Engaging Players and Navigating Challenges in Live Service Games

Ahead of the Live Service Gaming Summit, we spoke with Aaron Ludlow, Product Director at Playstack, he discussed strategies for player engagement, the importance of analytics and team management, challenges in live service game development, and his expectations for the Live Service Gaming Summit.

How are players continuously engaged for Live Service titles between PC and Mobile games?

To keep players engaged, the approach often varies between mobile and PC gaming platforms. On mobile, pay-to-win is much more common (and widely accepted within the playerbase).

In contrast, PC ‘live service games’ typically relies on a season pass model to maintain player engagement (as PC/Console players have a disdain for pay-to-win). This model involves releasing content in seasonal updates, encouraging players to stay involved over time to access new features, challenges, and rewards. While this season pass model is also used on mobile platforms, many mobile publishers find the pay-to-model much more lucrative, whereas PC/Console players would see this as a negative and could even stop them from playing a particular game.

How does the ability to manage large teams and influence analytics contribute to the successful steering of product life cycles?

Large teams can help bring capacity and resources to leverage pop culture moments and create assets that appeal to a broad audience. By tapping into popular intellectual properties (IP), these teams can develop content that resonates with a wide range of players and continuously adapt their game to focus on cultural moments, constantly staying relevant.

A prime example of this approach is seen in Fortnite. The game has successfully forged partnerships with some of the biggest pop culture brands, including Marvel, Nike, and Dragon Ball Z. These collaborations enable Fortnite to stay relevant and engaging by continually offering fresh and exciting content that attracts and retains a diverse player base. Also, the ability to have analytics can further help personalisation of these offers to increase conversation. Some of these games have teams of data analysts who can help inform the biz dev team on which type of collaboration will be more relevant.

What are some best practices for integrating player behaviour data into the decision-making process for live service game development?

Understanding the demographics of your player base is essential. By examining age, gender, likes/dislikes etc., developers can tailor content and marketing strategies to better suit the preferences and needs of different player segments.

For instance, offer specific in-game items or promotions to players who have shown interest in similar content in the past.

What unique challenges do developers face in the live service game development process for PC versus mobile platforms?

Generally, it's a lot quicker and easier to update mobile games. Not only are approval times for build releases a lot quicker, but console game submissions come with TRCs/TCRs that can delay deployment.

It does mean when running a cross-platform game, you need to take into account the lead times on new content/builds as it's always better to sim-ship content if your game is on multiple platforms.

Cross-platform play and/or save progression, is also a must! The ability for players to pick up where they left off on any device will encourage the player to play more sessions and stay in-gaged with your game.

Last but by no-means least, never forget about mobile. Kiketa Games developed a fast follow mobile game called Stumble Guys because Fall Guys wasn’t out on mobile. They filled a massive gap with people eager to play Fall Guys on mobile devices. Since release, they have now released Stumble Guys on ALL platforms, and sold the company to Scopely (partly due to the success of the game).

What discussions are you most looking forward to at the Live Service Gaming Summit?

The GaaS space is constantly shifting, so I’m very interested in talking and listening to developers and publishers to see what new and initiative features they have over the coming months and years. It’s always interesting to hear from the creators, and discover the creative ways that they’re moulding the space. It’s going to be a great experience, bringing together some of the brightest minds in the industry, and I’m looking forward to it.