The Keys to Launch Consecutive Hits in Today’s Competitive Gaming Landscape

Launching successful games in today's complex and competitive gaming market is an increasingly challenging endeavor. The thousands of games vying for players' attention daily, the high CPIs, the rapidly changing player preferences, and the need for constant innovation, make it difficult for games to stand out and succeed.

Homa, a leading mobile game publisher with 1.8 billion downloads, has demonstrated success in this area. Thanks to its capacity to identify marketable concepts and publish them at scale, the publisher released 14 new games in 2023, an important achievement in such a complex environment. In 2024, the company has already launched six successful new games including Clean It!, Frontline Heroes, Butchers Ranch or Mini Monsters Card Collector.

A notable success story is their collaboration with Gnarly Game Studio, resulting in two consecutive successful game releases in less than a year: “Agent Hunt” and “Frontline Heroes”, which together have accumulated close to 100 million lifetime downloads*. This partnership exemplifies how effective and efficient game development, and a good collaboration between developer and publisher, can lead to remarkable success.

This article will explore how launching two consecutive games was made possible through collaboration, data insights, a strong team, and effective strategies. It provides details on the actions and strategies employed, highlighting the importance of the know-how and data-backed decisions to navigate the complexities of the gaming market.

Data-Driven Decision Making: The Backbone of Success

The journey of Homa and Gnarly Game Studio began with the development of “Agent Hunt” in 2023. This game quickly gained traction, securing a spot in the top #8 US free games in December 2023 and becoming Homa’s top revenue generator in Q4 2023. The success of Agent Hunt’s scaling was rooted in Homa’s meticulous approach to data-driven decision-making. Continuous audits and analysis enabled the team to refine game features and enhance player engagement and LTV through strategic actions.

By analyzing gameplay, the game team at Homa noticed that while players were engaged, they needed new motivations to keep returning. This led to the implementation of various new features such as:

Daily Missions

The team built and implemented a daily mission system to challenge and reward players for returning to the game daily. These missions proposed new daily goals to the players, increasing player engagement and boosting the game's LTV by 10%.

Chest room System

The Live Ops team at Homa worked on new meta-systems, experimenting with a chest room system. This feature, which involves collecting keys during gameplay to open chests for rewards, was a great win bringing a refreshing feel into monotonous gameplay and a further 10% increase in LTV.

Diorama

To further boost long-term retention and engagement, the team added a city builder meta (diorama) where players could build different cities around the world by completing levels. This addition resulted in a further 20% increase in LTV.

Dioramas provide a sense of progression and accomplishment that has proven to be highly satisfying and effective for retention.

Within two months of its launch, Homa released five distinct versions of the game. By analyzing player behavior and product metrics, they adjusted the game’s difficulty and strategically placed reward videos, significantly boosting player satisfaction. This iterative process was crucial in scaling the game and improving its long-term viability. For more details, check the full Agent Hunt’s success story here.

Leveraging Success from One Hit to Another: Frontline Heroes

Following the triumph of “Agent Hunt,” which now boasts over 76 million downloads*, the partnership between Homa and Gnarly Game Studio continued with the release of “Frontline Heroes.” This game achieved close to 15 million downloads in just 4 months**, highlighting the team's collaborative approach and strategic planning.

For the development of “Frontline Heroes,” the team at Homa was able to apply valuable insights from “Agent Hunt":

One key learning was that shorter levels perform better in maintaining player engagement. Originally, “Frontline Heroes” had 30-40% longer levels compared to “Agent Hunt,” designed to emphasize a more cinematic and slower-paced WWII theme. However, by conducting iterative tests and reducing the level length by 30%, the team noticed that faster-paced gameplay resulted in stronger player engagement in this game, leading to a 20% increase in retention on the first few levels.

The team also opted to implement the same chest room system that had already shown good results on Agent Hunt. The feature was seamlessly integrated using Homa Belly SDK. The result was a notable increase of 10% in long-term player value, demonstrating the efficiency and impact of their iterative development process.

The collaboration between Gnarly Game Studio and Homa allowed for a rapid execution of these strategies. Leveraging existing systems related to core gameplay, controls or FPS optimizations, the teams were able to experiment quickly with various progression systems, including weapons, character meta-systems, and in-app purchase shops. This approach led to a 60% reduction in production time compared to “Agent Hunt,” highlighting the benefits of their established partnership and shared expertise.

Through these efforts, Homa and Gnarly Game Studio have showcased the importance of applying data-driven insights and maintaining a flexible development approach. Their ability to iterate quickly and efficiently has not only resulted in the successful launch of two consecutive hits but also provided valuable lessons for the development of future games.

The key insights for game developers aspiring to launch multiple hits are clear: prioritize data-driven decision-making, focus on enhancing long-term player engagement, and develop a robust marketing strategy.

*Source Sensor Tower: All time; All countries/regions; All devices.

**Source Sensor Tower: April-July 2024; All countries/regions; All devices.