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Episode 48: Pikachu, I Snooze You! Mastering the Dream World With Pokémon Sleep

Anna Kauppinen — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 11:23:05 +0000

Join us as we unravel the exciting details of the latest addition to the Pokémon universe: Pokémon Sleep. This innovative app has taken the concept of gamification to a whole new level by transforming how we approach sleep.

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Are there benefits to merging gaming with sleep? Find out how Pokémon Sleep stacks up against other sleep-related apps. We’ll delve into the unique features that make Pokémon Sleep a standout experience and explore how it integrates into the broader Pokémon ecosystem. But that’s not all; we’ll discuss if there could be plans to extend its reach beyond sleep and venture into the realm of promoting other healthy habits.

You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

Topics we will cover in this episode:

Introduction
Understanding Pokémon Sleep Gameplay
Comparing Pokémon Sleep to other sleep-tracking apps
Pokémon brand strategy and wellness focus
Benefits and concerns of Pokémon Sleep
Pokémon GO Plus device and sleep tracking
Market reception and future potential
Future possibilities for the Pokémon brand

Read Transcript

Introduction

[00:00:00] Jon Jordan: Hello, and welcome to the Mobile Games Playbook. Thanks for tuning in for another episode. This podcast is about what makes a great mobile game, what is and isn’t working for mobile game designers, and all of the latest trends. I’m your host Jon Jordan. And joining me today, we have two experts from GameRefinery. We have Teemu Palomäki, who is the Chief Game Analyst for the Japanese region from Game Refinery. How’s it going, Teemu?

[00:00:26] Teemu Palomäki: It’s going great! It’s great to be here.

[00:00:28] Jon: Good. And, doubling up on the Japanese brain trust, we have Milka Paunonen, who is the senior game analyst for Japan at Game Refinery. How’s it going, Milka?

[00:00:37] Milka Paunonen: It’s going great. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:39] Jon: Good. And the reason we have our Japanese Brain Trust on the podcast today is we are talking about a Japanese app. And a very particular Japanese app, Pokémon Sleep. So Pokémon Sleep, I guess, is now, I would say, following in the trend or lineage of a gamified health app from Pokémon.

So, we had Pokémon Smile, which is an interesting teeth-cleaning app for children that came out last year, and now we have Pokémon Sleep, which, as the name suggests, is all about gamified sleep and wellness in that area. So, Teemu, do you want to kick us off with, like, an overview, and then obviously we’ll drill down into very specifics of what’s going on there, but, for people who haven’t used it, including me, give me the rundown of Pokémon Sleep, what are we doing here?

Understanding Pokémon Sleep Gameplay

[00:01:24] Teemu: Yeah, so Pokémon Sleep, it was released, on July 17th, so relatively recently. It’s a game about, well, sleeping. You’re collecting Pokémon, or you’re observing how they sleep. So there are different sleeping habits in the Pokemon world. These Pokémon can have up to four sleeping styles. Like for example, Psyduck, the yellow duck, always has headaches but can sleep with a headache or have a tantrum or yawn in their sleep, or they can sleep on top of this big Snorelax Pokémon.

In the app, that is kind of the centre of your Pokémon Sleep observation area. So there is the big Snorelax there that you level up by sleeping. In the app, you level it up in one-week periods and then move to another island. Alternatively, you can stay on the same island but your progress with Snorelax resets. But the Pokémon you collect, you can update and upgrade by observing their sleep patterns, those you can keep and train and gain long-term progress, and, you know, based on your own sleeping style, you will have progress.

More generally, the app tracks how you sleep. The sounds you make when you’re sleeping, you can even listen to how you sound in your sleep when you wake up if you’re brave. I still haven’t been able to take that step yet. But there are different levels of sleep, whether it’s shallow or deep. In the game, there’s dozing, snoozing, and slumbering. Depending on which of these types is dominant for your night of sleep, the Pokémon related to that group can be observed and then caught.

Depending on how well and how much you sleep, you can catch them. I think for adults, if you sleep eight and a half hours, you can get the full rewards. But if you’re like me and have a toddler, you might sleep something like four and a half hours, and then you get lesser rewards. That’s basically how the base game runs.

[00:03:57] Jon: I guess at a very superficial level, the nice thing about it, and maybe one of the triggers they wanted to do, is it does play into the characteristics of some of these Pokémon. So, we could argue, or not, that it’s a little bit crowbarred in perhaps. Maybe Pokémon doesn’t immediately make you think about doing a sleep app.

But there are elements in there that, if you’re a big Pokémon fan, play into the fact that some of these have different characteristics, and some of them are sleeping all the time. So there is a nice holistic tie-in there to some degree.

[00:04:30] Teemu: Yeah. Completely.

[00:04:32] Jon: Milka, in terms of, obviously, it’s a playful app, a gamified app. It’s maybe more towards children just with the Pokémon franchise. But compared to the serious industry around analysing sleep and various things you can do there, various different apps and hardware like Fitbit, Whoop, or other healthcare apps, where does Pokémon Sleep compare to those things, or are we making the wrong comparison there?

Comparing Pokémon Sleep to other sleep-tracking apps

[00:05:09] Milka: Yes, actually, I use Fitbit quite a lot, regularly. I compared a bit of data from Fitbit to the Pokémon Sleep data. I was actually quite surprised; initially, I was a little bit sceptical about the Pokémon Sleep app. Yeah, it is a game essentially, so can it really be good for this kind of sleep tracking? I was quite amazed at how similar the data was to my Fitbit app data. So with all of these devices, they’re not exactly 100% accurate. You can’t really get accurate data on how long you are in the deep sleep stage or anything like that, for example.

So, in that sense, it doesn’t really matter if it’s not exactly the same. But for collecting data in a casual way, to get a general idea of your sleeping habits, I think Pokémon Sleep is definitely good enough. And it’s free, so it can be an alternative for those on a budget compared to these more precise devices. The looks of it, it’s a cute app with cute visuals. I don’t know if it has a lineage, as some people might think. It is quite catered to casual users and kids with visuals. But I don’t see any problem with the data.

In some ways, it’s probably even better. For example, I know for a fact that I woke up two times last night, and my Fitbit device didn’t track those times, but Pokémon Sleep could actually detect those moments when I was awake at night. So maybe it was because my heart rate didn’t fluctuate that much that Fitbit didn’t recognise it, but the app could. Even the Pokémon Sleep could give me more data about my breathing and stuff, like listening to me and tracking it during my sleep.

I don’t see any problem with it. So yeah, that’s my take.

[00:07:57] Jon: In terms of Fitbit, it is a specific hardware device you’re wearing, and the Pokémon-Pokémon Sleep is basically, you’re just putting your phone near your bed, isn’t it? Is that how it works?

[00:08:08] Milka: Yeah, yeah. And it is a different mechanic entirely. But in that sense, I must say for Fitbit, it is not the core function of the device. So although it is a fitness device first and foremost, it’s just an extra feature, you know, the sleeping tracking. But anyway, I found it surprisingly like Pokémon Sleep data; it was surprisingly good too.

[00:08:36] Jon: Good-good. And the interesting thing, just reading some of the marketing around it, is that it has this idea. You have your phone by your bed, which obviously lots of people say you shouldn’t have your phone right by your bed.

But the point is, when you wake up in the morning, you can immediately see what’s going on in the Pokémon world. So, it is quite an interesting retention mechanic they’ve got going on there. The first thing you do in the morning is check out your Pokémon. But is that the whole point of it?

Pokémon brand strategy and wellness focus

[00:09:03] Teemu: Yeah-yeah, it is. And it can also be like, kind of building the strength of the brand. I must say this is kind of like a style of gameplay that works only with Pokémon like similar to how we have Pokémon GO. It only succeeds in the West, at least, and it’s only with the Pokémon brand. Anything else Niantic has tried has kind of failed in Japan.

They have, I think, Dragon Quest Walk from Square and exist really well. That’s fighting-based, and it’ll be interesting to see how Monster Hunter now does when it launches later this year, which is also kind of fighting-based. Then you have the girl collector, it’s sort of like transformers, where you go around Japan’s train stations and capture these girls that have designs influenced by different trains. That’s also popular in Japan. But other than that, these location-based games are not a thing. But with Pokémon Sleep, the sleeping thing, I suppose you could make a side mode in a game. If you want additional rewards for a game, then you can track your sleep. But other than that, I think this is a very Pokémon thing to do.

But it’s frankly, it’s really just promoting the brand. Like, it’s the last thing you do before you go to sleep and the first thing in the morning, so your life is all-around Pokémon. And then you go about your day, and you play Pokemon. When you go brush your teeth with Pokémon Smile, then, you know, you walk to your work with Pokémon Go. It’s all Pokémon, Pokémon, Pokémon. So, I think it’s interesting to see what is the next wellness thing that Pokémon brings out.

[00:11:01] Jon: I mean, do you…

[00:11:03] Milka: Yeah.

[00:11:04] Jon: You go, Milka.

[00:11:06] Milka: Oh, yeah, I was just going to say that. It’s possible that Pokémon really wants to expand the brand to really be a part of people’s daily lives. Like, all parts of it, outside of gaming, and it’s a great way to introduce these, well, very simple but still probably addictive, lifestyle habit apps.

So, I was actually thinking, this is probably the perfect time for them to release apps like Pokémon Smile, and even Pokémon Sleep because Pokémon is becoming multigenerational. So, the brand is expanding to new demographics. The generation that was there for the original games is actually now having kids of their own, and, like, it’s a great way of introducing the characters through these apps, like, Pokémon Smile and, like, these games. And, well, I was also thinking, like, is it good to make it an app on your phones because it can be used as a reward mechanic for you? Like, if you brush your teeth, you get rewards out of these games. Is it good to make phones your method of reward? I don’t know, but yeah, it’s an interesting thing to think about, at least.

[00:12:28] Jon: I mean, as a parent, I can see the Smile one being a more useful lever because getting them to brush their teeth is just really difficult. You’re either doing it yourself, or they become of an age where you have to trust them. But you never quite trust them, so– And that seems like, you know, quite a nice little app that you could have, and you’re using it twice a day, and that’s what builds a routine around that.

