Social casino gaming compared to other mobile genres
What once started as social network-based browser games in the early 2010s morphed into Facebook-to-mobile games with casual gaming apps exploding in popularity with the increased usage of smartphones among the population. Compared to other genres, casino apps are usually monetized through in-app purchases and only about a quarter of casino gaming app revenues are generated via in-app advertising.Social casino players are also more willing to spend money on in-game content than other players – in 2021, the average value of in-app purchase transactions per paying user amounted to 12.28 U.S. dollars, up from 11.88 U.S. dollars in the previous year. This is significantly higher than the amount than users of other gaming genres are spending on their digital content.
Biggest social casino players & titles
One of the most popular titles in this segment was - and still is - Texas HoldEm Poker, a poker gaming app published by Zynga. The game can be played on Facebook and the app remains one of Zynga’s top grossing gaming app to date. In 2021, Zynga Poker grossed approximately 88 million U.S. dollars in app revenues. Zynga, however, is not the only player to capitalize on casino gaming going mobile. Other successful social casino game publishers include Moon Active, Playtika, as well as other emerging players such as DoubleDown Interactive and Huuuge Games.The most popular casino gaming apps worldwide based on revenue are Coin Master, Bingo Blitz, and Slotomania. In May 2021, Coin Master generated approximately 73.98 million U.S. dollars in IAP revenues. The top downloaded casino gaming apps during the same period were Island King – Coin Adventure, Coin Master, and Teen Patti Win-3 Patti Online.
Social casino genre outlook
Social casino gaming has boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic and several companies in the sector have gone public or were preparing for an IPO. In 2021, the market is seeing lots of movement, as there are not only pure play social casino gaming app developers but also traditional gambling companies which are entering the online and specifically mobile social casino market. However, with the general economic slowdown, things have been less hectic in 2022. Gaming giant Take-Two Interactive acquired Zynga to enhance its mobile gaming portfolio in January 2022 and completed the transaction in May 2022.Upcoming online casino gaming regulations are also expected to have a strong impact on the market; however, this can vary strongly by region. As such, many social casino gaming companies are diversifying their portfolio to counter an over-reliance on their gambling segments. For example, Zynga’s revenues from its social slot and card game segment have been decreasing over the past few years and while Playtika still generates most of its revenues via casino-themed games, the company’s casual gaming segment currently accounts for a solid 48.7 percent of annual revenues.
In order to appeal to wider audiences than online gambling users, the social casino segment is also seeing a lot of genre-crossover on mobile. Moon Active’s Coin Master is a particularly successful mashup-title, combining slot machine gaming with mid-core mechanics of base building, as well as attack and raid PVP gameplay. Thanks to in-app purchases and microtransactions, Coin Master is close to reaching three billion U.S. dollars in lifetime player spending on mobile.
