We all have different preferences and will enjoy different genres of games. Playing only one game type can become monotonous and, in order to avoid this, developers incorporate elements of multiple genres. While hybrid games aren’t a new concept, it is a trend we are seeing more often now and there appears no end to what the developers can merge to make things more interesting
In the casino
Slingo is a success story of hybrid gaming, which only became possible because of casinos moving online. It seems a simple concept to combine elements of bingo and online slots to create something that will appeal to gamers from both factions. In many ways, slots and bingo are alike, so you’ll see various slots at Paddy Power Bingo that offer promotions to play both games. Bingo and slots now come in many varieties with themes that appeal to different players, often with progressive jackpots or tie-ins to beloved TV shows or movies.
While Slingo, bingo, and slots have a number of similarities and are frequently grouped together at online casinos, another type of hybrid game is now attracting attention. Live game show experience games are a fairly recent development that has proved to be a winner with gamers. It’s an interesting development for casino gaming and Evolution has an arsenal of games that have proved successful, so expect to see more hybrid games of this ilk.
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The hybrid-casual
While hybrid games are popular among casino gamers, there is a fairly new concept of hybrid-casual entering the market. Hybrid-casual is aimed at increasing player retention and engagement without changing the core game. Developers create a casual mobile game that is intuitive, minimalistic and easy to learn. The market for these games is saturated, so developers then add leaderboards, progression events, and collectibles to inject more longevity into the casual game. A natural progression of this is to add in-app purchases asking players to commit long-term and remove rewarded videos, banner ads, and interstitial ads that have become a common feature of hyper-causal games.
The model appears to be working as people hate ads, particularly ads in Apple Music playlists, and players are being given a reason to return to what is a basic game that often involves a little tapping or swiping. This motivation that increases player retention and monetization opportunities means we’ll see more hybrid-casual games in the future. While many people might think of a hybrid mobile game being something like Rise Up by Serkan Özyılmaz, which merges a defense game with a kind of meditation, hybrid games are more meta and regarding increasing a game’s lifetime value.
There are many advantages to developing hybrid games and while these often translate to profits for the producers or hosts, it also results in some unique gaming experiences for the player.