The Sleep one, you know, it seems harder for me to work out, you know, is this a fairly lightweight thing that is, you know, they’re doing it as a very much an experiment, or is this actually quite a clever approach, as I say, to get people to use it. So the last thing you do at night is Pokémon, and the first thing you do in the morning is Pokémon. The fact that your sleep doesn’t really matter. There’s a quite subtle but strong commercial edge to it.

I mean, should we? Sorry, how do you think we should be thinking about this? Is this a serious Pokémon game that has not a lot of depth but has been clearly thought out and treated seriously, or do they expect people to be doing this every day, and being retained, so they can add a monetisation strategy in there? Or is this a bit more of a Smile-type app? You know, it’s an interesting thing that it doesn’t really matter.

Benefits and concerns of Pokémon Sleep

[00:14:00] Teemu: Well, I think this one is more serious. You know, Pokémon Smile it’s definitely aimed at kids. It doesn’t have any ads or monetisation mechanics. It’s just a way for parents to, well, get their kids to brush their teeth. You can think of it from a parent’s perspective, “This is to help my children to brush their teeth and become healthier,” in that sense for Pokémon. It’s like, “Okay, let’s make sure that Pokémon is present in their lives, and it becomes a meaningful part of their life, and then later in their years, we can sell them stuff.”

But, like, this is different. I don’t know if it comes from Pokémon Go’s success. So they have this and are thinking, “Okay, we improved people’s commuting habits and walking, so people became healthier. What is the next step we can do?” And sleeping is something that is often overlooked. If you think about what gamers are bad at, I think sleeping is very high on that list. Eating would be the other one, but eating, there are so many things to consider, like eating disorders and allergies and stuff that you need to be really careful with, and it’s harder to track. So I think sleeping is something that is easier to track, and that’s why they’ve gone for it.

And I think Pokémon is building this wellness brand and trying to be serious about it. And they have used similar monetisation mechanics in Pokémon Sleep that they do in Pokémon Go. For example, you expand your inventories, and you buy these consumable boosts with which you can catch these Pokémon and kind of upgrade them. So, it’s very similar to Pokémon Go in that sense. So I would say it’s a very serious app, unlike Smile.

[00:15:53] Jon: And it’s a good point that you do make there about Niantic, the US company behind Pokémon Go. I think it’s often overlooked how serious that company is about getting people to move. So the fact that they were so successful with Pokémon Go, I mean, that they’ve had various apps before that. The guy who founded the company actually invented Google Earth, or the company he invented became Google Earth. And he’s very active in changing people’s habits. He sees it as a mission to get people moving. That’s very much his thing.

The reason they were doing location-based games is he really wanted to get people out there and exploring. So, I think the fact that Pokemon Sleep is a game, there is a strong social mission that they do have behind some of these things. I don’t know so much about the sleep thing. I mean, there have been some issues with people with sleep becoming a performance mechanic. Do you think it’s just hype, or is it just headline-grabbing stories? I did see there were issues around the gamified process. When you gamify something, you put incentives on things, but sometimes they can overstep the mark, so that cannot be a good thing for a lot of people.

[00:17:23] Teemu: Oh, yeah. I think that’s definitely something to consider. If you’re building the habit that you are constantly kind of gaming, everything is a performance. You can’t actually enjoy anything. Especially if how well you sleep is tied to the rewards you get in the game, that can make sleeping more stressful. Yeah-

[00:17:46] Jon: And then, I mean, I’ve heard stories that people were taking sleeping pills, which just seems to be insane. But maybe it’s just people who just do the silly thing and that it’s not really the fault of the app, but you know, there is that consideration.

[00:17:59] Teemu: Yeah, yeah. People do silly things, which is one of the risks of the game. Another risk, you know, is people also use these slightly damaged charging cables. Now, combine that with an older phone that you leave on your mattress next to you at night. Personally, I’m just waiting for the first headline that someone’s house caught on fire because of Pokémon Sleep. So I think that is a very real risk.

The radiation part is another risk. Phones emit a small amount of radiation. In modest use, it’s not a big problem, as far as I’m aware. But, like, in the long run, if you’re using your phone throughout the day and then during the night you leave it on next to you, that can cause trouble in the long run, like, decades later or something, you start seeing the impact. But yeah.

[00:19:12] Jon: I mean, it is interesting, isn’t it? Clearly, I think what they’re trying to do is something that is positive for people. As you say, most people don’t sleep enough. I mean, that’s the basic crux of the matter. So maybe we shouldn’t be complaining about all these edge cases. And I mean, Milka, have you, obviously, you’re someone who’s got a Fitbit, so you’re interested in that stuff anyway. Have you found Pokémon Sleep, has that made you think more about sleep, at least in a very passive case, that you think, “Oh, instead of playing another hour of whatever, some game, I’ll go to bed earlier and improve my Pokémon Sleep score”?

Because I guess that’s what they want, is they want that subtle nudge. Over time, it’s different from every day you’ll go to bed at eight o’clock to maximise your score because no one’s going to do that. But it’s just subtle. I mean, do you think that’s worked?

[00:20:00] Milka: Yeah. I actually felt that it did feel rewarding to me to actually wake up in the morning and see, “Oh, wow, I got this Pokémon.” And it actually felt quite rewarding, more so than just, you know, going to see your score in the app, and then it’s that’s it. So I feel like there’s definitely– It’s definitely motivating in that sense.

I was also thinking about the concerns about the game. Like when you have the phone next to you when you’re going to sleep, it may be a distraction in itself. And again, I’m going back to this, like, if there are kids who use it, can they control the urge to just take the phone and start doom scrolling or whatever. So that was something that I was thinking about, but for me, at least, it wasn’t a problem.

But some people may find it a little bit difficult to sleep with their phone next to them, and that’s why I’m quite disappointed that I heard that the Pokémon, the Pokémon GO Plus Plus device isn’t quite as good at tracking sleep, so I was hoping that it would be, so you wouldn’t have to take your phone with you to the bed but, –

Pokémon GO Plus device and sleep tracking

[00:21:29] Jon: Teemu, this is your-your opportunity to shine. Tell us about this little device and whether it works or not.

[00:21:38] Teemu: Yeah. I actually bought one for myself just because I wanted to kind of improve my sleep – Well, I say that I also track Pokémon GO at work as well, and I wanted to try Pokémon Sleep.

[00:21:50] Jon: Can you explain a little bit more because it’s not just for Pokémon Sleep, is it, that’s an ancillary, so what is that device? Why would you use it in general?

[00:21:59] Teemu: Yeah, so the Pokémon GO Plus Plus device is a device that can track your movement with Pokémon GO. So, while you’re playing Pokémon GO keeping the game open, the device is connected to it with Bluetooth, and then every time there is a Pokémon close by, the device starts vibrating and flashing colours. And if you press the button at the centre, then the game tries to catch a Pokémon, you have one chance with this device to catch them. So a lot of the Pokémon are going to run away, but you catch more than you would if you were just walking by and trying to get them on your phone.

[00:22:50] Jon: So effectively, you don’t need to use your phone. You have to have your phone in your pocket, and this thing buzzes; you press the button like automation.

[00:22:57] Teemu: Yeah, and the plus side is that it saves the battery. And it’s really nice in that sense, and it can be used to track your sleep with Pokémon Sleep. For me, the success rate was really low. I’ve tried it like, I think, four nights, and I’ve managed to track sleep with just one of them. So, we’re getting closer to the success rates of getting a five-star character in a gacha mobile game, which is really poor from the player’s perspective.

But it is a nice concept. I wish there was a small screen that would tell you what is actually happening when you sleep. Like, okay, the tracking started now, and this is what we’re tracking. You started tracking successfully, and then when you close it, then okay, the tracking ended successfully so that you would have some feedback instead of just these vibrations and stuff. But this device actually, well, people were incentivised to buy it so that you would get these special tasks in Pokémon GO. And here is the interesting part about Pokémon GO and Pokémon Sleep. Those apps actually communicate with each other. So, depending on how well you sleep, when you can connect a device again to Pokémon GO, you can get additional rewards there.

And then, depending on how many steps you’ve walked or Pokémon catch or sleep, you can get additional rewards for this special Pikachu that you obtain through this device in Pokémon Sleep. So, the apps are kind of communicating and building that lifestyle, the Pokémon lifestyle, together.

[00:24:54] Jon: I mean, presumably, that device works in a different way, trying to track your sleep. It’s obviously a more movement-based thing, I would think. Would it be?

[00:25:03] Teemu: It is for Pokémon GO. It actually doesn’t track movement. For Pokémon GO, it’s just the app kind of sending the location data and stuff. For Pokémon Sleep, it has a microphone that tracks the sleep. So, yeah. So, it’s a listening device.

[00:25:27] Jon: Yeah, I mean, I guess the other thing is that, as people have had with Alexa’s and all those devices, having more microphones in the bedroom, again, is generally seen as not a positive thing. I’m sure Nintendo is more careful than most when it comes to the privacy of those things. I’m sure it’s not recording those things, but equally interesting that, to some degree, any improvement, any time a company wants to improve one part of your life, it butts up against other things that they shouldn’t, like the privacy of our bedrooms or having more screens in our bedrooms. There’s always this tension there.

Okay. So do you think this can be more than a gimmick? You know, I mean, obviously, you two are probably not the target audience, although you may be closer to the target audience than we think, but, you know, is this something that you think you would be regularly using or more generally, other people would be regularly used as part of their lifestyle tracking?

Market reception and future potential

[00:26:37] Teemu: Yeah, I think it could become an important part of life for many. For me personally, I have a toddler who likes to play with the Pokémon GO Plus device. It has flashy lights, so if she wakes up during the night and comes to pick it up because it’s a fun toy, then nothing is tracked. And, so, for me, it’s kind of tedious yet, but I can see it becoming a big part of someone’s life. I found it really interesting. I was hoping it could improve my sleeping. I know I sleep way too little for what I need, but I don’t know. It has some problems, but it seems to be resonating well.

If we look at my notes, in the US, it’s been high on the downloads, in the top 30 or so, quite recently as it also rose to the top 200 in rankings. Before that, it was outside of it. So, in the US, it’s small of a thing, but if we look at the Japanese market, ever since it was launched, it has been number one in downloads.

[00:28:10] Jon: Really? Wow.

