Presentation from a talk by Space Ape COO Simon Hade at GDC Europe in June 2016. To see the video of the talk and related presentations see http://links.spaceapegames.com/liveops

1. Simon Hade, COO & Co-founder
Forget Features!
How we grow games using
Live Ops & In Game Events

4. Accessible Live
Ops
Broad reach
Top 100
Quick win
Innovated clan
wars & events
$37m
Ultimate Live
Ops Platform
Very core
$19m

9. 9

12. 12 months - daily revenue
Baseline excl,
event revenue
Actual incl.
event revenue
50% revenue from events

13. 6 months - daily revenue
Baseline excl,
event revenue
Actual incl.
event revenue
27% revenue from events

14. 90%
92%
94%
96%
98%
100% 28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
Survival Rate %
Days Since Install
Survival Rate%
98% month on month retention

15. Incremental revenue (30-50%)
Better retain engaged players
Why do In Game Events?

16. Beware: cannibalisation & conditioning

17. Baseline Revenue
Uplift from
Events
Event
Cannibalisation
Beware: cannibalisation & conditioning

18. Beware: content bloat

19. Beware: changing core gameplay

20. Average Gold Balance by Castle Level
New Castle Level
17 Sinks Added
Beware: economy (mis)management

21. Revenue cannibalisation
Sales conditioning
Content bloat
Inadvertently screwing your economy
Things to be wary of

22. Do you need events to be successful on mobile?

23. 23

26. Programmatic
Curated
Frequent
Infrequent

27. 1. Define a genre or play pattern
2. Be No 2 or 3 with a brand
3. Focus on a valuable niche community,
monetising through live ops & events
Formulas for success on mobile

28. How we came to figure out live ops …

29. “We have to kill
Samurai Siege.
We need the
developers”
16 people
4 people / 0 developers
Gross Bookings
?

30. “We have to kill
Samurai Siege.
We need the
developers”
16 people
4 people / 0 developers
Gross Bookings
Profit per employee

31. Putting a game into Live Ops can revive it
More profitable per employee
… But you need the right team
Live Ops > Features

32. 32
The Team
Economy
Design
QA
Live Ops
Community
Leader

33. 33
• T-shaped
• High output
• Team players
The Team
Economy
Design
QA
Live Ops
Community
Leader

34. The Team
QA
Design
New Game
Analyst
PM
5 yrs 1 yr
Community
VIP
Live Ops
PM
PO
1 yr
QA
Design
3 yrs
Community
VIP
Live Ops
Community
VIP
3 yrs
CS
Community
VIP
1 yr

35. Find T-shaped people
Great training ground
… but need to invest in tools and content
The Team

36. The Toybox & the Treadmill

37. Bespoke graphics & theming
Time limited offers
Core gameplay will be new. Every time!
Social pressure to perform
Three event types & ability to add more
Players/Alliances really care about winning

38. The Toolbox
Streaming graphics from
Amazon
Content Management System
Scheduling
Events: Alliance Totaliser,
Personal Tournament, War Rush

39. 39
Spec
Local config
CMS
Testing
Code commit

40. 40
Spec
Local config
CMS
Testing
Code commit

41. 41
Spec
Local config
CMS
Testing
Code commit

42. 42
Spec
Local config
CMS
Testing
Code commit

43. 43
Spec
Local config
CMS
Testing
Code commit

44. 44
Spec
Local config
CMS
Testing
Code commit

45. 45
Spec
Local config
CMS
Testing
Code commit

46. 46
Spec
Local config
CMS
Testing
Code commit
Major event = 2 hours
Small event = 30 mins

47. Le Toolbox Deluxe
Event Types
Personal Totaliser
Alliance Totaliser
Metagame Variation
Gameplay Variation
Easter eggs
$$$
Pay to play
Event accelerants
Pay not play
Gacha
Competition
Leaderboard rewards
League rewards
Revolving
Beat the Boss
Heats
Content
Permanent Vanity
Permanent
Functional
Functional to Vanity
Temporary
Functional
Early Access
Consumables
Gacha
Event currency
Upgradable
Mods

