Is it really a trading card game if you can’t swap with your friends? That question is precisely why there was so much anticipation surrounding the long-awaited introduction of trading mechanics to Pokémon TCG Pocket. But now that it’s finally live, the feature has left many disappointed due to various restrictions that limit what players are allowed to trade—most likely to preserve the game’s economy.
That situation aside, there was plenty more for players to be positive about during January, particularly where collaborations were concerned. There was a surprisingly laid-back appearance from hot-headed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in Supercell’s Hay Day, as well as a crossover with the anime Demon Slayer in Summoner’s War that caused tremendous revenue spikes in both the US and Japan.
Elsewhere, we saw some trends usually prominent in the midcore market make their way over to casual games, and vice versa. Top-up events had a resurgence in the casual market, cropping up in both Zen Match and Candy Crush Saga, while League of Legends: Wild Rift was inspired by the likes of Monopoly GO! as it launched its first-ever seasonal collectibles album.
There’s much more about these games and updates, as well as the likes of Love and Deepspace, Where Winds Meet, and Call of Duty: Mobile, in our latest analyst bulletin below.
January’s casual game updates
While top-up events, where players are encouraged to make in-game purchases to gain access to other features and rewards, are popular among midcore games, they have traditionally been more of a rarity in the casual side of the market. However, if January is anything to go by, that might be all about to change—with two casual titles implementing top-up events for the first time in a long while.
First up was Zen Match and its Stamp Card, the first top-up event the game has launched since its Black Friday Spree in 2023. As the name suggests, the event revolved around filling up a stamp card—the first stamp of which was free. Players could earn additional stamps by making in-game purchases anywhere in the game. Once they reached certain thresholds, they earned rewards like boosters and soft currency.
The second title was Candy Crush Saga and its Rewards Lounge, which marks the game’s first top-up event with time-limited tiers. As players spent premium currency anywhere in the game, they would progress through tiers in the lounge. Once players made enough progress to reach the end of a tier, they would receive its rewards and move on to a new, better tier. The catch was that if players didn’t progress onto the next tier within the allotted time, they’d fall through the tiers instead.
Elsewhere on the casual side of the market, Hay Day launched its first-ever collaboration event with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Most will recognize Ramsay for his fearsome outbursts in shows like Hell’s Kitchen, which, at face value, makes him seem like a strange fit for a relaxing farming sim like Hay Day. But Supercell cleverly used that juxtaposition to its advantage with an expansive advertising campaign that shows Ramsay finally finding his inner peace through the game.
That same focus on relaxation forms the basis of the event, Zen & Harmony, which ran from the 15 to 23 January and is broken down into four separate parts:
- Gordon’s Zen & Harmony Calendar – Players could head to Gordon Ramsay’s farm every day to look for a hidden gift.
- Zen County Fair – A task event where players could unlock rewards by delivering certain products. As a part of the event, there was also a Russian roulette-style minigame that could be played daily for extra rewards.
- Collection Season: Zen & Harmony – Hay Day’s Collection Seasons are seasonal collectible albums where players must obtain specific decorations to unlock a reward. The prize for Ramsey’s event was a Puppy Yoga Decoration.
- Zen Deliveries – A task event where players needed to complete truck orders to reach their personal goals for rewards. After reaching a certain milestone, players could team up with other farmers to reach the global goal and earn rewards together.
Finally, shoot ‘em up Archero 2 introduced a casual fishing game mode where players could earn exclusive hero skins and various rewards through its Fin-tastic Year event to celebrate the Spring Festival. The event was very reminiscent of 欢乐钓鱼大师 (Happy Fishing Master), a surprisingly realistic 3D fishing simulation game that took the gaming scene by storm upon its release last year.
Additional casual gaming highlights and other news
Given the immense number of mobile games on the market, it can be nearly impossible for new titles to break through the crowd. However, a few mobile developers have identified a solution that has helped them scale up the grossing ranks: hybrid casual gameplay.
One such success story is developer Rollic, which has successfully scaled puzzle games one after another with its hybrid casual structure that merges hyper-casual-style gameplay elements with the LiveOps and ads/IAP monetization of a casual game. The latest game to join Rollic’s portfolio is Color Block Jam, which has been scaling in revenue and downloads.
But Rollic isn’t longer the only one: HOMA Games has also nailed the hybrid casual approach and launched its first hit, All in Hole, which has been performing admirably.
Moving on to a completely different style of mobile game, Love and Deepspace had a strong start to the year with its first-anniversary content update, propelling it to #9 in the US iOS market grossing ranks.
The update introduced a steamy gacha from which players obtained memories of passionate scenes with each of the game’s love interests. In contrast to risqué gacha, players were also treated to pastel-shade chibi action in various minigames as part of the Touring in Love event.
Later in the month, Love and Deepspace also introduced the Remind Me System. Rather than being focused on gameplay, the Remind Me System turns Love and Deepspace into something resembling a lifestyle app. Players receive prompts from their in-game love interest to help them in their day-to-day lives, such as catching up on sleep and heading outdoors for some exercise. It even features a menstrual cycle tracker to remind players to prepare before the next cycle begins.