[00:28:10] Teemu: Yeah. So, it is really downloaded there. And in the rankings, at first, it was around the top 30, then it dropped down to the 50s or so for a while, and last time I checked, it was somewhere around 15. So, it’s monetising really well, and people are buying stuff. They’re buying these items with which to catch Pokémon or with which to evolve or train those Pokémon. And, you know, they have a subscription model, they have a sleep pass, which, well, the first two weeks are free, but after that, you get a lot of these perks.

So if you form a habit of this game, I think that it can increase the experience. You can write, for example, notes about your sleep, so you can make personal notes that, “On this night, I did this, which caused me to sleep less,” or “This night was really hot, and that’s why I didn’t sleep well.” If you want to track more, you get more ways to track. And what I found interesting; they also have additional lavish rewards every three months. So, they’re incentivising keeping the subscription on because you get improved rewards every three months, which is something I haven’t really seen that much in mobile games. So, like giving additional rewards for keeping the subscription on. So, I don’t know.

[00:29:50] Milka: Yeah, I also thought that, in terms of, like, habit tracking, lifestyle and fitness apps, there are several titles that have gamified elements. But, in the sleeping tracking market, there are only so many gamified sleeping apps. So, for those people who need that kind of incentive to track their sleep and use these apps, there have been literally no options. So, now there’s an option, and it’s Pokémon Sleep. So, for those people who need that kind of gaming feeling in their lifestyle apps, it’s definitely a good option. So I feel like it has a market there.

[00:30:40] Jon: Yeah, no, it’s just like Teemu mentioned. Maybe there’s a geographical uptake, which is just some cultures will be more accepting of it because maybe they really like Pokémon more, or just the way they view day-to-day existence. It may just chime better. Whereas maybe in Western Europe and North America, we’re more nervous about the use of phones and devices, no matter whether they’re good or bad.

So, it may be that split, which will be interesting to see. I mean, I just kind of think, what will be interesting, I suppose, is if it actually becomes a strong definer of encouraging people to sleep more. But, basically, it will make people aware of that for the first time, and maybe only use it some of the time, but people can start thinking, ‘oh, I can get this app for free; let’s try it’. And when they try it for the first time, they use a sleep app, and they realise how badly they sleep. Particularly if they have children, they can look at the data and think oh ‘that’s shocking’. I mean, I’m quite into this stuff. I have lots of health trackers and stuff.

And when you really get stuck getting into it, you know, you realise that you do build these gamified loops to yourself. So, on the health side of things, those apps tend not to be gamified, but you can see over time, they’ll probably become more gamified. So, Pokémon Sleep is actually part of a much wider trend, I think. We’ll probably see people around all wellness and stuff.

Moving on, does Pokémon as a brand have the ability to do more things? I mean, I don’t know what more things you would do. You could imagine a food thing, couldn’t you? You know, you could. People take all these Instagrammable photos of their food all the time. You could imagine a Pokémon-themed thing around that, could you not?

[00:33:35] Milka: Yep.

Future possibilities for the Pokémon brand

[00:32:36] Teemu: Yes, it could be. That was the first thing that came to my mind. Then when I was thinking more, another one that came to mind, you know, from a fitness perspective, is to somehow incorporate Pokemon doing your exercises or stretching or whatever. They can have you on screen alongside a Pokemon to show you what to do. But I don’t know if that’s something they will have. And it might to even be an app, it could be a game. You know, Nintendo Switch has the Ring Fit Adventure with the kind of controls where you have a stretching circle thing. Something like that could definitely be Pokemon-themed. And depending on what moves you do, you can catch Pokémon if you do daily stretches/exercises. And there would be over a thousand Pokémon to catch now, so you could make a really big exercise game.

[00:33:42] Jon: Mm-hmm, yeah. And, as we discussed, Niantic is really interested in the positive being fit as well. I don’t know how successful the Switch game was, but it was a long time ago now. But yeah, there are lots of things we can potentially look forward to.

Lovely. Well, thank you, Teemu and thank you, Milka, for your expertise. In the next podcast, I expect you will both be looking much younger as you have all these enormous amounts of sleep. We’ll wait and see.

Thanks for watching and listening to the podcast. However, you are consuming it. In every episode, we are looking at what’s going on in the space of mobile games. And as we’ve covered so many different things recently. We’re really moving around now, covering specific apps and whole genres and cultures and movements. So please subscribe and come back next time to find out what’s going on with the Mobile Games Playbook. See you then. Goodbye.

[00:34:52] Milka: Bye-bye.

[00:34:53] Teemu: Bye.

The post Episode 48: Pikachu, I Snooze You! Mastering the Dream World With Pokémon Sleep appeared first on GameRefinery.

Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review July 2023

Anna Kauppinen — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 07:19:16 +0000

July was an exceptional month for mobile gaming, with some of the biggest titles on the market launching major updates that introduced new gameplay mechanics, monetization options, and collaborations with popular IPs. However, many players slept through the excitement, as they were too busy clocking up hours in the gamified wellness app, Pokémon Sleep.

Of course, Pokémon isn’t the only major franchise with a growing presence in mobile. Activision capitalized on the momentum of Diablo IV’s successful launch on PC and console by adding a new update to its mobile game Diablo Immortal, which released the franchise’s first new character class in almost a decade. Players turned up in droves to try out the Blood Knight, causing a 400% increase in daily downloads on iOS.

Monopoly GO! is still dominating the charts and continues to build engagement through its first cooperative event, Baking Partners, where players had to help each other make a cake to win various in-game rewards.

There were also a significant number of IP collaborations in the most popular mobile titles during July, mainly with films and television shows. Some of our favorite crossovers included Match Masters and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Stumble Guys and Barbie, PUBG and Dragon Ball Z, and even Survivor!.io and Spongebob Squarepants.

You can find more information about all these updates, as well as many others from across the US, China, and Japanese markets, in our July Mobile Game Market review.

US Market Overview

Following the success of its one-year anniversary update last month, a major update for Diablo Immortal added the franchise’s first new character class in almost ten years, the Blood Knight. This mid-range class specializes in polearms and combines long and ranged attacks into a hybrid combat style; it’s also capable of “feeding” on the life of its enemies to regenerate health.

The new class can be played by creating a new character or changing an existing one using the game’s free ‘class change’ feature. Blizzard also released a special event designed to make the most of the new class, The Crimson Plane, featuring a limited-time roguelite PvE mode and a progressive reward track with an exclusive set of Blood Knight Armour.

For now, the only way for Diablo fans to try out the Blood Knight is by playing Immortal, which resulted in a 400% spike in downloads on the day of the update. As the new class wasn’t monetized, the game didn’t experience a revenue spike similar to the month prior for its one-year anniversary.

Diablo Immortal’s daily downloads spiked by over 400% on 13 July following the release of the Blood Knight (Source: GameRefinery Platform).

Monopoly GO! added its first cooperative event, Baking Partners, which ran from 4–9 July and tasked players to partner up with each other and make a cake to unlock special rewards. The prizes include dice rolls, cash, stickers, and even a unique token representing the player on the board. While the event had no notable impact on downloads, daily revenue on iOS doubled around the start of the event, with the game continuing to build momentum after its conclusion as further updates are released.

iOS revenue increased significantly during the launch of the update and has maintained momentum since the event concluded (Source: GameRefinery Platform).

In the week-long event, players had to collect a unique currency called “purple cookies” from the Monopoly board, which were spent on rolling a wheel to collect progression points for the “cake-making process.” Players and their partners unlocked special rewards once they collectively reached specific point milestones.

Players can join forces with up to four other users in Monopoly GO!’s Baking Partners event.

July was also a big month for collaboration events, with a significant focus on popular film and television franchises. First up is Match Masters, which collaborated with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to celebrate the release of the new film Mutant Madness.

Players had to collect pizza slices from PvP modes to reach reward milestones in the Boss Battle Collection Event, allowing them to battle some of the franchise’s most iconic villains in exchange for exclusive skins and stickers. Multiple TMNT-themed limited time IAP-offers were also available during the collaboration, including progression and customizable bundles, which helped daily revenue almost quadruple in the days following the update.

Match Masters’ first-ever collaboration event saw daily revenue more than quadruple (Source: GameRefinery Platform).

Meanwhile, the Fall Guys clone, Stumble Guys, collaborated with the doll-turned-blockbuster-movie, Barbie. The Barbie Malibu Mayhem event added a unique Barbie Dream Dash map that saw players rushing around to deliver Barbie’s favorite items to various NPCs before they were eliminated. The Barbie Malibu Mayhem rewarded players with Barbie Tokens, which could be spent in an event shop to purchase exclusive Barbie-themed skins and an emote.

Survivor!.io launched the Deepsea Survivor Event, which added Spongebob Squarepants and his neighbor Squidward as playable characters. To unlock Spongebob, players had to complete various sign-in tasks, while unlocking Squidward required taking part in daily battle stages. Players could also unlock Spongebob’s snail, Gary, as a new pet via IAP offers.

The Barbie Dream Dash map in Stumble Guys.

Finally, almost a year since it was first announced, PUBG Mobile released its long-awaited Dragon Ball Super collaboration, introducing two new modes, Dragon Ball character gachas, task events, and more.

The first new mode, Battle Royale: Dragon Ball Super, ditched almost all the traditional PUBG gameplay elements to transform the map into an anime-style battleground where players duke it out as their favorite Dragon Ball characters. The other mode, Dragon Ball Super, retains most of the core gameplay ideas but incorporates aspects of the anime, such as the ability to find Dragon Balls hidden across the map or fire an energy beam.

PUBG’s Battle Royale: Dragon Ball Super event turned the game into an anime-style battleground full of iconic DBZ characters.

Other US market highlights include:

Moonton released a new tower defense RPG called Watcher of Realms, which managed to hit the top 50 grossing.
Space Ape Games released an unusual match3 game themed around car restoration called Chrome Valley Customs, which has been scaling the past month towards the top grossing 100.
Jam City’s new puzzle RPG themed around DC Comics, DC Heroes & Villains, has struggled to break into top grossing 200, despite the popularity of characters such as Batman, Superman, and Harley Quinn.
After an initial strong launch, the card-collecting RPG Harry Potter: Magic Awakened has fallen radically in performance after last month’s US launch, despite performing relatively well in China.
Tencent finally released its extraction shooter Arena Breakout across the globe. However, despite its high production values and popularity in China for some time, it has yet to find a strong audience in other markets.

