How Race Master 3D Outraced the Competition in 2022

How did Race Master 3D - Car Racing become the most downloaded hyper-casual title of 2022?

Silvija Lazanin

2023/01/16

Racing games are all-time classics.

From the GTA series to simplified hyper-casual versions — players love them. They work on all platforms, in every era, and with different generations.

In 2022 alone, mobile gamers have downloaded 2.5 billion racing games (data.ai).

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Race Master 3D — Car Racing, a game from this genre, became the most downloaded hyper-casual title of 2022.

What separates it from the competition, you wonder?

Let’s dive into our Race Master 3D analysis.

Race Master 3D Analysis: Rankings

Race Master 3D was developed by Beresnev Games and published by SayGames. The game was developed in 4.5 months by a team of eight people before it was released in April 2021.

Did all of this work quickly pay off?

Nope.

The game didn’t finish 2021 at the top of the charts. It ranked 31st on the hyper-casual charts with 57 million downloads.

The game reached its peak in 2022, ending the year with 136 million downloads. As a result, it became the #1 hyper-casual game of the year, and 7th overall (AppMagic).

What about money?

Since the majority of Race Master 3D’s revenue comes from ads, we don’t know exactly how much it made in 2022. However, we do know that it earned $1.3M in in-app purchases, which is a respectable amount for this kind of game (AppMagic).

A Tight “Race”

Race Master 3D is not the only racing game at the top of the hyper-casual charts.

With only 4 million downloads behind, Bridge Race by Supersonic came in second with 132 million downloads. This game shows incredible consistency — it was the most downloaded HC game of 2021 and finished another year at the top.

These two racing games are very different. Bridge Race is based on running and building, while Race Master 3D is a car racing game.

What do they have in common?

None of them are based on a TikTok craze or a new, trending mechanic. Instead, they are built on two evergreen gaming features — racing and competing.

Hyper-casual top charts change constantly, but racing games seem to have the formula for staying on the top for a long time.

Race Master 3D Overview

Race Master is a pretty standard car racing game. In it, players control a car on different racing tracks and locations.

The goal is to surpass and dodge AI opponents, as well as different obstacles. To make things more challenging, some levels feature “bosses”, powerful opponents in special cars.

1-Second Tutorial

Race Master 3D sums up the game tutorial into three words — “Hold to Ride”. Upon receiving this simple instruction, players immediately start level 1.

This game doesn’t need a more extensive tutorial because:

It is based on a familiar concept
Its interface is very intuitive

Movement

In this game, players can control their cars using one or two fingers.

Regardless of how they choose to play, the outcome of the game is completely dependent on the players’ skills. The game has a fast-paced environment, and players always need to have quick reflexes and great focus.

Graphics & Quality

Hyper-casual games aren’t exactly known for their high quality.

The team behind Race Master 3D saw this as an opportunity to stand out — they took their time to develop a game with impressive 3D graphics and smooth controls.

The game is very colorful, which fits with its adrenaline theme. For example, a lot of tracks are made in a neon design, giving them a psychedelic vibe.

Generally, Race Master 3D developers achieved an excellent balance between simplicity and quality.

Extra Features

It’s the details that separate the good from the great.

To make this game great, the developers added different features that help retain and engage players. These include:

A big selection of cars (garage)
Boosters
Missions
Daily quests
Customization (e.g. car paint)

Who Plays Race Master 3D?

According to GameRefinery, there are eight different player archetypes. In this game, we recognize at least two of them — Thrill Seekers and Skill Masters.

Thrill Seekers are players who crave adrenaline and suspense over slow-paced gameplay and strategic thinking. Since Race Master 3D is all about speed and excitement, it delivers the adrenaline rush they are looking for.

Skill Masters are those players who always look for ways to improve their performance. Because the outcome of this game is determined by skills, these players will play it repeatedly until they have perfected them.

What about demographics?

Generally, racing games are more popular among males (59%) than females (Newzoo). According to Statista, they are mostly played by men between the ages of 21 and 35 (24%).

However, since this is a simplified, mobile racing game, we believe that the exact demographics for this game are a bit more diverse.

Advertising & Monetization

For SayGames, Race Master 3D is not just their most popular game — they also use it as an advertising platform for their other games.

When it comes to monetization, Race Master 3D makes a profit primarily through in-app ads, but also via in-app purchases.

Here come the details.

Cross-Promotion

While analyzing Race Master 3D, we noticed that the developer uses cross-promotion.

Cross-promotion is a strategy where game developers promote their titles within their own games. It is ideal for studios that have large player bases and games from the same category (e.g. casual).

Here are just a few benefits of cross-promotion:

Keeping users within the developer’s network of games
Increasing total revenue across the portfolio
Helping newly launched games grow
Allows access to user-level data (not subject to ATT restrictions)

Since Race Master 3D has a huge player base, and SayGames has a wide portfolio of hyper-casual titles, it makes perfect sense to use it as an advertising platform.

In-App Ads

This game uses a mix of different ad formats to monetize its players:

Interstitial ads (appear after players complete a level and tap to continue to the next one)
Rewarded video ads (for free boosters, extra currency, etc)
Banner ads (constantly at the bottom of the screen)

Are players thrilled about ads in this game?

Of course not.

On the plus side, many Google Play reviews describe the ads in this game as “tolerable” and very few players are outraged by the number of ads.

For hyper-casual games, this is considered a success.

We agree with this because the ads in this game always appear in predictable placements and don’t interrupt gameplay, and many of them are optional.

In-App Purchases

The developers behind this game have a rather interesting approach to in-app purchases. We’ve analyzed many hyper-casual games, but this is the first time we came across an offer like the one in this game.

If players buy anything — this will remove ads from the game.

This game doesn’t have those classic “remove ads” offers.

Instead, it encourages players to make purchases and they will get rewarded for it. In the store, players can choose from a range of offers from €3,72 to €36,5.

Besides the offers from the store, players can also purchase special offers that pop up on their screens, as well as a premium battle pass (from level 10).

Race Master 3D: Success Factors & Prediction

Race Master 3D is proof that trends come and go, but great games are here to stay.

We predict a bright future for this game in 2023 as well.

While it may not end up at the #1 spot again, we believe it has what it takes to wrap up the year in the top five. Thanks to its evergreen features, this game has the ability to consistently attract different types of players.

Another reason why this game is so successful is that it filled out a gap in the market.

Previously, there was a void between basic, low-quality racing games and more complex, high-quality titles.