Hyper-casual games market 2021: secrets of success, recommendations, trends

What the talk is about

Yevhenii Lavrynenko, Tamara Feimen, Maksym Melnyk and Mykyta Khazau discuss the state of the hyper-casual market in 2021 from the viewpoint of publishers and studios. They cover partnership models: paid prototypes, burn-rate coverage and investment for equity, plus the pros and cons of exclusivity versus working with many publishers. The panel notes that there are more publishers and studios, competition has grown, and publishers increasingly buy studios or stakes in them. Development is getting longer, with prototypes taking weeks, while CPI and quality expectations rise, so hybrid games and player retention matter more. There are no strict benchmarks; a game is judged on a set of metrics. Newcomers are advised to love these games and offer something different from what already exists. Useful for beginners in hyper-casual and teams choosing a publisher.