Japan Market Overview

Following the successful release of Pokémon Go and Pokémon Smile, the Pokémon Company continued to expand its mobile ecosystem in July with the long-awaited release of Pokémon Sleep. This unique title combines sleep tracking and Pokémon collecting into one gamified wellness app. The unusual amalgamation seems to have struck a chord with mobile users, with the title ranking #1 in downloads since its launch.

However, Pokemon Sleep didn’t achieve this all on its own. Pokémon Go also released a special themed event to celebrate the launch, Catching Some Zs, which featured an exclusive Snorlax wearing a nightcap for any player who linked a Pokémon GO Plus + (a new physical accessory used for both Pokémon Go and Pokémon Sleep) to the game.

We’ll be discussing Pokémon Sleep in more detail soon as part of our Mobile Games Playbook podcast, as well as providing a detailed analysis on our platform.

Different Pokémon appear depending on the quality of a player’s sleep.

The Dragon Ball franchise also made waves in Japan following the release of a new Ultra-tier character, Super Saiyan God SS Vegito, in Dragon Ball Legends. The character was anticipated to be a worthy challenger to the current meta and expected to dominate PvP modes, meaning many players were desperate to unlock them as soon as the update landed.

Super Saiyan God SS Vegito could only be unlocked through a step-up gacha consisting of four 10-character pulls, out of which the fourth was a free pull. To pull all four, a player needed 3,000 Chrono Crystals (worth just over $60). The actual drop rate of Super Saiyan God SS Vegito was 0.350%, which is very low, and players also required duplicate pulls to upgrade the character further.

Daily revenue spiked by more than 2000% after the character’s release.

The release of Super Saiyan God SS Vegito caused a daily revenue spike of over 2000% (Source: GameRefinery Platform).

Other Japan market highlights include:

The realistic baseball game, MLB 9 Innings Rivals, has ranked #1 in downloads for several days and grossed between 20 and 50 for most of July. With baseball being a massively popular sport in Japan, it’s unsurprising that this new game managed to find its audience quickly.
That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime launched its first collaboration event with the popular anime KonoSuba.
Ensemble Stars!! Music launched a summer event with its own take on the Treasure Hunt/Hidden Temple event type.
A new mecha RPG, Muv-Luv Dimensions, launched at #1 in the download charts and #18 grossing, but has since fallen down the ranks.

China market highlights include:

Justice Mobile (逆水寒) is the mobile version of NetEase’s “flagship MMORPG” Justice Online, with high production values and a Chinese fantasy art style. It is currently ranking around top-grossing #3 and DL #2.
Crystal of Atlan (晶核) is an anime cel-shading-style action RPG with flashy graphics and classic sword-swinging gameplay. The game describes itself as having an “aetherpunk” theme; a mix of magic and technology. The game has been hovering in the top five top-grossing and top 15 downloads.
I’m Really Awesome At Martial Arts Competitions (我比武特牛) is a hybrid game with a hyper-casual beat-‘em-up style core and Archero style meta that has made it to the top-grossing ranks. The game currently ranks in the top-grossing 70-80 and the top 15 in downloads.

The post Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review July 2023 appeared first on GameRefinery.

Lars Schmeller, Game Lead at Lotum, shares how GameRefinery has transformed their decision-making process

Anna Kauppinen — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 08:50:48 +0000

The post Lars Schmeller, Game Lead at Lotum, shares how GameRefinery has transformed their decision-making process appeared first on GameRefinery.

How to Build Better Mechanics for Rewarded In-Game Ads

Anna Kauppinen — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 06:32:31 +0000

A common way to monetize freemium mobile games is through in-app advertising, where ad placements are sold to generate profit from the entire player base. Freemium games reach wider audiences, but the risk of churn is always looming.

Statista’s Market Insights show that 48% of the revenue in casual games in 2022 came from in-game ads, with the share of IAA revenue increasing each year. This shows that careful planning and choosing the right ad formats are effective ways to monetize non-paying players.

Non-paying players generate more costs for the developers, and growing the user base requires constant investment to attract new users through UA practices. This is why it’s crucial to plan the monetization model tailored to the game’s genre, which is where rewarded in-game ads can help!

The most popular format in the US mobile game market is the rewarded video ads, with 74% of mobile players preferring the format over forced ads and banners. Opt-in incentivized ads have higher player engagement and completion rates. All parties benefit from providing rewards, earning revenue, and achieving higher click-through rates.

In this blog post, we will explore how game developers are incorporating unique in-game ad features into the game design or, in some cases, have made ads an integral part of the game to enhance the user experience and drive revenue.

Progressive gachas

In Legend of Slime, everything is interconnected, including the ads. The game has several power progression vectors. Almost everything is upgradeable, from characters to gear, with the upgrading materials found in the side modes. Each side mode has specific upgrading materials, level progression, and replenishing Dungeon Keys per day. With this in mind, developers have taken a step ahead in monetizing the F2P player base with progressive gachas.

The progressive summon gachas offer three types of items that are a vital part of the power progression vectors.

The progression mechanic is based on watching ads, with each ad increasing the number of rewards for the next pull. The gachas are upgradeable by watching ads, and players can improve the prize pool drop rates this way.

Purposeful game mechanisms built around ads are a genius way to increase CTR rates and create a positive user experience that adds to retention.

Permanent and temporary boosts

As a midcore idle RPG, Legend of Slime utilizes the standard temporary buff feature with rewarded video ads. By watching ads, the boost is triggered for a fixed time. However, the developers give a new spin to this feature; the ‘Blessings boosts’ have a progressive element that’s upgraded by doing nothing but watching ads to increase their effectiveness.

Blessings boost

A permanent ‘Best Subscriber’ boost is activated when a certain number of ads have been watched as the game tracks the view count, increasing essential player stats in the game and making it the ultimate reward for players who watch ads.

Legend of Slime uses a hybrid monetization model, and the IAA solely utilizes the rewarded video ad placements. The game primarily relies on a delayed feedback loop to create a greater impact.

Legend of Slime has impressively included the ads as a part of the core game’s power progression vectors. Watching ads feels meaningful as players get increasingly better rewards with little progression iterations that aid the core gameplay. The game has also been steadily adding new power progression vectors (gear, upgrade types) and other features this year, with increased ad opportunities leading to higher revenue.

Legend of Slime’s revenue and download performance between August 2022 and July 2023 in the US iOS market (source: GameRefinery SaaS platform).

The hybrid casual idler game Build Car Manager Tycoon has also developed an innovative feature to incorporate ads using a hybrid monetization model. The game has idle yield rewards that generate over time and is the main resource used to progress in the game.

The Offline Income Ad Rewards is a boost upgraded with a special currency. This will raise the amount of the offline idle yield rewards by upwards of 20%. The other type of permanent upgradeable boost is called the Double Level Up Reward. This activates when players level up in the game and receive an incentivized ad prompt to double the level-up rewards. As the game requires growing amounts of generated resources to upgrade permanent buildings, the double reward boost becomes handy.

The Offline Income Ad Rewards boost (left) and the Double Level Up Reward boost (right).

Occasional rewards in the game levels

A simple but interesting way to implement an ad feature is to place occasional rewards as prompts appearing in the game’s user interface or game levels. This ad implementation method is usually found in exploration games with tycoon core mechanics.

Family Island and Klondike Adventures use randomly appearing incentivized ad prompts.

In Family Island and Klondike Adventures, these reward prompts are spread across the exploration map, which can only be claimed by watching an ad. Tapping the prompt triggers it; the rewards can be anything from stamina to premium currency.

Dragonscapes Adventure’s floating reward prompt.

Similarly, Dragonscapes Adventure utilizes this sort of ad mechanic, too, by having floating gift packages instead of static placements. The design behind the ad feature is well thought out, as it fits the tycoon exploration genre, and players can randomly find the reward prompts during the gameplay. Keeping the games’ genre and target audience in mind helps to strategize the rewarded ad placements for maximum impact.

Ad-related tasks and Other Special Mechanics

Dragonscapes Adventure and Dragon City Mobile use a task system with reward milestones unlocked exclusively by watching video ads. Each watched ad earns a small prize, such as stamina or food. Unlocking all milestones rewards players with minor valuable items regarding the games’ economies.

The ad-related task system is a simple and great showcase for utilizing the delayed feedback loop, which requires engaging with the ads to receive a milestone reward. The rewards offered in the mobile game should contribute to the game’s progress and have greater value.

Dragonscapes Adventure’s ad task event.

Dragon City Mobile’s ad task event.

Why should I consider incorporating rewarded ad features into my mobile game?

A carefully crafted ad strategy is vital for UA and revenue, especially for freemium games. Researching the game audience also helps in this case as well; which player archetypes users likely identify with, what they need to keep them coming back to the game, and how ads could cater to their needs. When it comes to incentivized rewards, it’s important to consider both delayed and instant feedback loops to avoid cannibalizing in-app purchases.

Rewarded ads are favored because they lessen the negative impact of ads that are thought to disrupt the gameplay experience. Designing a rewarded ad feature that players will ultimately benefit from in both long and short-term progression drives user engagement and motivates players to spend more time watching ads.

By providing a sense of gratification, rewarded ads improve the flow of the game by giving an option for all players, not just non-paying players, to overcome obstacles in the game. Lastly, ad features do not need to be complex; it all comes down to when and what is being offered.

Find out how developers use incentivized ad placements from hundreds of implementation examples in our service! Be sure also to check out some of our other articles to learn more about in-game ads:

The post How to Build Better Mechanics for Rewarded In-Game Ads appeared first on GameRefinery.

Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review June 2023

Scott Reyburn — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 00:10:13 +0000

June marked a significant month for the mobile market, with a trio of real-life events incorporated into LiveOps strategies for some of the biggest mobile games. Fortnite invited players to celebrate the world’s biggest tennis tournament with the Race to Wimbledon, rainbow trails brightened up the world of League of Legends: Wild Rift as part of Pride Month, and wedding dresses graced Japan’s biggest titles to mark Bride Season.

The halfway point of the year was a major milestone for several other popular games too, including Diablo Immortal, which celebrated its first anniversary by collaborating with Diablo 4. Harry Potter: Magic Awakened finally made its way over to the US and Japan after a strong reception in China, with initial figures suggesting a strong launch. It remains to be seen how the game will fare long-term, especially given that the game has been on a slow decline in China following its solid opening period.