January’s midcore game updates
January should have been a big month for Pokémon TCG Pocket, given the long-awaited debut of the trading system, but most players came away disappointed due to the number of restrictions the feature has in place.
In terms of the basics, the system works pretty much how you’d expect: players send a card offer to a friend, who then sends a counteroffer with what they are willing to give in exchange. The original player can then either accept or decline the trade. It starts to get complicated when higher rarity cards enter the equation. A higher-rarity card can only be traded for another card of equal rarity and if the players have enough Trade Tokens—a new currency that can only be obtained by sacrificing rarer cards.
All trades, regardless of rarity, also consume one Trade Stamina. Players can have up to five Trade Stamina at any time and gain one every 24 hours.
While the restrictions are undoubtedly frustrating, it was likely always going to be the case that the game would have to enforce some sort of limit to preserve its economy. If players could suddenly complete their collections by simply reaching out to their friends, the entire game would lose its biggest revenue driver.
However, one issue with the trading system that does seem like an oversight is the inability to communicate with whoever you’re trading with. Of course, players can get around this through some other means—like Discord or social media platforms—and it’s a non-issue for players sitting in the same room, but it is strange that there isn’t even a basic chat function to aid in negotiations.
On a more positive note, the trading feature launched alongside two new booster packs, bringing a total of 155 basic cards (plus extra rares) based on creatures from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Like last month, the new cards caused a considerable daily revenue spike of around 4000% in the US iOS market, while downloads almost quadrupled.
Call of Duty: Mobile introduced the Cache Tracker, a new reward system that allows players to progress toward exclusive rewards across multiple seasons. The Cache Tracker launched with three unique weapons for players to unlock. To acquire them, players must obtain Secret Caches from daily challenges and certain special events.
Each cache contains weapon shards for one of three weapons—once players gather enough shards for a weapon, they unlock it. There’s no official time limit for how long players have to gather enough shards, which suggests they will be available for several months. There is also a chance players can get a camo crate from the cache, which will immediately unlock a random weapon.
The cache tracker builds upon the seasonal Challenge HQ feature introduced in April last year, which also received a slight revamp in January to simplify progression. Players now earn Challenge Tokens directly from events, which both progress the Challenge Pass and act as currency for the Challenge Store. Additionally, the Challenge Pass now features 20 fewer milestone rewards, with Secret Caches and Camo Crates added to the reward pool.
Another significant switch-up was seen in League of Legends: Wild Rift, which removed its daily and weekly missions in favor of a seasonal collectibles event, Collected Legends. This marks one of the first examples of the trending feature appearing in the midcore side of the market, which has traditionally only come to casual titles.
In this event, players complete set missions to claim Card Packs, each containing a random selection of different rarity cards. The full selection of cards is broken down into individual sets—once players collect a whole set, they unlock a reward. Each Season consists of three consecutive phases, each with new completable Sets and Grand Rewards.
The event also includes a seasonally changing event shop where players can exchange one of several new earned currencies (Condensed Motes, Condensed Ores, & Wondrous Gems) for additional rewards, such as skins, emotes, and loot chests (gacha).
Last but not least, Summoners War introduced a large-scale collaboration with the anime Demon Slayer on 10 January, which resulted in colossal daily revenue spikes on both the US and Japanese iOS markets. Interestingly, the spike was higher in the US (over 1600%) than in Japan (650%), which says a lot about the growing popularity of anime in Western markets.
Revenue was generated through various IAP offers and premium gacha, which players could roll to acquire characters from the Demon Slayer universe. In terms of playable content, the main draw of the crossover for most players was the Event Building, which served as the access point for numerous Demon Slayer-themed sub-events:
- Hashira Training Event Dungeon – Where players entered various battles in three weekly refreshed difficulty maps and tried out exclusive characters.
- Basic Physical Training Minigame – A special event consisting of three minigames released periodically throughout the event.
- Demon Slayer Corps Quests – Special missions targeted at different experiences throughout the game.
- Check-in Rewards – Daily and accumulated rewards that could be collected daily from the event building.
- Collab Gift Boxes – An exclusive free gacha that players could roll once every three days throughout the event.
Additional midcore gaming highlights and other news
January was a good month for mobile players in China, who were treated to two major game launches. The first was 燕云十六声 Where Winds Meet, a gorgeous open-world ARPG from Netease with social gameplay options and an emphasis on Chinese history. It’s performing well, resting around #16 in the grossing ranks.
The other title was the Chinese version of Mobile Legends Bang Bang. This fast-paced 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) has a diverse roster of heroes and intense strategic gameplay, positioning itself as a strong contender against Tencent’s Honor of Kings. Mobile Legends was already a global success before entering China, having amassed over one billion downloads worldwide—we imagine this new version will help to strengthen its international appeal and market demand even further.
