Yahoo Games DAU up 60% after relaunch

Yahoo Games has increased its daily active users by more than 60% since its platform relaunch in January. Andrew Pedersen, Yahoo's head of games, also reported that gameplay clicks across Yahoo's games are up nearly 25% since the start of the year.

This growth follows a partnership with King on Crushable, a daily puzzle game set in the Candy Crush universe. The game is hosted on Yahoo Games in the United States. An international version is available to play at candycrushable.com.

Strategy and Partnerships

Pedersen, a former mobile vice president at EA, outlined the strategy. He said it mirrors the approach taken by NYT Games and LinkedIn with daily puzzles. These games are designed to be a quick break between other tasks.

Games have long been part of the Yahoo experience, Pedersen stated. He noted that Yahoo has roughly 250 million monthly unique visitors, placing it among the top five internet properties in the US.

On the partnership with King, Pedersen called it a fitting way to signal to our users that we're taking gaming seriously at Yahoo. He confirmed that the relationship with King will remain a large part of Yahoo Games' strategy moving forward.

Game Library and Monetization

Yahoo's own web games include titles like Solitaire Roadtrip, Circuits, Pile-Up Poker, and Mini Crossword. The company monetizes these games with a combination of advertising and, in selected titles, in-app purchases.

A key difference from some daily puzzle formats is that Yahoo does not limit play. We don't stop you after one game, Pedersen said. If you're having fun and want to keep playing, you can.

Future Development Plans

Yahoo plans to continue building and launching a mix of games. This includes titles developed internally and games created with external development partners.

Original Yahoo Games are built in-house and we put unique spins on the types of games we know and love, Pedersen explained. And licensed games bring proven, fan favorite games to our platform, allowing us to maintain a regular cadence of fresh launches and broadening our offering.

He added that having this mix provides flexibility to grow the platform while investing in more original Yahoo experiences over time. The platform's growth indicates a renewed focus on casual, habit-forming web games for the company.