The most eye-catching new product in the global mobile game market in 2023 is the social gambling game "MONOPOLY GO!" owned by American manufacturer Scopely. This product, which is supported by the classic board game "Monopoly", will be launched as early as June 2022 and officially launched on iOS in the United States in April 2023.
「MONOPOLY GO！」 It is the top 1 of the global mobile game monthly turnover in May 2024, surpassing the "Honor of Kings" | Image courtesy of Sensor Tower
In addition to the well-known classic IP to help attract volume, "MONOPOLY GO!" It also adopted innovative and normalized operation ideas such as encouraging cooperation among players rather than confrontation, so that the game quickly increased in popularity and topped the global best-selling mobile game list. According to Sensor Tower's statistics, "MONOPOLY GO!" In May 2024, the turnover will reach US$226 million, surpassing "Honor of Kings" (US$219 million) to become the world's mobile game with a monthly turnover of over 1 billion RMB, which is also the highest monthly mobile game. Currently "MONOPOLY GO!" Since its launch, the total turnover has reached $2.75 billion.
「MONOPOLY GO！」 At present, it has become the world's highest turnover social gambling game | Image source: Dotted Data
「MONOPOLY GO！」 In 2022, Scopley also acquired Stumble Guys, a leading party game mobile game. At present, there are many products that have been launched on Scopely, but they have not yet been launched, and they are likely to be tasked with further opening up new tracks for Scopely and becoming the next top hit.
Among these products, there is a very interesting home improvement simulation mobile game called "Garden Joy: Design & Makeover" (hereinafter referred to as Garden Joy). The game will be launched in May 2022 at the earliest, and will be officially launched in the US market in March 2023, with production starting in January 2024. In the last 30 days, the double-end turnover reached $1.24 million, and the daily turnover reached $53,000, and it was ranked 191st on the best-selling iOS mobile game list in the United States on June 6. Judging by the growth trend in recent months, its monthly turnover is expected to exceed $2 million.
Although it is still far from a phenomenal mobile game, and its ceiling may be at the level of tens of millions of yuan per month due to category restrictions, what attracts us more is the theme chosen by this game and the idea behind it.
"Garden Joy" will start in January 2024 and is still growing Image source: Dotted Data
"Garden Joy" has opened up a new group of players through the differentiation of themes and rich content supply, so as to enter the top 3 of the same category.
Relying on the micro-innovation of the theme, it ranks in the top 3 of the same category
The first head product of the "Simulation Management + Home Improvement" gameplay was launched in July 2016, which was "Design Home: House Makeover (hereinafter referred to as Design Home)" developed by CrowdStar and published by EA. At that time, there was no mobile simulation game that focused entirely on home improvement design, and "Design Home" could be said to have no direct competitors, with turnover exceeding $2 million as early as December 2016, $4 million in March 2017, and $10 million in March 2020, refreshing the category ceiling. But then it began to slowly decline, and the monthly turnover is now around $4.3 million. Although the flow has fallen, this game has a lifespan of 8 years, which is quite amazing to be honest.
The highest monthly turnover of "Design Home" has exceeded $10 million Data source: Diandian Data
3 head products of the "simulated management + home improvement" track | Data source: Diandian Data
The first competitor that really threatens the Top 1 position of "Design Home" is the "Redecor - Home Design Game (hereinafter referred to as Redecor)" by Finnish manufacturer Reworks, which was launched in 2018 and has a turnover of $6.87 million at its peak, and the product turnover has remained high for a relatively long time, reaching 1 year. Since then, it has gradually declined, and the current monthly turnover is $2.29 million.
It can be seen that compared with the peak monthly turnover of the above two products, there is still a relatively large gap between the current "Garden Joy" that has just started.
Compared with the highest monthly turnover record of the two top products, there is still a big gap between "Garden Joy". Data source: Diandian Data
After the experience, the author found that "Garden Joy" has absorbed the experience of two head products in terms of gameplay, and the biggest difference is the micro-innovation in the game theme, using the theme of "gardening" to bring a little novelty to "simulation management + home decoration".
Top 2 gameplay is one "heavy" and one "light", and Scopely chooses the "heavy" route
Generally speaking, the main line of the "Simulation + Home Improvement" game is for players to play as a designer, choose furniture and decorations (such as tiles, floors, wallpapers, etc.) for various blank "model houses" to design an ideal home.
The main line of the home improvement simulation game is to let players decorate various model rooms Image source: Mobile game that little thing
In terms of specific gameplay, the game will give players some free furniture at the beginning, so that players can start, and after installing a "model room", the game will give players a certain amount of currency ("diamonds" in "Design Home") as a basic reward, which can be used to buy more furniture and continue to decorate more model rooms, so as to advance the game.
In this process, furniture is the main "consumable", after the player arranges a piece of furniture in the model room, the "inventory" of the furniture in his hand will be reduced by one piece, and the consumption of furniture is actually very large.
With the continuous advancement of the main line, the number of furniture that needs to be added to the model house is also increasing, and there are restrictions and requirements on the type of furniture. The top 4 products with the highest percentage of in-app purchases on iOS in the United States are all diamond packs at various price points.