Fans of IP-based games got plenty of treats, too. Marvel Snap added a new game mode for the first time since its launch last October, while Dragon Ball Legends celebrated iconic characters old and new with a five-year anniversary event which caused daily revenue to spike by almost 500% on iOS.

You can find more information about these games and updates, as well as many others from across the US, China, and Japanese markets, in our June Mobile Game Market review.

US Market Overview

Almost eight months after its full release, Marvel Snap added its first new game mode. Conquest lets players face off in a ruthless single-elimination tournament where they climb tiers by beating their opponents one at a time. If you lose to even one opponent, your run ends. Players who complete their conquest will earn medals, which can be spent in a new in-game store featuring various resources and rewards. Players can claim an exclusive card after they’ve bought nine items.

Conquest mode is split into four increasingly difficult tiers: Proving Grounds, Silver Conquest, Gold Conquest, and Infinity Conquest. The higher tiers provide better rewards but demand players build a longer win streak. Only the Proving Grounds are free to enter; the others require a specific Entrance Ticket or Gold for admission. Entrance Tickets can be acquired by winning the Proving Grounds Conquest or from the Medal Shop.

The highest-tier conquest, Infinity Conquest, is only available during the final week of the four-week conquest season. Players who win the Infinity Conquest get an Infinity-framed copy of the avatar they used when they won.

Marvel Snap’s Conquest Mode and Medal Shop.

Candy Crush Soda Saga introduced tiers to its latest battle pass iteration, highlighting the growing focus from studios on the diversification of battle passes as a monetization mechanic. The Rewards Pass gives players three options to personalize their experience: the Big Pass, Medium Pass and Small Pass.

Players with limited time can choose a smaller pass that won’t take as long to progress through, while more dedicated players can opt for a larger pass that is more demanding but provides better rewards. These players can take this even further by purchasing an additional reward track for the pass, earning premium currency and boosters.

Royal Match put a new spin on the match3 genre with its Hidden Temple event, which saw players using pickaxes to dig out gems from grids. After finding all the gems in a grid, players are rewarded with a gift package (containing boosters, collections cards and coins), and are invited to take on a larger, tougher grid. Players can obtain pickaxes by completing levels or grabbing them through an IAP bundle.

Royal Match’s Hidden Temple event

Pride Month takes place in June, and there are plenty of examples of mobile games celebrating Pride with special events. One of the highlights is League of Legends: Wild Rift, whose free Pride event was split into two simple halves.

Players first had to complete a single match to win some Pride-themed decorative items, including rainbow footsteps. The second part saw players completing ten more games to win Pride emotes; all they had to do was wear their Pride decorative items as they took part, encouraging players to show their support for Pride by simply playing the game.

June also marked the start of the Wimbledon tennis tournament in the UK. Similar to how mobile games embraced the World Cup last year, several mobile games got into the sporting spirit by hosting events inspired by Wimbledon. These included Fortnite’s Race to Wimbledon, which sees players racing through London to reach Wimbledon, and a “Wimbleworld experience” in Roblox which has been visited more than 12 million times.

Tennis Clash has also launched a new season to coincide with the event, featuring a unique match kit players can use on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

League of Legends: Wild Rift’s free Pride-themed cosmetic items

Last but not least, Diablo Immortal celebrated the hugely successful launch of Diablo 4 on PC and consoles, as well as its one-year anniversary, with a special crossover event consisting of a series of events.

The Merciless Monstrosity event had players teaming up against a world boss from Diablo 4, while the Dread Pilgrimage event consisted of several tasks, revealing an upcoming new class. The monetized content included exclusive Lilith-themed cosmetics and items through the Battle Pass, limited-time special gacha, and limited-time offers – including a subscription deal. The first anniversary celebrations of Diablo Immortal also started with events such as Justinian’s Favor. Combined, these events caused daily revenue and downloads in the mobile game to spike by over 500% on iOS (US).

Diablo Immortal saw a massive boost in revenue and downloads by building on the launch hype for Diablo 4 [Source: GameRefinery platform]

Interesting top-200 grossing entrants on the market

Wizarding fans in the US (and Japan) finally got their hands on Harry Potter: Magic Awakened at the end of June, which has been thriving in China for quite some time. The title has ranked high in the download charts (top three in the US) and is steadily rising to become of the highest-grossing titles on the market. The IP-based game combines MMO and RPG elements with a card-based Tactical Battler core gameplay.
Chrome Valley Customs, a unique car-themed match3 decorating game from Space Ape, launched onto the market last month and has been slowly scaling in revenue, hovering around at the time of writing around 130 in the top grossing charts. It is currently one of the top 20 most downloaded games in the US.
While not a new title on the market, Monopoly GO has cemented its pole position, consistently ranking as the most downloaded mobile game since launching three months ago.

China Market Overview

The panda-themed match3 puzzle game, Anipop(开心消消乐), added a new event, Medal of Honour Book, that saw players completing select tasks (such as completing levels a specific number of times, or with a particular grade) to acquire album stars. Players highly lauded these stars as they determined the likelihood of a player being selected to win real-life prizes, including an educational science experience at the Panda National Park.

During the event, players could also obtain a special currency known as “material items” used in an exclusive event shop to redeem in-game decorative items and other real-life prizes – including soft toys and clothing.

Players who earn enough stars will have a chance to meet a real-life panda

Interesting top 200 grossing entrants on the market

A new realistic driving game from NetEase, 巅峰极速 (Racing Master), is currently ranking fourth in revenue and downloads at the time of publication.
The third-person shooter game T3 Arena (火力苏打) was published in China last month. It holds a top grossing 142 position, although it initially hit the top 50.

Japan Market Overview

Dragon Ball Legends celebrated its fifth anniversary by releasing a ton of new content, alongside the rerelease of older (but popular) content, to keep players engaged. For example, the update featured a new tag-team character, Goku and Final Form Frieza, acquired through gacha. It also featured four additional anniversary-themed gacha, which brought back some of the most popular and powerful characters released over the past five years.

Unlocking these gacha requires gacha tickets acquired through the main playable story event, A Miraculous Alliance: An Unbelievable Final Bout. The mode, featuring Goku and Final Form Frieza, sees players progressing through levels defeating various enemies to earn exclusive equipment items and anniversary currency, 5th Anniversary Medals. These medals can be used in an event shop that sells gacha tickets and other rewards.

Dragon Ball Legends’ fifth-anniversary event used content, both old and new, to engage users

With June marking the start of Japan’s Bride season, some of the highest-grossing mobile games launched events to celebrate. Uma Musume: Pretty Derby added a new story event that saw players helping a fashion designer in a slump to find her inspiration to create wedding dress-racing outfits for the Beauty Dream Cup. The event also introduced wedding dress-clad characters obtained from limited-time gachas.

Similarly, That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime launched a wedding-themed story event, which included two characters in wedding attire that could be collected by completing Panel Missions and collection milestones. The game also added two gachas featuring three characters in wedding dresses, with two of the characters gaining extra benefits when used as part of a team in the story event.

Puzzle & Dragons added a limited-time gacha highlighting characters dressed in wedding attire. It also introduced special bride-themed dungeons for players to explore and several IAP bundles with bridal gacha freebies.

June Bride Season in That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime

Interesting top 200 grossing entrants on the market

A new TBRPG title from the popular Square Enix series, DragonQuest Champions, has stayed within the top 50 since its launch on 12 June.
Based on a popular anime series, Laid-Back Camp All-in-one!! is a casual 3D anime-style game which focuses on crafting and decorating a campsite, and interaction between chibi characters from the anime. It got off to a strong start after its launch on 15 June but has steadily declined.
A new survival shooter from Level Infinite, Undawn, launched globally with different ID’s on 13 June. It has not been as successful elsewhere, but has since launch mostly stayed in the top 100 grossing in the JP market.

The post Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review June 2023 appeared first on GameRefinery.

2023 Midcore Gaming Apps Report

Anna Kauppinen — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 08:33:19 +0000

The post 2023 Midcore Gaming Apps Report appeared first on GameRefinery.

Best Practice and Strategies for Targeted IAP Offers in Mobile Games

Anna Kauppinen — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 05:40:59 +0000

User acquisition has become increasingly challenging for mobile marketers ever since Apple introduced its App Tracking Transpency (ATT) policy in April 2021. Companies have since been forced to seek permission from app users before tracking their activity across other apps and websites for advertising purposes, meaning they now lack much of the valuable data previously used to build highly-effective UA campaigns.

There are many steps marketers can take to mitigate these issues, such as identifying the best time to request permission from users for ATT, although user acquisition will remain a difficult prospect in the coming months. With that in mind, mobile marketers should focus on identifying better ways to push monetization opportunities to their existing audiences.

One way to do that is by designing an effective strategy for in-app purchase (IAP) offers. As we’ve written in some of our earlier blog posts, these offers are an integral part of F2P monetization, and there are several different approaches on the market. Some aim for well-rounded offers that appeal to a broad audience, while others zero in on players in specific situations to maximize the appeal and increase the likelihood of a successful conversion.

However, the most effective targeted IAP offers work well across many genres. Below, we’ll go through four basic strategies for targeted IAP offers that do just that, with specific trigger timings and unique appeal, while looking at how these have been implemented in some of the top games on the market.

Progression and milestone rewards

When players have achieved something great in the game, such as reaching a significant milestone or completing a tricky level, providing them with an opportunity to invest in the game is an excellent way to keep the momentum going. That’s why many of the top mobile games recognize the achievements of their players by rewarding them with exclusive offers.

Blizzard’s dungeon-crawling MMORPG, Diablo Immortal, does this to great effect. After completing different dungeons or unlocking high-difficulty versions of dungeons, players are presented with a specific one-time bundle offer of valuable materials with no time limit. Earlier achievements in the game are rewarded with bundle offers of better value than later ones, pushing players to become invested sooner.

An example of an exclusive reward offer bundle in Diablo Immortal

The match3 puzzle game, Pet Rescue Saga, also has a good example of a reward-based IAP offer. Similarly to most match3 games, Pet Rescue Saga ramps up the difficulty level at regular intervals as players progress through the campaign. Users who clear one of these challenging levels receive a ‘missing toy’ for an in-game toy box. If they can collect enough toys, they can fill the box, triggering a low price point one-time bundle offer of boosters and gold.

