Merge Towns feels much more like a new take on an idle game mechanic (ex. For Triple Town, the restrictions on movement and the loss condition make for a far more difficult puzzling experience. Overall the gameplay feels significantly more approachable and casual than Threes or Triple Town. With the soft currency, players can purchase better pieces directly Merge Towns at the purest concept level is a Matching game core combined with an Idle game economy. Not only does it have strong proven video ad integration, it also supports a innovative core gameplay. This game clearly shows the latest innovation in the video-ad driven monetization space and is an excellent guide for newcomers to space.
The game has peaked at #3 top free downloads in the UK, and is within the top 20 downloads in the US. Gram Games most recent launch is “Merge Towns”, a mash-up of a puzzle and an idle game. Games like 1010! And Merged were quick to make, yet clearly, generate more than enough revenue to support the mid-sized Turkey-based studio (now with an additional studio in London). Gram Games is one of many that successfully capitalized on the hyper-casual trend.
Hyper casual games are innovative, quick to make, and easy to market when done right.
The rise of hyper casual is exciting because it goes counter to what traditional free to play games have been moving towards massive budgets, multi-year long productions that are getting riskier and riskier. Hyper-casual games make the biggest share of revenue in the first couple of days, unlike IAP-heavy genres, where the most active users make the most money over time.” Hyper-casual games tend to be less costly to make, and users monetize almost immediately since ads are the primary revenue source, meaning that UA campaigns can be optimized early on. Summarized here by Johannes Heinze of AppLovin: “Players of hyper-casual games can be acquired at extremely low rates, so even though CPIs are increasing and gaining traction in the app stores is difficult, developers of hyper-casual games have a lot of opportunity. 'The rise of Video-Ad driven monetization has heralded in a new era within the mobile game design.