Hyper casual genre is less about gaming and more about gaming experiences – Surojit Roy

The Gaming Reporter interviewed Surojit Roy, Co-Founder of Firescore Interactive, a mobile game development studio, that recently raised $500,000 for launching the first-ever Hyper Casual Gaming Hub in India.

In this interview, Surojit shared his views on hyper-casual games, how developers can benefit from CrazyHub and the response at CrazyHub so far.

The Gaming Reporter – How is Firescore planning to utilize the funds raised from CrazyLabs?

Surojit Roy – Firescore will be operating the CrazyHub in India. What this means is that we will be able to provide a training program, financial support and general guidance on the hyper-casual space. We want to partner with studios with high potential and who can work at a rapid pace. We are of course already underway with a few studios at this point, including Optimum Games and Ether Games. Both studios are finding out that the learning curve is steep, but progress is steady. We have a single minded focus to produce at least one hit game for any studio that joins the CrazyHub within the time period of the program.

TGR – How will indie game devs & studios benefit from CrazyHub?  What steps will be taken to help game studios that participate in CrazyHub?

SR – My co-founder Karan Khairajani and I always discuss this – the genre looks easy to tackle when looking at it from the outside in, but to truly understand and build hyper-casual games is one of the most challenging things as a game designer! There are so many nuances that you simply wouldn’t understand until you start creating and testing hyper-casual games yourself. The CrazyHub will accelerate this learning process. We want to transfer as much knowledge as we possibly can about creating hyper-casual games to all our partner studios. We believe this will enable them to achieve a hit game within the first few months of joining the CrazyHub.

Besides this, we also have the amazing Moria Goldstein (Publishing Head) and Rotem Eldor (Publishing Manager) of Crazy Labs heavily involved in the operation of the CrazyHub in India. Both worked hand-in-hand with us to produce Soap Cutting. 

TGR – What makes hyper casual games like ‘Soap Cutting’ & ‘ASMR Slicing’ so popular & profitable?

SR – The profitability of a game really depends on how the metrics hold up at the scale. The 2 key metrics are CPI (Cost per Install) and LTV (Lifetime Value of each Install). You may start off with a great CPI:LTV ratio, but as the game scales you’re likely to see changes in those numbers. Staying on your toes and building the right features post launch to help that ratio stay as profitable as possible is the key. Live ops plays a big part in this, and having a publisher like Crazy Labs makes the process of running live ops super smooth. If a game makes it past the testing stages and is going to launch, rest assured you will have all the experience of Crazy Labs’ amazing team at your disposal to make sure your metrics stay strong, and you’re making the maximum possible money from your game. 

TGR – What message would you like to convey to mobile game developers & studios that are yet to explore this genre of games? Will you suggest them to jump into this genre?

SR – Hyper-casual is an exciting space. I think the genre is less about gaming and more about gaming experiences. We aren’t targeting your average casual gamer. We’re targeting the mass market. And with this comes a whole different thought process for how we need to conceptualize, design and produce. I would highly recommend this genre to every development studio out there. This isn’t just about building great games, it’s also about taking products and reaching an audience at the highest scale. 

TGR – Does CrazyHub have any plans for individual game testers & developers?

SR – While we aren’t looking out for testers at the moment, this might become a requirement as the hub starts to grow and partners with more studios.

We’re always on the lookout for talented developers and 3D artists. Interested folks can send in their portfolios to us.

TGR – CrazyHub India hasn’t specified any specific criteria for applicants unlike CrazyHub Israel, is this being done to encourage participation & to maximize the potential of the project?

SR – We’re looking for studios that can produce high-quality prototypes at a rapid pace. This is probably the biggest requirement for the CrazyHub. Once a studio has established they can do this, we will happily partner with them. It takes time to understand the genre, so we intend to accelerate the learning process and help partner studios quickly figure out the nuances of how to build hyper-casual hits.

TGR – How has the response been so far with CrazyHub? Did it match your expectations?

SR – The experience has been fantastic, and has exceeded expectations so far. While we are only 2 months in since we started, we’re already starting to see some incredible progress. Each month our tests have gotten better, and we’re hoping that very soon we’ll have some good news from one of the partner studios! For us at Firescore, it’s a brand new experience. We are toeing the line between the publisher’s side and the developer side, which has expanded our horizons on the games industry as a whole.