Andy Russell is the Director of Engineering at Kwalee, one of many main cellular recreation publishers and builders with over 1 billion downloads. Kwalee was an early and exceptionally profitable adopter of the hypercasual mannequin within the mid-2010s – however because the trade advanced, so did their methods. As we speak, they’ve a thriving portfolio of hybrid informal and informal video games with longer lifespans and simpler hybrid monetization. We mentioned why Kwalee selected Balancy to help development and improve LiveOps for his or her portfolio video games with Andy.
The problem: Constructing a sturdy LiveOps infrastructure to help hybrid shift
One of many core challenges for product groups is delivering the content material and experiences that gamers want as shortly as attainable. Some options have to be delivered in time for a celebration, others goal to enhance key metrics swiftly, and a few have to be launched earlier than a pattern fades. Timing is important for reaching efficiency objectives.
Nevertheless, the reliance on spreadsheets, hardcoded options, and overloaded developer pipelines slows down prototyping, delays time-to-market, and complicates function iterations. To beat these roadblocks, the Kwalee staff determined to make use of Balancy’s content material administration system (CMS). This resolution introduces a unified but versatile admin panel that streamlines collaboration between product and engineering groups, enabling quicker supply and smoother workflows.
Kwalee’s strategic shift to hybrid monetisation additionally demanded superior LiveOps instruments to higher section gamers and personalise their monetisation journeys. With out this focused strategy, the staff risked lacking important income alternatives. The Balancy’s LiveOps Suite grew to become a key resolution, making it straightforward to launch new recreation occasions and in-game store presents and to tailor them to particular person gamers.
The answer: Seamless integration and distinctive options for publishers
Balancy has seamlessly built-in into Kwalee’s LiveOps ecosystem, enabling the staff to ship smarter, extra personalised gameplay experiences throughout their portfolio. The mixing was a simple process of integrating a light-weight SDK into video games. The Balancy staff offered all the required tech help and coaching alongside the way in which.
Managing customized recreation settings with Balancy’s Content material Administration System (CMS)
After the combination was full, the Kwalee staff gained entry to a variety of LiveOps instruments. These embrace a content material administration system (CMS) for creating and deploying customized recreation settings, in addition to options for managing particular presents, occasions, segmentation and A/B testing.
In collaboration with Kwalee, Balancy has launched essential function for groups that actively work with LiveOps – branches. This permits groups to create separate variations (branches) of a venture to develop new options, take a look at adjustments or repair bugs with out affecting the stay recreation. As soon as a function is full and examined, the department might be merged again into the primary venture, guaranteeing the primary model stays steady whereas new growth continues. Balancy is at present the one LiveOps platform providing this important software.
Branches function in Balancy
One other highly effective function utilized by Kwalee is packages. In Balancy, any function or configuration might be saved as a bundle and reused in the identical or different tasks. This protects time for publishers and builders with a number of video games by permitting them to shortly replicate profitable options – like particular presents, store templates, battle passes or advert setups – into new video games with just some clicks. The one step left is to fill within the template with assets and values which are related to the brand new venture.
The outcomes: Personalised experiences enhance ARPDAU whereas the staff saves growth time
One standout instance is Dream Construct Solitaire, which lately transitioned its LiveOps platform to Balancy. Given the venture’s complexity, the staff leveraged Balancy’s superior segmentation and overrides to design stay occasions and presents tailor-made to every participant’s behaviour.
This strategy ensures that:
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New gamers aren’t overwhelmed by irrelevant presents or pop-ups.
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Advert-focused gamers (IAA customers) get pleasure from uninterrupted gameplay with out pointless store promotions.
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Buying gamers (IAP customers) obtain extremely curated store offers on the moments they worth most.
Listed here are the wonderful outcomes that the staff achieved over a three-month interval:
This meticulous strategy has not solely improved the sport’s core metrics but in addition elevated the participant’s general enjoyment – a mirrored image of Kwalee’s player-first philosophy. As Andy places it, “It is not nearly maximising metrics; it is about making essentially the most enjoyable video games for the world’s gamers”. That is what helps the Kwalee staff proceed creating video games loved by thousands and thousands of gamers all through greater than a decade.
