As we reach the halfway mark of 2024, the mobile market has been flooded with a slew of major new releases. June saw the launch of Zynga’s Star Wars Hunters, Level Infinite’s MMORPG Tarisland, a global version of Chinese mega-hit Honor of Kings, and a new mobile installment in the Uta no Prince-sama series – just to name a few.
June also saw several significant updates launch in the casual market, including a new competitive take on Monopoly GO! ‘s Partner events. The interactive story game Chapters also launched an unusual limited-time game mode that combined aspects of dating apps with its regular gameplay loop. At the same time, NYT Games: Word and Sudoku saw a massive 200% increase in daily US revenue from a half-price sale on subscriptions.
Over on the midcore side, much of the attention was placed on seasonal events that tied into Pride Month. Highlights included Marvel Strike Force and Marvel Contest of Champions launching separate pride-themed events that spotlighted LGBT comic book heroes, as well as Beatstar’s dedicated Pride Month-themed battle pass Love Spectrum.
You can find more information about the biggest mobile game updates, developments, and game launches from June below.
June’s casual game updates
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Monopoly GO! ‘s Partner Events. After all, we named them the Casual Market’s Best Social Event in our Mobile GameDev 2024 Awards. But in June, Scopely took these to an all-new level by creating a competitive spinoff, Tycoon Racers (which also marked Monopoly GO! ‘s first new event mechanic of 2024).
Tycoon Racers follows a similar structure and mechanics to the original partner events, just with more of a competitive focus:
- The event begins with a “build your team” phase where players can receive and send team-up invites to friends and suggested players with a similar in-game progression.
- Each team must race to collect as many progression points as possible by pressing a Pop-o-Matic style dice popper using event currency – earned by simply playing the game (rolling dice, progressing in other events, etc.).
- As players earn progression points, their team races around a track. Whichever team collects the most points before time runs out (each race lasts a day) wins.
- Players receive rewards based on their team’s ranking. The winning teams receive large amounts of dice rolls and a Wild Card.
Monopoly GO! also added its first Piggy Bank event alongside Tycoon Racers. In this event, each time a player rolled a double during regular gameplay, they would deposit a dice roll into their Piggy Bank. These Piggy Banks could each hold a certain number of dice rolls based on the player’s overall progression level. Players could draw from the Piggy Bank for free once it was full, or pay a small, real-world fee to dip into their savings pot early.
Gossip Harbor added a new minigame event with a thinking core themed around painting pottery. In Clay Color Combos, players must use energy to collect paint jars (effectively event points) and then figure out how to arrange them on an event-specific game board to earn rewards. Prizes included merge item generators (which provide either a choice of merge item or a random one), energy, and collectible cards for the concurrent seasonal collectibles album event.
If that all sounds relatively familiar, that’s because Clay Color Combos is similar to Royal Match’s Magic Cauldron event from last September.
Chapters added a limited-time game mode that combined aspects of dating apps into the title’s regular interactive story gameplay.
In Chat & Date, players could match or unmatch with multiple virtual characters, similar to how you would in most dating apps, by swiping left or right. When players found a match, they could start chatting with them. In conversation, players chose from multiple predetermined options to answer, with some answers requiring premium currency.
After some chatting, the player could go on a date with a match. This is when the event reverted to Chapters’ regular gameplay, with players customizing their avatars and following a short, interactive storyline. Matches also occasionally sent the player photos and voice messages, unlocked by spending premium currency. Players could also go to a dedicated collectible album view to see how many pictures and voice messages they had obtained and how many dates they had completed.
Since it first appeared as Lava Quest in Royal Match, the social win streak has become one of the most commonly encountered event types in the casual market, appearing in numerous top-grossing titles. Late June saw another prominent title jump on the bandwagon, Rovio’s Angry Birds Dream Blast.
In River Rush, players are put into groups and must beat a specific number of consecutive levels before reaching the destination to earn rewards. The twist is that when players reach the destination, instead of the winners sharing an equal amount of soft currency (as in other social win streak events), they each get to pick one reward, which is then removed from the prize pool. This means players are encouraged to beat levels as fast as possible so they don’t miss out on the best prizes, making it into an actual competition.
Additional casual gaming highlights and other news
NYT Games: Word and Sudoku saw an over 200% increase in daily revenue in the US on June 9 following a half-price sale (which is still active) on monthly and annual subscriptions.
