LiveOps in games

In this article I'll talk about LiveOps, what it involves and its role in game development. It's worth noting that LiveOps methods have been around for decades and are at the core of many of the most profitable (Top Grossing) games in the world.

I was inspired to write this article by Crystin Cox's post and can't reference some thoughts.

From a product point of view, the game industry has changed a lot in recent years, and it has happened before my eyes. It has gone through several phases, from the game as a product to the LiveOps approach. So, it's all in order.

At the first stage, the game was software recorded on a physical medium. Players needed special hardware, a medium with the game, and many hours dedicated solely to game. The business of games was also closely tied to retailing, distribution, publishing, and large advertising campaigns. There was little or no communication between players and developers. That time was during my childhood. I confess that the minutes I spent playing The Sims and No One Lives Forever were true happiness for me.

Over time, with the proliferation of high-speed internet, an online culture began to emerge, leading to changes in the gaming industry as well.

Gaming became an ongoing service and began to focus on player engagement and sales funnels. At this stage, social and mobile games became widespread. Developers were able to sell games directly to their players. In addition, due to the growth of social media, communication between developers and players became more widespread. Speaking of this stage, it is impossible not to mention the online service of digital distribution of computer games Steam, released in 2003. Many Games as a Service use LiveOps to some extent, but it is the Game as a Community stage that is more characteristic of this approach.

This stage is similar to the previous one, but here a very important point is added - the process of building a long-term relationship with the user. The game as a community has social context and activity at its core. The game provides the opportunity to create clans and guilds, invite friends to the game.

In addition, the game begins to segment players and tries to offer a specific type of game to each segment. The LiveOps approach achieves this. Crystin Cox writes:

What is the magic behind the word?

If you translate it literally, Live Operations or "live action" refers to all the improvements that will be made to the game during its post-release phase. It also means that the game has mechanics built into it that support a process of constant interaction, and this happens through changing content that becomes available to players over time (when a certain event in the game or the occurrence of a certain time). The content is laid in the game in advance and becomes available without updating the entire product.

Such events are aimed at the user, at his actions in the game and have a specific purpose. It is important to remember that one of the reasons why users come to the game is to know the content. Content and its quality are extremely important. And there has to be enough content to keep the player from devouring it in a couple of days.

Also, a basic requirement for LiveOps is having scalable systems that can be used for events, sales, promotions and content.

As well as balancing the cost of producing content with expected profits (this means finding ways to make content more repeatable and cheaper to produce).

LiveOps goals:
- Improving financial performance in the game
- Player retention

LiveOps is a comprehensive approach that includes:
- In-game events
- Content updates
- Continuous product improvement (analytics, A/B tests)
- User support and community organization

According to the scale of distribution in-game events can be divided into:
- General - affect all players in the game (adding new chapters, episodes, heroes, skills, items)
- Targeted - affecting certain segments of players (most often these are promotions for regional holidays, offers and prices for different regions depending on the solvency of the region or player activity, etc.)

By purpose:
- Offers and promotions - unique or common resources can be purchased for money (various offers, sales, holiday discounts, series from purchases). These events are aimed at increasing KPI.
- Game events - limited in time events, participation in which has some benefit for the player (for example, getting a package of basic resources for prizes) or competitive nature. These can be various tournaments, competitions, missions. These events are aimed at retaining players and increasing the duration of the session, as well as the consumption of game resources.

The right promotional content increases the number of players who are willing to buy items in the game and spend resources. To reduce burnout from impact of promotions and events, it is necessary to ensure variety.

In-game and pay events should alternate so that the player has the opportunity to spend resources earned or bought and there is a need to buy new ones. The plan of launching different events should take into account parallel events and additional rewards.

Game Event -> Event -> Game Event -> Event

Events should be targeted whenever possible. This means segmenting the players and offering a certain type of game to each segment. Segmentation can be divided into 2 types: by content and by monetization. The goal is to provide relevant content to each segment at any given time.

The event system should be designed before release.

This point is related to the previous one. Any new art for skins or new stocks, models, sounds should be loaded into the game. This means supporting a content update system without updating the entire game.

A/B testing and data analysis is an important part of LiveOps and a prerequisite for continuous gameplay improvement. Since it is not always possible to accurately determine the consequences of certain decisions, hypotheses must be formulated and tested. And A/B testing should be performed continuously to optimally adjust in-game parameters.

On the basis of analytics data you can draw conclusions about behavioral patterns, players' interest in a particular event, action, mechanics. Also the system of analytics can be used for writing marketing strategies.

The analysis includes: data collection (the types of events we will record in the game and in what format they are transmitted to the analytics system), method of processing, prediction of probable problems. On the basis of the data obtained, we can make decisions about changes in the project: make hypotheses for improvement and impact on performance and conduct A/B-tests.

In this category we can include answers to questions that come to the support service, analysis of unclear situations for the player, various activities related to the community of the game.

Such events include:
- Contests in groups on social networks, gifts (both in-game and physical)
- Push notifications, both local and global (ideally, should also take into account the segment - adjust to the user)
- The ability to share with a friend and the benefits of playing with a friend - virality
- Mailing lists
- Promotions, sales, announcements in social media groups to prepare players for the upcoming event

The LiveOps approach to game development is invaluable. For a game to be successful for years, you need to make decisions based on analytics data, constantly do A/B testing, and develop long-lasting relationships with your player communities by providing them with quality content and in-game events.

Each of these areas is important for operational work, but requires constant team work, conveyors to manage and tools to build. And there are many tools that can provide the foundation of work in these areas. But developing a plan for specific events, updates, offers, and promotions requires individual solutions.