About the author
Anton Slashcev
Almost 10 years of experience in Product Management, Business Strategy, and Narrative Design. Consulting in Match-3 / Casual Narrative / Hybrid-casual market.
Match-3 Gaming Landscape: 2021 vs. 2024
In just three years, the top-10 match-3 games have seen a dramatic shift.
August 2021:
• Candy Crush Saga led the pack with $77.7M in revenue
• Homescapes and Gardenscapes held strong, both exceeding $40M
• Fishdom and Candy Crush Soda Saga rounded out the top 5
Fast forward to July 2024:
• Royal Match skyrocketed with an incredible 394% increase
• Candy Crush Saga remains strong, growing by 12% to $86.8M.
• Match Masters experienced 48% growth
However, several popular titles have declined:
• Homescapes dropped 48%.
• Candy Crush Soda Saga fell 27%.
• Project Makeover plummeted by 55%.
• LINE PokoPoko saw a 44% decrease.
What’s happening?
↳ Match-3 games with simplified meta (Royal Match, Match Masters) are overtaking those with deeper meta (Homescapes, Project Makeover).
↳ These faster-paced games are growing revenue and taking audiences from slower, more complex titles.
Why?
↳ In the “post-TikTok” era, speed and high dynamics are key.
↳ Games with a slower pace struggle to keep up with the demand for fast-paced content, leading to a decline in their popularity.
I expect this trend to continue.
Data: AppMagic
