Friendship seemed to be the running theme for April mobile updates, as several studios launched co-op or shared progression gameplay mechanics. One such example is the newly launched Piggy Squads event in Cash Tornado Slots, which lets players form squads of four and level up via a shared progression bar. While this is a popular gameplay mechanic, it’s relatively rare in the casino genre.
April was also a busy month in the mobile market as numerous developers launched themed Easter events or used the holiday celebrations as a way to integrate new Easter-themed mechanics. One stand-out example is the new interactive gachas in Last War: Survival, which introduced a limited-time egg that players could crack open for special rewards.
An update in Lily’s Garden saw an Easter-themed reskin of previous events, but the most notable update was the introduction of an ad-incentivized digging minigame. Players were forced to watch ads before every digging attempt, which is an interesting – and perhaps quite daring – example of integrating ads into the minigame experience.
For more information about these updates and titles, as well as the latest trends from across the mobile market, check out our latest analyst bulletin below.
April’s casual game updates
Cash Tornado Slots added Piggy Squads, a new co-op event bringing a fresh cooperative twist to traditional social casino gameplay. This latest event lets players form squads of up to four players, as they compete to earn group rewards via a shared progression bar. This is a notable example of a popular game experimenting with team-based mechanics. While co-op gameplay is a growing trend across many mobile game genres, it’s rare to see it within casino games.
Additional casual gaming highlights and other news
What happens when you take the world’s most iconic cartoon characters and drop them into one of the mobile market’s hottest subgenres? Disney Solitaire kicked off its global release in mid-April with a strong start, hitting the top spot for downloads and peaking at 46 in the top-grossing chart. Developed by SuperPlay, the game combines Disney IP with the foundational elements players know from other SuperPlay titles, such as Domino Dreams.
Radiant Cat Studios’ Triple Match City continues to scale after its March release, managing to find a place in the top-grossing 100 after a recent boost in downloads. The game’s success highlights the growing popularity and scalability of hybrid casual puzzle games in the past months. If you’re unfamiliar with the gameplay, it combines ‘hidden objects’ core gameplay seen in games such as Scavenger Hunt with the ‘match bar’ element from 3D Match games such as Match Factory.
Lily’s Garden added Roxy Garden, a new ad monetized digging event. The event puts an ad-driven twist on the digging minigame format, as players are forced to watch ads before every digging attempt, with no option to progress by playing levels or purchasing currency. It’s been running daily so far, offering a new approach to the digging minigame format by being entirely ad-driven.
As we’ve seen from examples like those above, minigame events are a great way for developers to keep existing users engaged with fresh gameplay or entice new users through lower CIP creatives. But Lily’s Garden wasn’t the only mobile game in April trying something fresh with its minigame variations.
Royal Match’s latest update introduced Puzzle Break, a limited-time event where players had to complete standard Match3 levels to earn puzzle pieces, which could be placed in a special puzzle board. Once all the pieces are correctly positioned, a reward is unlocked, and the player progresses to the next puzzle. This event is a great example of a developer providing yet another new minigame type to drive retention and incentivize engagement to the core mechanics.
April’s midcore game updates
Last War: Survival celebrated Easter by embracing interactive gachas through a special Surprise Egg! This gacha is similar to systems first popularized by titles such as Clash Royale and Brawl Stars, where players have to tap the gacha multiple times before the reward is unlocked. In this case, players had to tap the egg to crack it open! In addition to the Surprise Egg, the ‘Adventurer’s Chest’ interactive gacha was permanently added to the game.
But these aren’t just mindless taps. The important difference here is that each tap offers a chance to double the reward or upgrade its rarity. Alongside the visual flair of the gacha, the interactive element of this gacha-opening experience adds an extra level of excitement for players (as long as they don’t realise the outcome remains RNG-driven!). While the Surprise Egg is only around for a limited time, a permanent interactive gacha, ‘Adventurer’s Chest’, was also added to the game.
Additional midcore gaming highlights and other news
Once Human: NetEase’s survival game combines looter-shooter mechanics with an open-world setting. The mobile version launched in late April following a 2024 PC release, quickly reaching the top spot for downloads and breaking into the top 200 grossing charts. In China, it also hit the top of the downloads chart and ranked within the top 60 for grossing.
SD Gundam G Generation ETERNAL, a turn-based RPG based on the Gundam series, launched in mid-April. The game compiles all Gundam animes under the same title and features iconic scenes from the anime at the end of story scenarios. In April, it peaked at DL 30 and GR 138, but started May by jumping to GR 38. The game was launched with a separate ID in Japan and took the GR 1 spot for several days, which is likely due to the immense popularity of the Gundam IP in Japan.
Century Games’ 4X title, Kingshot, has continued to scale in the download and top-grossing charts following its late February release. After entering the top-grossing 200 in mid-March, the game managed to hit 31 in the top-grossing chart and a top spot of 3 in the Daily Downloads chart, marking its strongest performance to date.
A recent update for Kingshot also introduced new Pet characters and the server-gated Age of Truegold, which expands the maximum upgrade levels for buildings and troops. These additions are likely aimed at boosting engagement and monetization among mid-to-late game players, which seems to be working as revenue and downloads continued to grow.
Squad Busters released a community event called Squad vs Monsters. The goal was to hunt monsters to increase points for the players, but they’d lose points if they ended up dying. The numbers fluctuated quite a bit until there was a sudden drop to zero, with Monsters eventually declaring victory. As a result, Monsters took over the main menu area, and four characters were so busted that they couldn’t be used in any game mode.
The event was followed up by Collect Gems, Save Squad!, another community event where players had to collect gems to get rewards. The most interesting aspect of this event is the Content Creator Leaderboard, which provides links to social media accounts such as Discord and TikTok for the players with the highest scores.