A paid subscription gives you access to additional features and content in all the games playable within the NYT Games app. For example, in Spelling Bee, free users can only access today’s puzzle, while paid users can access the entire history of past puzzles. Additionally, the daily crossword, which is arguably the main draw for most users, is only available to subscribers.
A new mobile installment in the Uta no Prince-sama series, a multimedia franchise that began life as a rhythm game for the PlayStation Portable, launched in Japan last month and spent several days at the top of the download ranks. Uta no Prince-sama: LIVE EMOTION also peaked at 15 in the grossing ranks. The game has since fallen out of the top 100 but is maintaining a steady pace overall.
In terms of gameplay, Uta no Prince-sama: LIVE EMOTION is a fairly standard offering in the rhythm genre, with players tapping to the beat of the background music. It only features four tappable nodes, making it somewhat more accessible than other rhythm titles on the Japanese market. Live Emotion follows the previous Uta no Prince-Sama mobile title, Shining Colors, which did well for years but has now dropped off the charts.
Netease released a new AR/Location-based game in Japan based on the Onmyoji IP, Onmyo Hyakki Monogatari GO. The game features turn-based RPG battles and a focus on local folklore characters. Players can level up their characters by going on walks and exploring their neighborhoods.
Games with location-based mechanics like Monster Hunter Now and Pokémon GO are prevalent in Japan, with around five or six currently populating the grossing top 200. Despite this, Onmyo Hyakki Monogatari GO has only seen a moderate level of performance since its launch and has since fallen out of the top-grossing 200 entirely.
June’s midcore game updates
As we approach the Summer period, it’s common for many game developers and studios to take a short break from the demands of maintaining a live events schedule. However, while June may be light on major midcore updates, there were a noticeable number of seasonal events themed around Pride Month across several popular titles:
- Players could earn a Pride-themed banner, icon, and chest item in League of Legends: Wild Rift by completing certain limited-time missions.
- Beatstar themed its latest battle pass around Pride Month, highlighting LGBT artists such as Lady Gaga and Elton John. There was also a task event and a limited-time gacha offer.
- Marvel Strike Force’s Coming Out! event saw players participating in a Pride-themed scavenger hunt to unlock character shards, credits, and other rewards. The event took place over three days, during which players had to find and collect two unique pride items hidden throughout the game.
- Marvel Contest of Champions launched Pride Is For Everyone, a task event that required players to obtain, level up, or win battles using LGBTQ+ Marvel characters like Black Cat and Star-Lord to progress. Earning enough progression points unlocked exclusive Pride-themed icons and frames.
- Call of Duty (PC & Console) launched a pride-themed weapon skins pack for Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone. The pack was free for all players throughout June.
Additional midcore gaming highlights and other news
Chinese mega-hit Honor of Kings launched for the second time in the West following its previous attempt some years ago under the name Arena of Valor. While Arena of Valor wasn’t a failure as such, it didn’t have the same monumental impact that Honor of Kings has had in China, where it has generated over $15.6 billion in lifetime revenue. We imagine that developer Level Infinite hoped that launching the rebranded version would act as something of a reset and give the game a second chance in the region.
The new version of Honor of Kings made a significant splash at its US launch on June 22, debuting at five in downloads and 98 in the grossing ranks. However, the game’s popularity quickly waned. By July 1, just one week after its release, it had dropped out of the top 200 in both categories.
Alongside Honor of Kings, Level Infinite also launched a new MMORPG last month called Tarisland. It features incredibly high production values and has crossplay with PC.
MMORPGs have struggled to succeed in the Western mobile market historically, and this title appears to be no exception. At launch on 21 June, the game was placed at six in downloads and 163 in the grossing ranks. Just five days later, on 26 June, it completely dropped out of the top 200 titles in both ranks. The game has also followed a similar downward pattern in China, suggesting that there may be more at fault here than simply regional taste.
After being in soft launch for several years, Zynga’s Star Wars: Hunters has officially been released worldwide. Given the prolific studio behind it and the popularity of the Star Wars IP, it should come as no surprise that the game made a substantial splash after its official global launch, reaching grossing rank 77 and download rank 1. However, since the initial hype died down, the game has been on a steady decline and has fallen out of the top 200 rankings.
An unusual new strategy game, Beast Lord: New World, was launched in China, where players assume the role of a lord in a post-apocalyptic world. They must gather and train various animals, build alliances, and manage resources to ensure their survival. It’s possibly the first Lion King-themed Strategy game to enter the mobile market worldwide.
In terms of performance, the game is currently holding steady, currently ranking around 50 in downloads and between 30 to 40 in the grossing ranks.
