Author profile
Kalle Heikkinen
Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery
6 min read
#Mechanics & Features
Using Hybrid Genres to Broaden Your Mobile Game’s Audience
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst – China. With over 400 games analyzed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market. Is blending multiple genres into a single package a success formula or a recipe for disaster? Are there ways to cater to a bigger audience across the casual-mid-core spectrum? GameRefinery has been following the market for so-called hybrid games closely, such as titles that are mixing elements from multiple different game genres to create a hybrid genre like Idle RPG. All data and examples in this post are gathered from the GameRefinery service, check it out here. If you’re interested in researching over 200 in-game features, their popularity, and implementations or checking out feature deconstructions of hundreds of games, you might...
7 min read
#Game Deconstructions
Mario Kart Tour – What It Can Learn From QQ Speed And PopKart Mobile
Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst – China. With over 400 games analyzed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market. You could argue that Casual Racing has not been one of the sexiest spaces to follow on mobile in the West, particularly grossing-wise. Engines are revving up though, thanks to Mario Kart Tour drifting into the market last month. While making bets on MK’s success, it’s good to remember that adaptations of the genre have been able to find success in other markets. Casual Racing’s current market share in the US. The section on the left shows the subgenre’s market share in the overall market, while on the right you can see different games’ market share inside Casual Racing. Already in...
7 min read
#Live Ops
Appointment Mechanics – How to Keep Your Players in Game
Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery. With over 400 games analyzed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market. We all know how important and challenging it’s to not only create and expand your player base but also to retain it. Some games re-engage their players by facilitating communal systems, such as guilds to enforce social commitments to the game. Others use exclusive limited-time events and content to instigate FOMO among players. Then there are games that rely on publishing more and more content, levels, and story to give their players a reason to come back. Our good friends at GameRefinery offer data and actionable insights on all of the ways mentioned above to boost retention. But in this blog post, they...
7 min read
#Data & Analytics
Genres, Brands and Features: All You Need to Know About the Chinese Mobile Games Market
Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery. With over 400 games analyzed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market. 800 million mobile internet users, 550 million mobile gamers, 18 billion dollars of annual revenues – the Chinese mobile games market is like no other; attractive and unignorable. The market is a minefield of challenges as well though. From finding the right publishing partner to adjusting to the quirks of the Chinese government (we all remember what happened with approving new game licenses last year). With that said, it is more important than ever to know what the landscape of the world’s biggest mobile games market looks like. In this blog post, our friends at GameRefinery make an attempt to chart it in terms of:...
6 min read
#Ads & Monetization
Battle Royale In NBA & Star Wars – 6 Exciting Ways To Implement A Battle Royale Mode In Your Next Game
Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery. With over 400 game analysed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market. No matter how you measure it, 2018 was the year when Battle Royale took us by storm. What got started in the modding scene of PC survival games such as H1Z1, DayZ and Rust, eventually developed into a global phenomenon including the likes of PUBG and Fortnite. While these titles are fully-fledged classic examples of battle royale games, it has since then become apparent that with a pinch of creativity, it is possible to include a battle royale mode in a surprisingly wide array of different game genres. Using GameRefinery’s Market Explorer tool to make sense of the battle royale market. While just...
4 min read
#Data & Analytics
What Kinds Of Western Games Have Taken Off In Japan?
Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery. With almost 400 game analysed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market. A few weeks back, GameRefiney took a look at which Western games have been able to make a splash in China. This time around, they set their gaze on the land of the rising sun, an extremely attractive market with one of the highest average revenue per player-stats in the world. Gaining traction in this highly competitive market is difficult, however, as local brands and publishers have a strong following among the Japanese. Nonetheless, despite these challenges, a good number of Western games have been able to hold decent top grossing positions in Japan. The question is: what are these games and what genres...
3 min read
#Data & Analytics
What Types of Western Games Find Success in China?
Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery. With almost 400 game analysed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market. Bringing your mobile game to the Asian markets probably crosses every publisher’s and developer’s mind at some point. Along with opportunities, the Eastern markets also present formidable challenges from legislative red tape in China to the specific tastes of Japanese gamers. Moreover, the local publishers in these markets seem to have somewhat of a home-field advantage knowing the ins and outs of how to operate. However, a decent number of Western mobile games have been able to gain a foothold in these markets and rise in the top grossing charts. But what are these games? Which genres do they represent? To answer these...