"Design Home" The top 4 iOS turnover percentages in the United States are all diamond gift packs at various price points | Data source: Diandian Data
In addition, there is also an important game mechanism for "simulation management + home improvement" games - scoring, which is actually one of the main reasons why home improvement games can be done in the long run. Players' renovated plans will be uploaded to the game's voting pool, where other players can rate and evaluate the performance. The top 10 programs with the highest ratings receive a large number of diamond rewards. On the one hand, this design adds social elements and competitive mechanics to attract players to stay in the game; On the other hand, players are also encouraged to buy diamonds in-app and buy more expensive furniture to make their proposals stand out in the vote.
"Scoring" is one of the important mechanisms of the "Simulation Management + Home Improvement" game Image courtesy of Deconstructor of Fun
In general, the core cycle of the "simulation management + home improvement" game can be summarized as the following figure.
The core cycle of the "Simulation Management + Home Improvement" game | Moby Dick at sea drawing
On the basis of "Design Home", the "latecomer" "Redecor" has made two major changes to successfully differentiate.
The first is to simplify the renovation options and speed up the pace of the game. Unlike the various furniture in "Design Home", "Redecor" focuses on "color change", that is, determining the pattern of wallpaper, carpet, tiles and floors. This makes the player decide on a decoration plan with a much lower amount of time, and no longer has to think about whether the furniture shape matches the room, making the so-called "home decoration" a "coloring" game, and the difficulty is greatly reduced.
"Redecor" limits the decoration options to textures and colors, making the gaming experience significantly lighter Image source: Mobile game that little thing
The second is to further refine the voting mechanism and launch a "PvP" mode. Players can PK with a designated player, and the results will be presented in the form of voting percentage. This greatly improves the chances of players getting rewarded for voting, and also makes it easier for players to get a sense of accomplishment.
The PvP mode gives players a much higher chance of being rewarded for winning their votes Image source: Mobile game that little thing
Overall, these two improvements make "Redecor" easier to play, and the rewards of clearing customs are relatively higher, and also make "Redecor" more like a casual mobile game than a "home improvement simulator", which is different from "Design Home". Subsequently, ZenLife, a manufacturer of overseas markets, added match-3 gameplay along the idea of "Redecor" and made home-themed match-3 games "My Home" and "Decor Match". Among them, "Decor Match" had a monthly turnover of about $1.81 million, but now it has dropped to about $770,000.
In fact, it can also be seen that the above-mentioned home improvement games can achieve good results, but the ability to continue to retain players is weak. Players need to have a lot of passion for home improvement to pay for the game for a long time, because to be honest, the content of the gameplay is really low, and the main thing is to put up decorations.
Compared with the two products of "Design Home" and "Redecor", "Garden Joy" has not changed much in terms of main gameplay and monetization ideas, and still follows this proven gameplay, mainly the theme has changed from decorating the house to "decorating the garden", and the items that players want to add have also changed from furniture to various plants, which belongs to a kind of thinking to find another group of players. However, in terms of detailed experience, the author thinks that the pace of "Garden Joy" is still slower, more like "Design Home".
The gameplay of "Garden Joy" is still a common routine of "simulated management + home improvement", but the theme has become gardening| Image courtesy of Garden Joy
First of all, the home decoration gameplay part, players need to consider the size, color and posture of various plants, judge whether the plants and the garden environment are harmonious, and then choose the most beautiful solution, this process is much more complicated than the "coloring" of "Redecor". In addition, in the voting process, "Garden Joy" only set up a large voting pool used by "Design Home", which has a higher turnover, and there is no PvP mode.
「Garden Joy」的投票功能更像「Design Home」 | 图片来源：Garden Joy
From these details, it can be seen that Scopely still hopes to make "Garden Joy" a more "hardcore" gardening simulation management game, so that players can really have a certain understanding of plants and horticultural design, highlighting professionalism.
Based on our previous understanding of overseas across categories, we should design in a relatively hardcore direction, not only for the depth of the game, but also for a certain user base overseas.
Correspondingly, "Garden Joy" polishes the depth of the game, which is mainly reflected in the design of the game content and sub-gameplay.
There are also encyclopedias and "collection cards", which can also "identify" plants by the way of simulated gardening
As the main story progresses, "Garden Joy" will gradually unlock various encyclopedia introductions to in-game plants, and will also help players carry out tree-planting public welfare activities in the real world Image courtesy of Garden Joy
As the main game progresses, "Garden Joy" will continue to unlock encyclopedic knowledge of various plants, so that players know which varieties they have arranged in the garden. The content is all from professional websites, with informative pictures and textual information, and can even be used as a portable plant encyclopedia. In addition, if players purchase certain in-app purchase packages, they can also donate to the charity tree planting event.