Reward-based IAP offer in Pet Rescue Saga

Another way to encourage users to take up a reward-based IAP offer is to make it a limited-time deal to create a sense of urgency and exclusivity. Better yet, by having the bundle’s content directly relate to the player’s achievement, marketers can help users with their current goals.

The match3 puzzler Best Fiends demonstrates this well. When players unlock a new character, a limited-time ‘Welcome to the Family’ offer is triggered, containing valuable resources for upgrading said character topped off with 10 hours of VIP perks.

Likewise, Rise of Kingdoms’ 4x successor, Call of Dragons, rewards players with a tempting limited-time offer of Artifact upgrading resources right after managing to collect a total of six epic rarity Artifacts.

Enhancing crafting mechanics with IAP offers

Crafting mechanics are commonplace across the entire video game market, whether those mechanics involve creating precious resource items or forging powerful new weapons and armor. Players often have to spend hours ensuring they have all the necessary items to craft a recipe or upgrade an object, which can become tedious.

Offering them the chance to boost their crafting gains through IAPs can effectively increase revenue, as users feel they ‘earned’ their rewards rather than purchased them. For example, when a player merges objects and manages to create higher-level objects in MergeDragons!, a purchasable Dimensional Jar will sometimes appear carrying a duplicate of the high-tier or otherwise rare merge result object.

The same logic can also be applied to other in-app purchases. When players make their first IAP transaction in Coin Master, they are offered an Adventure Pack containing many essential resources for a special price, encouraging them to spend that little bit extra for even more rewards.

IAP offers can multiply players’ gains when purchasing or crafting resources and other items.

Using IAP offers to help players complete tasks

As we discussed above, players often feel more inclined to spend on IAP when it’s towards a goal they’ve already made substantial progress towards on their own – it feels less like cheating or taking a shortcut. That’s why offering players exclusive deals can be effective when they’re close to reaching special milestones or achievements.

For example, in MergeDragons! and EverMerge, players can merge five (or six) items to get two ‘next-tier’ rewards – this means spending significant time hunting for five of a specific object. When players are close to a complete set, the games occasionally parachute in an IAP offer with the missing piece(s), making for an incredibly tempting deal.

EverMerge also features ‘Creature Completion’ offers that pop up when players are close to collecting an entire ‘creature chain’ – which unlocks a special area. The one-time offer contains premium currency and the missing creatures you need to complete the chain. The game also notices when players run out of energy, which replenishes over time, during task progression; this offer gives a small amount of extra play energy so users can complete the grind.

EverMerge players are encouraged to spend on IAP offers to keep playing, rather than waiting for energy to replenish.

The match3 puzzle game, Project Makeover, also features these offers as part of its Timed Makeover Challenge. To progress in these challenges, which last one to two weeks at a time, players must collect event tokens by completing main levels. Those struggling to finish the makeover are targeted with an extension offer, which increases the length of the event so they can obtain the completion rewards. Players who purchase the offer also boost their Event Token earnings when they clear levels the first time.

Time extension offer in Project Makeover

Providing a second chance through IAP offers

Regardless of the game or genre, failing to complete a level or losing all their lives is designed to be frustrating. It’s also why being offered a second chance for a low price when things aren’t going to plan can be so appealing, especially if it means saving hard-earned experience points or a lengthy win streak.

This is commonly encountered in Match3 games, which offer a soft currency payment users can make to continue playing after running out of moves in a level. Royal Match takes this further by offering a cheap bundle of premium currency (needed to continue) alongside a booster on top of the extra moves when players are about to fail. They’re given just 60 seconds to decide, leaving little room to hesitate. Lily’s Garden also utilizes a similar (albeit less urgency-inducing) tactic with the Moonlight Offer, a bundle paired with extra moves that occasionally appears.

Royal Match’s fail-triggered IAP offers combine a low-price point with limited-time exclusivity.

These types of offers aren’t exclusive to just match3 games. Players who have missed a limited-time tournament in Golf Clash are offered a low-cost ‘5x value’ bundle that makes up for some of the rewards that would have been available had they played the event, allowing them to catch up with their friends quickly.

Golf Clash’s IAP offer provides extra monetization opportunities even after a live event has ended.

Bonus offers: randomly-generated IAP bundles

While they’re unlikely to be as effective as targeted bundles, as long as they’re not highly intrusive, there is no harm in throwing the odd, unexpected offer at players just to keep them interested. This might be in the form of a surprising offer after first logging into the game, which provides general resources to ensure they won’t run out during their play session, or a special deal to wake up a player who has been idling for an extended period.

Here are a few examples of how these randomly-generated offers work in some of the highest-grossing mobile games:

When logging in to Wordscapes, the game occasionaly makes a simple 24-hour offer. The Double Coin Sale offers a low price point and “2x VALUE!” for coins used to purchase in-game hints.
Candy Crush Saga occasionally starts random Levels Rush mini-events, where players are promised 25 premium currency for completing 25 levels by the following day. The offer is not monetized, but the player is more engaged, committed to clearing the levels, and using boosters when needed.
EverMerge’s one-time offer Invigorating Pack sometimes appears upon login, offering a good amount of energy to keep the session length restrictions at bay.

Examples of random offers in Wordscapes, Candy Crush Saga and Evermerge

Conclusion

Targeted in-app purchase (IAP) offers in mobile games present a valuable opportunity for monetization and player engagement. Despite the challenges posed by user acquisition in the era of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy, mobile marketers can shift their focus to implementing effective IAP strategies. By understanding player motivations and employing various tactics, developers can maximize the appeal and conversion rates of targeted IAP offers.

The following strategies can be employed to create compelling and successful targeted IAP offers:

Progression and milestone rewards: Recognize player achievements by offering exclusive deals when they reach significant milestones or complete challenging levels. This keeps the momentum going and encourages further investment in the game.
Enhancing crafting mechanics with IAP offers: Provide players with the opportunity to boost their crafting progress through purchases, offering a sense of earned rewards and enhancing their gameplay experience.
Helping players complete tasks: Offer exclusive deals to players who are close to reaching special milestones or achievements, providing additional support and tempting them with valuable rewards.
Providing a second chance through IAP offers: When players fail a level or run out of lives, offer affordable bundles or extra moves to give them a second chance and prevent frustration.
Randomly-generated bonus offers: Surprise players with unexpected offers to maintain their interest and engagement, such as providing additional resources or limited-time events.

By implementing these strategies and tailoring IAP offers to individual player segments, developers can create targeted offers that resonate with their audience, increase player engagement, and drive revenue.

For more inspiration on integrating IAP offers into your game’s LiveOps strategy, make sure to check out our recently launched Live Events Tracker tool on the GameRefinery platform!

If you enjoyed reading this post, here are a few more you should definitely check out:

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[Event Spotlight] How Mobile Game Developers Are Driving Player Engagement With Race Events

Anna Kauppinen — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 09:14:06 +0000

The rise of hybridization in mobile games has resulted in game developers experimenting with new gameplay mechanics and features from other genres to drive engagement, something that’s often done via limited-time events. This trend is now spinning out into race events – where players compete to see who can reach a designated objective first – resulting in a variety of new race event types emerging.

These race events are mostly encountered in casual titles, although they work well for any games that function on level-based progression mechanics. Match3 puzzle games are probably the most visible genre to utilize race events, with 43% of the match3 titles in the US top grossing 200, including them in their event rotations. Still, race events are a flexible event type that can easily be adapted to work for other genres as well by adjusting the goal objective to suit the game.

In this blog post, we’ll take a deep dive into the LiveOps calendars of the top-performing casual games to explore some of the most common types of race events. We’ll also highlight some of the unique features developers have implemented to make their events stand out from the competition.

The most common race events in casual games

The classic race event archetype often seen in casual titles takes the shape of a simple rewarded level-based race between a group of players. These groups are usually matched up so that everyone is on the same starting level in their core gameplay progression. Players will compete to see who can reach a designated level or clear a set amount of levels first, with the top three players reaching the goal first usually being crowned winners and rewarded for their efforts.

The number of levels to beat can range from ten to 20 levels per competition. One of the characteristics of these events is that, aside from the natural sense of urgency that arises from the competitive nature of a race, no further time limits are usually enforced. This means that in most cases, one instance can last for as long as it takes for someone to win, and once the winners are clear, the race ends. Race events are most commonly active for a few days at a time, during which several races can be initiated.

Generally, race events are not monetized. However, they can indirectly boost revenue as participating players may spend more on the game while the event is active to get an edge against the competition. For example, looking at match3 games, the rush to beat other players can serve as a powerful incentive to use in-game currencies to purchase more moves, lives, or boosters.

Knight’s Race in Homescapes matches players into a group where everyone is on the same level in their main progression and sets them to race to a designated level.

While Township is, in essence, a tycoon/crafting game, it utilizes match3 and blast match2 mechanics in its minigame events, allowing for race events inside the puzzle gameplay setting.

Phased race events

Some games have taken this basic race event template a step further by implementing a ‘phase’ system, meaning that the race event comprises of more than one race. Normally, this will add around three additional phases of racing for those who perform best in the first race. In the subsequent phases, the number of levels to beat (as well as any other objective requirements) will increase along with the racing rewards.

The Flower Climb race event in Lily’s Garden is a great example of the classic phase system in race events. In The Flower Climb, players race to complete a designated amount of the core blast match3 levels before anyone else in their group. In each phase, the top three to finish the race are rewarded and can move on to the next phase, which offers even better rewards but also requires the players to clear a larger amount of levels to win.

How mobile games are experimenting with new types of race events

Level racing might be the most common way to implement race events in level-based casual games, but it’s certainly not the only way. The core idea of seeing who can reach a set goal first opens up a number of possibilities for what that goal might be, depending on the game.

For example, some events have their own unique point systems implemented just for the event, with players racing to gather a set amount of points in order to win. Or, like in match3 games, players can be tasked with activating designated booster items in gameplay that can twist up the gameplay to freshen up the racing experience.

The Bathyscaphe Race in Fishdom tasks players with activating firecracker boosters in Match3 gameplay; the first player to activate 100 firecrackers wins the race.

The Airship Race in Gardenscapes has its own points system for the race event in the form of event medals: players must gather a set amount by beating match3 levels in order to win the race. The Airship Race also utilizes the phase system with increasingly better rewards.

