For game planning, there is a very important difference between categories and categories. What works in one category may not work in another category.The tastes, expectations and needs of user groups vary widely.In the application market, we usually classify according to the application store.However, most of the time, their categories are too broad, or user trends change too quickly, and the standard groupings are not broad enough.To this end, GameRefinery subdivided all mobile games into 40 more refined secondary classifications.

Based on this grouping, the foreign media MFTP analyzed the US mobile game revenue in each quarter of 2018The Top 500 list has been analyzed. In the past year, what changes have taken place in these categories?For developers, is that category likely to be overlooked or overhyped?Which categories are the most worth trying?

40 secondary sub-categories

Analysis of Top 500 US mobile game revenue list in 2018:The top four categories have the largest number of entries

The top of the revenue list represents the best way people are willing to consume through in-app purchases. Since most games are free-to-play, the payment rate of mobile gamesIt is relatively low. The vast majority of mobile game players never consume, and among paying players, many pay very low frequency.Therefore, games that perform well in the revenue list have player mechanisms that can increase payment conversion, which is likely to increase users' willingness and frequency of payment.

For 40 sub-categories, MFTP counts the number of games in each category, the ranking of each game, and the lowest ranking, highest ranking, average ranking, and median ranking of each categoryand standard deviation.

If the number of games in the list is large, it can be considered as a category with relatively strong liquidity, and their gameplay can bring higher consumer demand;High, such as 1-5, means that the income of each game is very high.High, mid, and low rankings in each category can differentiate which games perform best.

The top 4 categories with the largest number of top 500 US revenue in 2018:Slots (more than 50 models in each quarter); match-3 puzzle (more than 50 models in each quarter); turn-based RPG (more than 45 models in each quarter, and the best performing Q2 reached 59 models); SLG(4X strategy): There are more than 16 games in each quarter, and more than 20 games at the beginning and end of the year

According to the number of games in different categories in different locations, we can also divide them into the following four categories: Rising stars: these categories have very high revenue rankings, but may not be many; stable giants: refer to categories that have always occupied a high position in the entire revenue list; hot products: one or twoA category that has entered the Top 20 revenue list, but other games perform poorly; interesting but low revenue: These categories have a large number of games that continue to enter the revenue list, but the rankings are relatively low.

According to the above classification, Slots, match-3, turn-based RPG and SLG are giants with stable positions. During 2018, these categories have more than 40 games in the Top 500 revenue list every quarter, the number of games on the list for the rest of the categories is 20 or lower.

From the data chart, the number of games on the list will change every quarter and in each category. The increase in revenue from Q1 to Q4 means that the monetization ability of this category continues to grow.Slots, tactical arena and MMORPG all showed a steady growth trend throughout 2018, while the overall rankings of SLG, simulation construction and card battle continued to decline.

In addition to the four categories with a stable position, the rising star categories that continue to grow are anagrams, casual sports and casual racing games. The number of these categories will increase every quarter, and downloadThe difference in the list is that there are many categories in the income list and not so dense. This data performance is also in line with the current situation that there are more popular categories in the market.

Differences in high-income categories: AR, tactical sports and more popular models

The figure above shows the distribution of income list positions of different categories (according to the average income list position in 2018). The blue vertical lines in the figure indicate the highest and lowest income list positions of a certain category, whileThe blue horizontal line marks the median and average list position. The shorter the blue vertical line, the more concentrated the list position of a certain category is. The category with the highest income list is the most popular, becauseThis means that the monetization ability of this category is very strong. However, some categories have a large gap between high-income and low-income games, so the blue vertical line will be very long.

For example, AR mobile games, puzzle RPGs and card battle games all have many games at the top of the revenue list, so their blue vertical lines are shorter and the number of entriesNot high, so these categories belong to the rising stars.In addition, this also shows that the category has changed a lot, and only a few games can be successful. Therefore, categories with shorter blue vertical lines often include niche categories that exploded in 2018.

If the rectangle density of a category is high, it means that the average value of games in this category is higher than the median, in other words, most games in this category perform above average, that is, inThe number of games at the top of the grossing list is higher.If it is a hollow rectangle, it means that the average is lower than the median, and the longer the rectangle, the more the category is at the bottom of the income list.

The long solid rectangle indicates that there are a large number of high-income games in a category, but there are also a few low-income games that stretch the blue line of the list position, such as tactical competition, real-time combat, and interactive story games.There are several high-grossing titles, but there are also a handful of games that have lower chart positions.

The long hollow rectangle and the short blue vertical line indicate that the ranking of games in this category is in the middle, and there are a large number of games with medium performance, such ascard battles, bingo and planting/breeding simulation games.Several games performed steadily, but there were no particularly high-grossing games throughout the year.

Number and location of high earning categories

High-grossing games make up the lion's share of revenue, and that's a fact that most people know.The above picture shows that if the bubble of a category is larger, it means that there are more games on the list; a higher position means a lower position on the average income list.

Therefore, we can see that AR and puzzle mobile games both ranked high in the list in 2018, but the number of games on the list was small; multiple mobile game lists in the SLG and Slots categoriesStable in single position, but not in head position.

Competitiveness of the App Store: great opportunities for new categories to break through

Competitiveness is an important factor to consider when you decide to make the next gameFactors, the more games there are in a category, the harder it is for new products to stand out.However, if a category has a small number of entries, it is likely that the category cannot accommodate multiple high-income games at the same time, so the risk is higher, so it is very wise to try a category with a higher position on the list but a small numberof.

If you score each category according to this standard (although the algorithm is not perfect, but more than 0 points areGood choice), Although the competition for match-3 puzzles is fierce, this category has a huge user base and continuous excellent revenue performance, companies such as King and Playrix have many high-income games all year round, as long asThe game is unique enough and has strong enough marketing capabilities. There are always opportunities for this category, but the marketing investment may be relatively high.

AR and tactical sports are still the winners in terms of new products in the revenue list. Although there are not many games in these two categories, they both have high rankings.In addition, categories such as Slots, turn-based RPG, SLG, and construction battles are also worth trying (scores higher than 10).

Conclusion

During 2018, many niche categories exploded. Although the four high-income categories performed stably, they were affected by AR and tactical sportsDue to the impact of emerging categories, their positions have not been further stabilized, which also shows that gameplay innovation and payment system innovation have a significant impact on the revenue list.

At the same time, it also shows that there are more and more game types and payment modes that free games can choose.In other words, it means that there is still a great chance of hitting the top of the list.