[Game-Time special article, no reproduction without authorization]
Game-Time reports/As Supercell’s fifth game, after its release in 2018, Brawl Stars’ cumulative revenue exceeded US$2 billion, becoming the Finnish company’s fifth unicorn.
Everything went smoothly at first, with MAUs (monthly active users) trending upward and revenue stable. The end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 were the heyday of the game, and a large part of the revenue came from opening treasure boxes. However, with the launch of Club League in November 2021 and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, game revenue continues to decline.
At last week’s GDC conference, Brawl Stars general manager Frank Keienburg and game planner Frank Yan talked about the problems encountered by the game in late 2022 and early 2023, when game retention and revenue hit new lows.
The Brawl Stars team then removed chests from the game entirely, and later introduced a slew of new features that turned the game around last year. These features include the reintroduction of random rewards, a restructured Season Pass, special actions for high-engagement players, and piggy bank-like features.
These features worked: Between June 2023 and February 2024, revenue increased 8.8 times, and the game once again returned to the Top 20 bestsellers. According to data from three parties, “Brawl Stars” ranked 14th in the world in terms of revenue in March this year and is expected to exceed 400 million in monthly revenue this month.
The following is the speech content compiled by Gamelook:
First, Keienburg and Yan explained the reasons behind the overall decline in game MAU and revenue in 2022, as well as the thinking behind the decision to abandon treasure chests.
The Russian-Ukrainian war started in February 2022, which had an impact on the entire European game industry. Supercell was the first to stop all game services in the Russian and Belarusian markets. Russia not only has a large population, but is also a market that likes strategy and PVP games very much. The launch of these two regions has caused a significant drop in monthly activity and revenue of the game. As of Supercell’s exit, Russia accounted for 25% of Brawl Stars’ total DAU and 20% of its revenue.
Another reason for the decline is that the epidemic will end in 2022. At this time, the challenge for Supercell is, “How can we get players excited about returning to “Brawl Stars”?”
The Brawl Stars team realized that getting a legendary hero in a Brawl Box would be exciting for players. But under the existing gashapon system, even the most engaged players need to invest 10 months to unlock a legendary hero. Among players who have played for a year, they have only unlocked 0.9 legendary heroes on average.
Therefore, Supercell decided to completely abandon the treasure chest mechanism. Keienburg and Yan said they wanted to take more risks and give players more choices and clear goals. Therefore, they concluded that the reasons for cutting off treasure chests are:
1) The game is actually in decline,
2) The team hopes to provide players with more choices,
3) Many media are reporting on the supervision of treasure chest opening.
4) Need to wear clear information about the game,
5) Accumulate learning experience for Supercell.
However, Keienburg and Yan said they would be “naive” in removing all random rewards from the game. The team’s first attempt at monetizing post-Brawl Box was to linearize its Starr Road progression system, with all heroes unlocking characters in a predetermined order, along with rare items and a new purchasable currency, Credits.
There are over 60 heroes in the game, and Supercell still wants to give players some options by letting them choose from a range of characters to unlock, as well as adding a reputation system to let high-level players show off their achievements to others. These changes went live in December 2022 and increased DAU by 60% within a month.
Then DAU started to drop again, which was obviously not a long-term solution.
In February 2023, they added new trinkets Masteries for advanced players; in April 2023, Supercell added more decorative props and player customization options. While they work hard to serve hardcore gamers, the game’s DAU continues to drop. “We didn’t understand what our players wanted, and we were in an echo chamber without realizing it.”
Starr Road gives players certain rewards, but it also reduces the fun of the game because some heroes require a lot of Credits, which requires players to invest a lot of time.
In 2023, the MAU of “Brawl Stars” dropped to its lowest point. The team then threw the original roadmap for 2023 in the trash, they said. The team decided to add random interaction rewards to the game in June 2023. “We have to inject excitement into the rewards again.”
New random rewards come in the form of Starr Drops, with players receiving three Drops for every eight wins. At this time, 30-day retention began to recover, and Supercell also ran some re-engagement activities to coordinate with the new features.
Keienburg and Yan said they learned a lesson: “Random rewards are exciting for players! Ouch!” The game’s 30-day retention began to grow in 2023, then accelerated even faster after the introduction of Hypercharges in September of that year. Speed growth.
Hypercharges are a special skill. After charging, pressing the button will generate fire and lightning around the hero, making it more powerful. This is actually a feature borrowed from “Clash Royale”. It can only be used when the player character reaches Unlocked at level 11. This gives highly engaged players a purpose as they level up.
The following month, the team also added a “Mega Pig” feature, which also drove 30-day retention growth.
The Mega Pig feature replaces the Club League and Mission features, providing the player base with easier access to events and reducing the number of games to earn rewards. These rewards accumulate until the player “smashes” them out of the Mega Pig.
Then, in November, Supercell informed players that it would switch Brawl Pass to in-app purchases only. It shortens the Brawl Pass season, eliminates the exclusive heroes in each pass, increases the experience value for users who unlock the pass, and adds a 5v5 match mode for the first time. In addition to core gameplay, Starr Drops can be found in other areas and can be unlocked through social, ranked and operational activities.
Once these changes were rolled out, Brawl Stars’ MAU increased by 2.4 times and DAU by 3.9 times between June 2023 and February 2024. Most importantly, however, revenue grew 8.8x during the same period.
The updated payment options have also greatly changed players’ consumption nodes and methods. There is a wider range of options beyond gacha, and unlocking characters remains the top way players spend gems, while in-game gold coins are becoming more popular due to their wider uses. After upgrading, decorations and other buffs also become more and more popular.
Keienburg and Yan concluded with some key points, emphasizing the importance of providing clarity to players by streamlining the design process and reducing the noise that comes with major changes. They point out that big changes are no panacea, and urge game designers facing similar situations to look outside their own confines for colleagues who can challenge their assumptions.
Finally, they summarized six key lessons:
1. Deal with game design issues and simplify them;
2. Reduce the noise surrounding major changes;
3. Major changes are not a panacea;
4. Find people who challenge you, especially when making major changes;
5. Random rewards are exciting;
6. See significant progress in retention? double the effort!
