If the first few weeks of 2024 are anything to go by, mobile players should have lots to look forward to in the coming year. We’ve already had a massive collaboration between Summoners War and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, an unusual example of hybridization from Diablo: Immortal’s Among Us-inspired Howler Hunt mode, and a breakout success story in Love and Deepspace.
But that was far from everything that impressed our analysts over January. CookieRun: Kingdom celebrated its third anniversary by launching a hub filled with engagement-boosting content alongside a highly-anticipated playable character. Meanwhile, Chapters partnered with the streaming app Reelshort, introducing players to an entirely new world of live-action content.
One of Capcom’s most beloved video game franchises also made its mobile debut with Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat. The demon-slaying action RPG was performing well at first but has since been steadily declining – suggesting it won’t be the same success story for the Japanese publisher as the ever-popular Monster Hunter Now.
Below is more information on the above games and all the other exciting updates that arrived on mobile in January 2024.
January’s casual mobile game updates
The interactive story game Chapters has partnered with the streaming app Reelshort to provide its players with hours of new live-action content. For those unfamiliar with Reelshort, this entirely separate app produces a wide range of miniseries released weekly. The shows all feature real-life actors, with episodes typically lasting no longer than a minute, making them easily digestible on the go.
With this new partnership, Chapters players can access some of Reelshort’s content by simply going to the Reelshort View area in the game’s menu system. However, it’s worth noting that only a small portion of Reelshort’s expansive library is available here, meaning you’d still need to download the dedicated app for the full experience.
All players also only get a limited number of free episodes to watch at their leisure. Once these run out, they must purchase additional ones using premium currency they’ve accrued by playing the game or through IAP.
A new sci-fi-themed interactive story game with ARPG elements called Love and Deepspace has performed well in different markets worldwide. It is currently in the top-grossing 50 in the US and Japan and the top 10 in China.
The game heavily emphasizes narrative, with players building up a relationship with one of several male characters. This is brought to life through top-notch production values, including beautifully animated cutscenes with full voice acting. The game also features action-RPG elements. Our initial analysis suggests its monetization primarily revolves around collecting and customizing “cute companions.”
Additional Casual game highlights and other news
- Twisted Tangle almost broke into the top 100 grossing in January after scaling in revenue and downloads. This hypercasual puzzle by Rollic Games focuses on timed “tangle-solving” puzzles, which you may have encountered in ad creatives. The game monetizes with a mix of IAA and IAP, focusing on different kinds of cosmetics, energy mechanics, and boosters.
- Tile Family, which combines mahjong solitaire-style puzzle gameplay with a Royal Match and Project Makeover-style renovation meta, has been scaling in the top 100 grossing. In an unusual twist, players must also complete a fake ad-style minigame level every few levels to progress the overall narrative.
January’s midcore game updates
To celebrate its third anniversary, CookieRun: Kingdom opened up an Anniversary hub filled with various activities and events for players to complete. These included a dice board minigame, jigsaw puzzles (where players collect colored puzzle pieces with event currency to reveal a fully colored version of the game’s old loading screens), a wheel of fortune, an event currency shop, and an anniversary gacha.
As is often the case with Eastern mobile games, the anniversary update also introduced a new character to generate excitement. In this instance, it marked the introduction of White Lily Cookie (the game’s main antagonist and the final of five ancient heroes featured in the main tutorial) as a playable character. She could now be obtained as a drop from the Light of Freedom Nether-Gacha.
Combined, these two additions resulted in a solid download spike and a tenfold spike in revenue compared to the week prior.
Summoners War launched a massive collaboration event on 30 January with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red’s fantasy RPG for PC and consoles, introducing a wide variety of themed playable content. One of the most notable additions was the new Event Dungeon, where players could choose an iconic character from The Witcher 3 (including Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri, and Triss) to join them in battle as a collaboration monster.
Gwent, The Witcher 3’s popular card-based minigame, was also available in Summoners War as part of the crossover event. Players got a new Gwent card each time they cleared a stage for the first time and could collect in-game rewards once they hit certain card collection milestones. It’s worth noting that Gwent also has its own mobile app, but CD Projekt Red stopped supporting it with new content in December 2022 – meaning this is the first new content available for Gwent fans in quite some time.
The event also featured various activities players could engage with outside the game. For example, several influencers were enlisted to help promote the collaboration. Players were encouraged to watch their streams as each influencer had two sets of physical Summoners War x The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Gwent cards to giveaway. It was also possible to win in-game rewards by sharing tips on succeeding in the collaboration event on social media platforms.
Diablo Immortal has become what can only be described as the epitome of hybridization on mobile. First, it added a MOBA game mode, then a Vampire Survivors-esque minigame, and now it’s experimented once again with Among Us-inspired social deduction gameplay.
In the limited-time mode Howler Hunt, it’s Adventurers vs. Howlers instead of Crew Members vs. Imposters seen in Among Us. The adventurers’ task is to collect energy around the map to win, while the secret Howlers need to sabotage their efforts and hunt them down without getting caught. The mode also features the same voting mechanics seen in most social deduction games, with players needing to try to vote out the suspected Howlers in each match once enough time has passed.
Players received rewards based on their contribution level during the match, which was enhanced further if their team won. Rewards included cosmetic items, soft currency, experience points, and upgrade materials. There was also a range of Challenge Tasks to complete, which refreshed weekly during the event. Each task had basic rewards of materials, gold, battle pass XP, and legendary equipment items.
Additional midcore gaming highlights
- Last War: Survival continues to scale hard, reaching GR 12 in January. The game is a 4X Strategy game with a casual cartoonish art style and hypercasual-inspired minigame levels that are well-integrated into the core gameplay.
- Capcom’s Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat debuted in January, bringing the popular hack-and-slash console franchise to mobile. This action-packed ARPG climbed the charts in top-grossing games over its first weeks but has since been in decline.