By any means, race events are not restricted to the Match3 space; there are many great examples of casual games from other fields implementing this type of event to add some extra flair to their LiveOps strategies. However, when it comes to games that don’t have straightforward level-based progression mechanics, developers have had to find creative workarounds that switch up the goal of the race to make things work. You can find examples of these below:

Gossip Harbor®: Merge & Story’s Ziva’s Gold Rush event

Ziva’s Goldrush in Gossip Harbor®: Merge & Story shows how race events can be implemented in a merge-2 setting by simply adjusting the goal type for the event. Here, the goal has been set as a specified amount of gold. Each player in the five-player race can obtain gold by normally merging items and completing orders in their own merge-2 progression. The top three players in each race get rewarded, and the best players get moved up to the next race with bigger stakes.

Phase 10: World Tour’s Kayak Event

The casual card game Phase 10: World Tour implemented its own racing event in December 2022. In the event, players could engage in a five-person kayak race with the goal of playing a set amount of special Black Power-Up cards in normal Journey Mode matches. As the Power-Up cards are very rarely pulled from the deck, this event had a pay-to-win angle to it where purchasing Power-Ups was heavily incentivized. The Kayak race also had its own division phase system, where the top three players of each race moved up to a higher division.

World of Wonders: Crossword’s Hot-Air Balloon Race

Words of Wonders: Crossword found a way to add excitement to word puzzles with their own version of a race event, the Hot-Air Balloon Race. The Hot-Air Balloon Race is essentially a point-gathering competition, where the player who obtains the target amount of points the fastest wins the race. During the event, players could obtain a random amount of event points by playing main progression levels in the core gameplay. The top three players to reach the goal are rewarded in this event.

How to add a unique twist to your own racing events

Race events with phases and varying goal types are definitely a trusted, go-to event type in the casual space, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for further innovation and improvement. Some developers have added extra mechanics to their race events to keep things fresh and rewarding.

Combine level racing with win-streak mechanics

An especially interesting example is the combination of level racing and win-streak mechanics, which we have spotted in a few match3 games so far. A great example of this event type is Royal Match’s Space Mission event, which takes the classic level race format and adds a win streak twist and a phase system to it. This means that in order to reach the goal and win the race, not only do the participating players need to clear the set amount of levels before others, they need to do it while carrying on a winning streak.

Royal Match introduced the Space Mission race event in July 2022.

In the case of Space Mission, the number of levels that players need to clear in a streak goes up in every phase of the race, along with the rewards. For an added sense of competition, the group of players in each phase gets smaller, which means that the first phase has three levels to clear for a group of five players, the second phase has five levels to clear for four players, and the third phase requires the winner to clear seven levels in a group of three players.

Notably, adding win streak mechanics to a race event offers can offer more excitement to players while also making the races more challenging. The extra pressure on players could encourage them to use boosters and currencies to beat the levels, incentivizing monetization. Then again, win streak mechanics do add a whole other level of excitement and sense of danger to the race.

This combination has been gaining traction lately, with similar events very recently popping up in Fishdom (Sailing Regatta), Triple Match 3D (Island Race), and BTS Island: In the SEOM (Kore Race) as well. With the added difficulty and a clearer pay-to-win angle, it will be interesting to see how popular this event type gets.

With the GameRefinery Live Events Tracker, it’s easy to spot new event types as they first appear. Fishdom’s Sailing Regatta was added at the beginning of February 2023.

Integrating in-game cosmetic items into race events

Another fun twist we’ve seen implemented in race events is the use of in-game cosmetic items and pets to highlight the players’ personalities during the race. Race events are a social experience, after all, so it makes sense to let players show off their customized look if the game supports cosmetic implementation. Simple customization could also be done just by letting players choose a signifier for themselves for the race, such as a certain color car or a boat, for instance.

A good example of this type of twist in race events is Cooking Diary’s Pet Race. In Cooking Diary, players can customize their own avatars with a variety of clothes, accessories, and hairstyles, as well as their in-game pets. That look can then be shown off during the Pet Race events, where each player’s pet will represent them in the traditional level race.

Not only is this level of support for in-game cosmetic items a great way for players to express themselves more during events by showing off their favorite items, but it’s a great way of creating more monetization channels for your game, too.

In Cooking Diary, players can customize the look of their own player avatar and their pets. Pets will take the stage in the Pet Race in whatever getup they’re wearing at the time.

Separate reward systems for race events

Another common characteristic of race events is that only the top players are rewarded, and players only have one shot to get any kind of reward for their participation. There’s a risk of frustrating players, especially in games that have upwards of ten levels to beat, who might feel they’ve wasted their time if they don’t end up at the top of the leaderboard.

Matchington Mansion has resolved this issue by adding a separate reward system to their race event, the Matchington Derby. In essence, Matchington Derby is a three-phase race event that also implements a one-hour timer for the racing instance. The top three players are still rewarded with the biggest prize pots as usual, but the twist here lies in that every player who manages to cross the finish line before the timer runs out is rewarded with separate points that cumulate over each participated race.

The top three players naturally get more points, but once the event ends, separate rewards are given out based on how many points players were able to gather, ensuring everyone feels rewarded for their participation which encourages higher player retention as a result.

Matchington Mansion rewards every player that participates in the Matchington Derby race event.

Considering implementing race events into your own mobile game?

Race events are most commonly used in match3 games but are easily adapted to work for other casual games by changing the goal objective. If you’re interested in implementing race events into your LiveOps calendar, here are some of the benefits of doing so:

Add structure to your LiveOps calendar: Race events typically occur every week, which can help you create a more streamlined LiveOps calendar while also letting your players know when to return for updates.
Increased session length: The competitive nature of race events means they commit to races
Increased monetization: Some race events can utilize in-game purchases so players can customize the appearance of their racing characters with cosmetic items or give themselves a boost with power-ups
Increased downloads: Adding a racing mode into your game is an easy way of introducing new gameplay mechanics that can attract new players

GameRefinery’s Live Events Tracker enables developers to stay on top of the latest trends and best practices in live events with daily analysis of event categories in the top-performing casual games (as well as midcore games). Race events are just one of over 30 event categories tracked in the Live Events Tracker tool.

The Live Events Tracker makes it easy to pinpoint new events as soon as they appear, check which days are the most popular to hold live events and estimate the revenue impact of events with reference to how similar events have been implemented in other games.

So, if you’re looking for advice on how to incorporate race events into your own LiveOps strategy, or you’re simply looking for inspiration on which live events have the most demonstrable impact on downloads and revenue across the top-performing casual games, contact us for a demo of our Live Events Tracker tool.

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Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review May 2023

Anna Kauppinen — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 07:36:57 +0000

We’re almost halfway through 2023, and the mobile market continues to power along with several major titles introducing exciting new features to drive player engagement and boost revenue. One of the most impressive updates from May is League of Legends: Wild Rift, which transformed its monetization by introducing permanent purchasable gacha.

It wasn’t the only title to rethink its monetization either, with Brawl Stars taking a different approach. After removing its gacha earlier this year, Supercell’s title overhauled its in-game store so players could purchase almost any skin, pin, spray, or avatar from one unified shop. Meanwhile, GODDESS OF VICTORY: NIKKE celebrated its six-month anniversary with the narrative-driven ‘OverZone’ event, which allowed players to delve deeper into the story behind the apocalypse.

May was also an interesting month for new releases, with two massive titles struggling to hit the ground running. Niantic’s latest follow-up to its prolific Pokémon Go, Peridot, dropped out of the highest-grossing titles almost as quickly as it arrived. While the newest game from the creators of Galaxy of Heroes, Lord of the Rings: Heroes of the Middle-Earth, has struggled to find users despite being based on a colossal fantasy IP.

You can find more information about these games and updates, as well as many others from across the US, China, and Japanese markets, in the bulletin below.

US Market Overview

League of Legends: Wild Rift significantly changed its cosmetic item monetization model by introducing permanent purchasable gachas for the first time. The gacha, known as Hextech Chests, uses a unique skin shard crafting system. You can read more about it in our update breakdown.

The update, which also launched a new Wild Pass season, has caused the third-highest revenue spike in the game’s history. Not that this wasn’t expected; Hextech Chests had already demonstrated their financial might after being introduced to Wild Rift’s China version last year, where they’ve been performing exceptionally well.

Given some of the recent challenges facing gacha, some mobile games have been attempting to step away from these mechanics altogether, so it was interesting to see such a prominent title doubling down on gacha monetization now. With that in mind, we’ll be closely monitoring the global version’s baseline revenue performance to see how it develops under this new model.

League of Legends: Wild Rift’s two highest revenue spikes since release, the first being the monetized Lunar New Year event and the second being the introduction of Hextech Chests.

Love & Pies added a new store, the Heart Shop, where players can purchase items by spending Hearts. This new currency is collected by playing any in-game event, enabling the new store to engage players more than any single event could collectively. Heart Shop has three categories of items available for purchase: daily changing items, weekly changing items, and permanent items (for example, unique decorative buildings for the map area).

State of Survival added a new T-Rex Behemoth to the game to join the existing Mk1 Behemoth (Gorilla). Behemoths are characters similar to the heroes who can be assigned to join troop marches to assist in 4X battles.

Many events were held to celebrate the addition, including one that introduced an innovative Survivor!.io-type game mode, Behemoth Trials. In this mode, players could choose one of the two behemoths to take into a timed survival battle to fight hordes of infected. As the Behemoths leveled up, players developed a unique skill set by selecting from three random abilities, including attack and support skills. The mode also featured a battle pass and an upgradable boost system.

State of Survival added a new T-Rex Behemoth to the game.

Other notable updates included Merge Mansion launching its first-ever competitive event, The Great Bake Off, which features a special limited-time merge area. Clash of Clans meanwhile reworked its Builder Base, adding a secondary buildable area alongside a brand-new multi-stage attack system to replace its Versus Battle mode.

Let’s not forget Brawl Stars, which overhauled its in-game store to feature more cosmetics. Initially, the game only offered a small selection of skins that changed each day, whereas under the new catalog system, players can purchase almost any skin, pin, spray, or avatar they want from one unified shop using a new cosmetic currency, Bling.

A secondary buildable area was added to Clash of Clans Builder Base, with all defense, army, resource, and trap buildings split across the two.

