is exactly what Match Villains did by building this event type around a safe-cracking event.
Outside of trending events, the last couple of months have seen some notable mobile launches for AAA PC and console franchises, namely Riot Games’ Valorant in China and Sony/Bungie’s Destiny. Both games have a strong start, but can they keep this up in a mobile market that is getting more and more competitive? In addition to these AAA mainstays, you’ll find plenty of exciting new releases you should be keeping an eye on in this month’s bulletin.
Check out our most recent Analyst Bulletin down below to learn more about these updates and titles as well as the most recent mobile market trends. July & August casual game updates
Cash Tornado Slots added a full achievement system in August, something not often seen at this scale in social casino games. In addition to badges for Missions, Slots, Merge, Friends, and Teams, players can upgrade a central trophy through multiple tiers. This new achievement system is tied to a cosmetic reward track, while a leaderboard tracks which players are collecting the most points.
Achievement systems such as this are a proven way to incentivize engagement, as they set long-term goals for players to work towards. Coupling this achievement system with a leaderboard is a clever move, as the leaderboard element taps into players who are motivated by social recognition. Because it gives players a chance to demonstrate their level of proficiency with the game, the cosmetic reward track further encourages engagement. Stumble Guys expanded its social systems at the end of July with Clubs / Clubs Goals, a community tournament event that turned task completion into a team effort. Running for about four weeks, the event drives retention through shared objectives and milestone-based rewards.
Clubs were available for players to join or create in order to complete daily and weekly goals and earn points toward a common reward track. Progressing through the Club reward track unlocks exclusive cosmetics, incentivizing long-term participation and teamwork.
It’s been a busy couple of months for Moon Active’s Coin Master, which spent the Summer experimenting with a variety of completely new event types. Coin Cafe launched at the beginning of August, a simplified ingredient-gathering event where players could earn dishes (bronze, silver, gold) and collect ingredients from around the game and core spins. When unlocked, dishes immediately open to provide ingredients that can be gathered and used to complete orders in the event window. Serving orders in turn grants tickets for a progression bar with threshold rewards and a grand prize at the end.
Disney Solitaire also launched an ingredient-gathering event called Chef’s Kitchen, perfectly themed around its animated movie Ratatouille. In the event, players collected ingredients from baskets, which were used to cook dishes and win rewards. In order to create a larger event framework that encourages players to participate in as many events as possible, the baskets are awarded at random as rewards from other in-game events and offers. Top-performing games have been introducing and utilizing umbrella events to connect different event types together, with seasonal collectible albums and mission list events being some of the most popular choices. Ingredient gathering and formula events are now one of the latest trends. They are similar to seasonal albums in that you have to collect items from a variety of events. However, rather than collecting these items to make a photo album, you combine them to make a formula, the most common formula being the ingredients for a cooking recipe. Disney Solitaire, Coin Master, and Match Villains are just some of the top-performing games that have introduced ingredient gathering events in the last two months. Even though the mechanics of Match Villain’s event are almost identical, you must gather safe-breaking tools. This is a better match for the game’s villain theme and shows how this event type can be tailored to fit a specific narrative or gameplay theme.
Another unique event is Boss Fight, a special minigame event where players use an event currency, Boss Gold, to spin an event-specific wheel and fight through 12 boss stages. This event might feel familiar to fans of boss rush modes in adventure games, but combat mechanics are completely new to Coin Master and highlight the game’s strengths with event hybridization.
Players spin a wheel to deal damage, dodge attacks, heal, and even use lightning strikes to start special attacks. Bosses attack at timed intervals with pop-up warnings shown in the main gameplay beforehand.
Boss Gold can be earned from core spins, offers, or purchases, with the cost of a spin scaling with multiplayers (x1–x10). The main goal of the event is to beat all 12 bosses and reach the end, picking up stage rewards after every boss defeat and a Grand Prize for making it to the end.
Coin Master has been experimenting with new monetization strategies outside of major events. Progressive Bundle: Video Value is a new progressive offer that is monetized by ads. Players can get up to three rewards by watching ads alone. This offer was also supplemented with a new gacha-based reward type, Scratch Time. When the random reward is revealed, a scratch card animation is played.