48. Personal Totaliser
Alliance Totaliser
Metagame Variation
Gameplay Variation
Leaderboard rewards
League rewards
Revolving
Easter eggs
Permanent Vanity
Permanent
Functional
Functional to Vanity
Temporary
Functional
Early Access
Consumables
Gacha
Pay to play
Event accelerants
Pay not play
Gacha
Event currency
Beat the Boss Upgradable
Heats
Best performing
Mods

51. Personal Totaliser
Alliance Totaliser
Metagame Variation
Gameplay Variation
Leaderboard rewards
League rewards
Revolving
Easter eggs
Permanent Vanity
Permanent
Functional
Functional to Vanity
Temporary
Functional
Early Access
Consumables
Gacha
Pay to play
Event accelerants
Pay not play
Gacha
Event currency
Beat the Boss Upgradable
Heats
Most engaging
Mods

52. Personal Totaliser
Alliance Totaliser
Metagame Variation
Gameplay Variation
Leaderboard rewards
League rewards
Revolving
Easter eggs
Permanent Vanity
Permanent
Functional
Functional to Vanity
Temporary
Functional
Early Access
Consumables
Gacha
Pay to play
Event accelerants
Pay not play
Gacha
Event currency
Beat the Boss Upgradable
Heats
Most Money
Mods

53. Mo Money Mo Problems

54. 54

55. 55

56. 56

57. 57

58. 58

59. 59

60. 60

61. Start simple, aim for max flexibility
Every game is different
Players love new content
Leaderboards + functional prize = $$$
… but beware the content treadmill
The Toybox

62. 62
Our first event

63. Permanent Vanity
25k presents
(~50 alliances)
Temporary OP boost
10k presents
$2 premium currency
2.5k presents
Gameplay variation
500 presents
Our first event

64. Event Types
Personal Totaliser
Alliance Totaliser
Metagame Variation
Gameplay Variation
Competition
Leaderboard rewards
League rewards
Revolving
Easter eggs
Content
Permanent Vanity
Permanent
Functional
Functional to Vanity
Temporary
Functional
Early Access
Consumables
Gacha
$$$
Pay to play
Event accelerants
Pay not play
Gacha
Event currency
Beat the Boss Upgradable
Heats Mods

65. $50k
$120k
Our first event

66. Time to
build
content
Time to
consume
content
Our first event

67. Remember our most popular event
Standard RamNuclear Ram

68. Solution! Frankenstein troops
• Regular trainable troop
• Temp hero troop (camp)
• Defensive structure
Context Changes
• Shader changes
• Trails
• Asset swap
• Size
Visuals
• Conical damage
• Spell cast on death
• Damage drop off over range
• Elemental vulnerabilities
• Mix and match projectiles
Gameplay Changes
• Health
• DPS
• Range
• Speed
• Training time
• AI priorities
Regular stats

69. Frankenstein troops + Sagas
Prismatic Mage Saga:
The Tome of the Mad Scholar
1 week work = 4 weeks content

70. Regular Essence Master Prismatic Mage Level 1
Prismatic Mage Saga

71. Prismatic Mage Level 2 Prismatic Mage Level 3
Prismatic Mage Saga

72. Prismatic Mage Saga
Week 1
48hr Alliance
Totaliser
Week 2
24hr Alliance
Totaliser
Week 3
48 hr Alliance
Totaliser +
Leaderboard
Week 4
Engagement
Event

73. Intensity correlates to revenue

75. 1-3-2-4 intensity cadence
Frankenstein troops + sagas
1 week work for 4 weeks content
Reduce, re-use, recycle
The Treadmill

76. Events = $$$ + d365%
Beware
• cannibalisation
• content bloat
• economy change
Live Ops > Features
T shaped people
Training ground
Invest in tools

77.
Stream content
Content Management
Scheduling
Few reusable formats
Players love content
Max flexibility
Leaderboards +
functional prizes = $$$
Beware of burnout

78. 1-3-2-4 cadence
Frankenstein troops
Sagas
1:4 time to create:consume

79. Simon Hade, COO
simon@spaceapegames.com