Interesting top-200 grossing entrants on the market

Niantic pursued their next Pokemon Go-level hit with the launch of another AR/location-based game, Peridot, which quickly visited the top 200 at launch on 8 May but dropped out shortly after. It currently hovers between the top 200-300 grossing.
Lord of the Rings: Heroes of the Middle-Earth is a new character collector turn-based RPG from the team behind EA’s Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, with largely similar mechanics. Despite being based on an equally popular IP, the title is struggling to make the same impact as its predecessor, with low downloads and slow financial performance. It currently rests around the top 200 grossing.

Lord of the Rings: Heroes of the Middle-Earth is a new character collector turn-based RPG from the team behind EA’s Galaxy of Heroes.

Dreamdale – Fairy Adventure is yet another title to demonstrate the power of hybridization. This hybrid casual game has been scaling since mid-April. It briefly visited the top 200 last month after significantly adding to its IAP offerings with new monetization systems, such as a Battle Pass and Diablo Immortal-esque engagement gachas.

Dreamdale – Fairy Adventure by SayGames.

China Market Overview

Games from various genres have introduced new minigames and modes which feature match3 mechanics, but few have executed this as seamlessly as Tower of Fantasy (幻塔) has with its Tiles of Qinge event. This mode feels like a more natural inclusion by using the same aiming mechanics as its core gameplay loop.

In the event mode, four players go head-to-head to take on a huge match3 tile wall with their bow and try to clear it as fast as possible to collect the most points.

Tower of Fantasy’s (幻塔) Tiles of Qinge event mode.

Interesting top 200 grossing entrants on the market

Torchlight Infinite (火炬之光：无限) is an Action RPG by X.D. Network Inc. The game is currently in the top 50 grossing and 17th in the downloads list.

Japan Market Overview

GODDESS OF VICTORY: NIKKE celebrated its half-anniversary with a large-scale event, OverZone, that tells the dark story of the desperate final days before the apocalypse. It includes a new explorable area, story and battle levels, a battle pass, missions, login rewards, and an exclusive shop.

The event also included an interactive text-based adventure minigame, White Memory, that sees players reliving the memories of a fairytale-inspired NIKKE, Snow White, who has been wandering the surface. Players can make various decisions as they play to branch off the narrative and discover different endings, unlocking additional rewards for use in the main game.

GODDESS OF VICTORY: NIKKE celebrated its half-anniversary with a large-scale event, OverZone, that tells the dark story of the desperate final days before the apocalypse.

Interesting top 200 grossing entrants on the market

Black Clover Mobile (ブラッククローバーモバイル) is the latest high-quality RPG for mobile that is based on highly popular anime IP. The has been the top one in the downloads list since launch and in the top 15-30 in the top-grossing list.
Aether Gazer is a high-quality visual anime action RPG, similar to Genshin Impact and Honkai by Yostar. The game peaked at the top 21 grossing.

The post Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review May 2023 appeared first on GameRefinery.

What’s the Best Time to Request Permission From Users for ATT? (iOS)

Anna Kauppinen — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 04:51:49 +0000

When Apple introduced its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy in April 2021, it forced companies to seek permission from app users before tracking their data and activity across other apps and websites for advertising purposes.

This major privacy update has greatly impacted mobile marketers and advertisers by making it more difficult for them to access the data they rely on for user acquisition purposes. Snap, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube told the Financial Times that ATT was responsible for losses of nearly $10 billion at the time.

ATT permission is usually requested via an in-app pop-up notification where users can choose to allow or deny tracking on a per-app/game basis. While companies must get permission from users before tracking or collecting their data, there aren’t any guidelines regarding when or where this pop-up notification should appear in-app.

This got us wondering: is there an ideal time to ask users for data tracking consent? When do the top-grossing games display their ATT pop-up? And are there any additional tactics that the top-grossing games are using to encourage their players to agree to tracking?

We conducted a study to find out.

Analysis of ATT tracking pop-up data among US top-grossing 200 games

During this study, we manually inspected whether sample mobile games display ATT tracking consent pop-ups during a hypothetical “first session” (= the first 25 minutes of gameplay). We chose this time frame because it is a reasonable amount of time for a new user to spend on a game and can provide insight into whether or not the pop-up is displayed early on in the user’s experience.

However, it’s important to note that there may be games that are listed as not including any pop-ups, but do feature them beyond this sampling time frame. Therefore, while our study provides valuable insights into the prevalence of ATT tracking consent pop-ups during the first session, some games may still feature them later on in the user’s gameplay experience.

The study sample included the US top-grossing 200 list for iOS games, according to GameRefinery data that was accessed in late January, 2023. The list was analyzed and 99% of the games were inspected. The remaining 1% were not inspected because they were premium games (marked as “Na” in the charts below).

The data we gathered is valuable for game developers and publishers who aim to understand market trends and create successful games.

Furthermore, game developers can use this data to identify the features and characteristics that contribute the most to a game’s success, helping to guide the creation of new games or the improvement of existing ones. Through this analysis, we discovered when the most successful games in the US market were displaying ATT notifications.

72% of top mobile games display ATT pop-ups within the first 30 seconds of gameplay

During the study, we found that the vast majority of sampled games (88%) included ATT pop-ups within the sampling time frame of 25 minutes. This indicates a general trend of app developers complying with Apple’s new privacy policy guidelines.

However, it is worth noting that a small but significant percentage of games, around 11%, featured no pop-ups within the same time frame. This may be because the pop-up features much later in the game or they are not even attempting to get access to the identifier.

Our analysis also found that 81.4% of the 177 games with ATT pop-ups displayed them within the first 30 seconds of gameplay. The timing of the pop-ups ranged from one second to 15 minutes and 44 seconds from starting the application, suggesting that some games are waiting to build trust with users during their gameplay session before requesting permission to track their data.

Nearly 70% of the top-grossing 50 iOS games request ATT permission during the first 15 seconds of gameplay

ATT pop-up timing amongst the top-grossing 100 games (n=89) ranged from one second to 2 minutes and 22 seconds with 82% of the games displaying the pop-up within the first 30 seconds of gameplay. Almost 70% of the top 100 games displayed the pop-up window between the first six to 30 seconds of gameplay.

While we’re unable to access data showing whether users accepted or denied these requests, our analysis suggests that game developers should prioritize displaying ATT pop-ups during the first 30 seconds of gameplay to increase their chances of users giving permission for data tracking.

Among the top 50 grossing games (n=43), ATT pop-up timing ranged from one second to two minutes and 20 seconds. 84% of these games displayed the pop-up within the first 30 seconds, and 58% of top-50 games displayed the pop-up between 6 and 15 seconds, further consolidating the finding that a “golden window” for ATT pop-up timing exists somewhere during the first six and 30 seconds of gameplay.

This suggests that developers should aim to display the pop-up early, but not too early, in order to maximize user engagement and compliance with ATT requirements.

Do personalized pre-ATT prompts improve the chances of user opt-in?

Games with pre-ATT prompts commonly attempted to convince the user to allow tracking with promises of a “personalized” or “tailored” experience (image source: Cashman Casino Las Vegas Slots).

Some of the mobile games we analyzed displayed an additional pop-up before requesting ATT opt-in permission from their users, which we’ll call a pre-ATT prompt. These additional pop-ups are delivered to convince the user to allow ATT tracking, and 23% of the top-200 games we analyzed included a personalized pre-ATT prompt within the time frame of the sampling.

Top-grossing 100 games are more likely to display pre-ATT prompts

Our analysis found 26% (45/176) of sampled games with ATT pop-ups also included a personalized pre-ATT prompt. Interestingly, games that fall within the top-100 grossing chart were twice as likely to include a personalized pre-ATT prompt than games that rank 101-200. Out of the games ranked 1–100, 27 had personalized pre-ATT prompts, whereas only 18 games ranked 101-200 had personalized pre-ATT prompts.

Based on this data, our analysis suggests that personalized pre-ATT prompts may be more common in top-grossing games or games that aim to maximize revenue through targeted advertising.

Games that generate more revenue are more likely to request additional user information

In addition to the above findings, our analysis also found a small percentage of games included additional prompts for user information. Specifically, 13% of the sampled games included some kind of additional prompts, such as requests for email addresses, phone numbers, age, gender, and other personal data.

Like the findings above, the percentage of games displaying additional prompts varied depending on their ranking in the top-grossing chart. 17% of mobile games in the top-grossing 100 chart included an additional data prompt, compared to only 9% of games ranked between 101–200. This indicates that games that generate higher revenue are 89% more likely to request additional user information than games ranked between 101 and 200.

It is worth noting that this trend raises questions about the privacy and security of user data. While some users may not mind providing this information, others may feel uncomfortable sharing personal details. Game developers should be transparent about their data collection practices and ensure user data is properly protected.

Additionally, it may be beneficial for game developers to consider alternative ways to monetize their games, rather than relying solely on user data collection. This could help build trust with users and create a more positive user experience.

Displaying ATT notifications early could improve the chances of opt-in for users

After analyzing the ATT frequency and the time notifications appear amongst the top-200 grossing iOS games, our data suggests that the first 30 seconds of gameplay is the sweet spot for displaying ATT pop-ups.

It’s important to note that we weren’t able to access data showing whether customers were accepting or refusing these notifications, but the trend of higher-grossing mobile games displaying ATT notifications earlier during gameplay suggests that early requests are more successful. This deduction is based on the assumption that developers of higher-grossing mobile games are adjusting their ATT notification display time point based on their individual experience of how users are responding to their notification.

We’ve summarized the key findings from this data below:

81.4% of the games displaying some kind of ATT-related pop-up did so within the first 30 seconds of gameplay.
Among the top-grossing 50 games (n=43), 58% displayed the pop-up between the first six and 15 seconds of gameplay. However, we believe that displaying the pop-up during the first five seconds of gameplay may be unpopular among top games due to a higher likelihood of users instinctively rejecting the pop-up.
Our research also found that only 25.6% (45/176) of sampled games with ATT pop-ups included a personalized pre-ATT prompt.
Games in the top 100 grossing were 50% more likely to include a personalized pre-ATT prompt than games in top-grossing ranks 101-200.
13% of sampled games also included some kind of additional prompts for user information, including email, phone number, age, gender, etc.
Top-100 grossing games were 89% more likely to include additional prompts than games among ranks 101-200.

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