"Garden Joy" also allows users to collect "seeds" of various plants and observe the growth process of the plants Image courtesy of Garden Joy
In addition, players will also collect "seeds" of various plants in the game, which can be planted in an independent virtual flower pot, players complete home improvement levels to get the opportunity to water the seeds, observe the growth process of these plants, and after the plants "grow", they will give away 5 plants of the same style for free to use in the home decoration gameplay, and after collecting a certain number of plants, they can also get in-game currency to buy rare plants. In fact, it is a kind of "collection card" gameplay, and the presentation form is a bit like the "desktop potted plant" mini-game that has been very popular recently. These details make "Garden Joy" more and more "professional" and more like a tool app related to plants and gardening.
In fact, after experiencing "Garden Joy", there will be a feeling that this is the "PictureThis" in the virtual world, which is from Hangzhou Ruiqi and is a successful case in the tool overseas app.
想借“「PictureThis」”们的热度给模拟游戏“破圈”，能行吗？
"PictureThis", which integrates functions such as plant identification, conservation knowledge popularization, and disease diagnosis, is a typical success story of plant-related tool apps Image source: PictureThis
Hangzhou Ruiqi's subscription-based plant recognition app "PictureThis" has gradually become popular since 2020, that is, during the epidemic, but unlike many tracks that have become popular during the epidemic and disappeared due to demand, the results of "PictureThis" are still very stable. Moreover, every year in May (the flowering season for most plants in the European and American markets), there will be a wave of turnover peak, reaching $9.47 million in the last 30 days, as a tool app, such a turnover performance is already the ceiling level.
Later, similar competing products in Europe and the United States, such as "PlantIn", have also reached $2.25 million in the last 30 days, which shows the market size.
The flow of "PictureThis" (blue) and "PlantIn" both fluctuate periodically Data source: Diandian Data
In fact, most families in Europe and the United States have gardens, but they don't know the plants in their gardens. PictureThis is included as a benefit in the PictureThis Premium subscription, which allows users to try it for free for 7 days and then for an annual fee of $29.99. While it sounds expensive, the average monthly subscription costs only $2.49. According to Diandian's data, "PictureThis" also has the highest proportion of in-app purchases on iOS in the United States, reaching nearly 50%.
"PictureThis's" annual plan accounts for nearly 50% of its monthly turnover on iOS in the United States Image source: Dotted Data
Looking at the user portrait of this app, it can be found that its user group is mainly concentrated in the 24-30 age group, and the proportion of female users is higher, reaching 56.52%. Although Diandian's data has not yet captured the user portrait of "Garden Joy", the users of the similar head product "Design Home" are also concentrated in 24-30 years old, and the proportion of female gamers is more than 80%. In this way, it makes sense for Scopely to find an overlap between plant identification and home improvement simulators.
Both "PictureThis" and "Design Home" are populated in the 24-30 age group Image source: Dotted Data
From a marketing point of view, the advertising creative volume of "Garden Joy" ushered in a wave of peaks in April this year, which is in line with the trend of product turnover gradually increasing from this year. In terms of materials, "Garden Joy" mainly shows how to play with home decoration. However, the second most viewed material in the last 1 year is a static image showing the sub-gameplay of the "collection card" of planting plants, which shows the game's shaping of a professional atmosphere.
A static image showing the gameplay of the Plantation Collecter Card is the second most viewed material for "Garden Joy". Image source: Guangda
Due to the strong social nature of the game, Scopely also has a strong operation of social and social media accounts. Mainly concentrated on Facebook (20,000 followers) and TikTok (34,900 followers).
"Garden Joy" invited gardening-themed American drama actors to do a joint promotion on TikTok | Image source: TikTok
Among them, TikTok content is the most noteworthy, with one of the two most viewed videos on the official account in the last 1 month teaching players to plant a pot in the real world (430,000 views), and the other promoting the game with the cast of the American drama "Bridgerton" (1.2 million views), which is also known for its beautiful and gorgeous gardening sets.
The official account also rarely mentions the game part of "Garden Joy" in the promotion, emphasizing the content related to gardening and plants, hoping to attract people who are keen on gardening and expand the game's circle.
Write at the end
Overall, the development of "Garden Joy" is similar to that of "MONOPOLY GO!" There are similarities. It's all about combining new themes to attract and expand the circle of inherent game categories, but "MONOPOLY GO!" chose to use the IP of the head board game to attract traffic, and "Garden Joy" took a fancy to the long-term and strong demand of the plant recognition track.
In addition to the acquired "Stumble Guys", the only new product that Scopely has launched and is still operating in the last 2 years is "MONOPOLY GO!" and "Garden Joy". If we dig a little further, we can see that Scopely's approach to making games has always been coherent.
For example, "Scrabble GO", which launched in March 2020, adds a series of sub-gameplay and social content to the classic word game "Scrabble". However, this "transformation" has caused strong dissatisfaction among veteran players, who have said that the basic experience of the game and the difficulty of the puzzles have deteriorated, and a lot of irrelevant content has also been added. In the end, Scopely had to make significant changes to the game to regain player support.
In contrast, "MONOPOLY GO!" The direction of expansion chosen by "Garden Joy" is more cautious and reasonable, and the themes introduced overlap with the original user portraits of the game category to a considerable extent. Now "MONOPOLY GO!" It's been a success, and we'll continue to see if Scopely's attempt at home improvement can reach the top of the category.