Competition has been a large part of the success of the biggest and most successful games, however building live competition can prove enormously time consuming and expensive. That is where the Athlos competition tool steps in.

Athlos enables studios to integrate directly into a game, allowing for a seamless in-game experience for gamers and removing the friction of external platforms. The tool supports many types of competition, whether it be classic esports, casual friend groups or even high score leaderboards with challenges.

 

The Challenge

Tiny Tower, a popular mobile game developed by NimbleBit, is a classic casual single player game with a wealth of highly engaged players. Athlos, partnering with SuperScale, were tasked with growing the game’s revenue and retention numbers, whilst adding a whole new game play driven by leaderboards and live events to create a more competitive dynamic for players and thus spend more time in the game.

In-game preview of leaderboard.

 

The team at Superscale seamlessly integrated the Athlos competitive tool with speed and minimal cost, all without requiring major changes to the core gameplay. Leveraging Athlos’ theming tool, Superscale customized the tournament hub to align perfectly with the game’s unique look and feel, ensuring a smooth and frictionless integration process.

To measure the performance of Athlos, we exposed 33% of new players and 33% of existing players to the leaderboard system while keeping a control group that did not see the new feature. Over 30 days, we ran five tournaments, each lasting two days and scheduled weekly to maintain interest without overwhelming players.

Important metrics such as average revenue per user (ARPU), in-app purchase (IAP) conversion rates, session times, ad engagement, and player retention, were tracked during the study. In addition, we also compared player behavior before and after they participated in tournaments to see whether the new features influenced their actions.

We can clearly see that implementing leaderboard tasks centered on watching ads directly boosts revenue from ads and increases overall ad impressions.

 

Results Summary

The integration of Athlos’ leaderboard system delivered significant results:

  • Significant improvement of +24% IAP revenue uplift during the third event iteration and +11% IAP revenue during the whole test period.
  • Major improvement of +42% Ad revenue uplift during the fifth event iteration and overall Ad monetization improved by +14% during the whole test period.
  • Session Time: Average session time increased by 6%, meaning players stayed in the game longer.
  • Retention: Day 7 (D7) retention slightly improved by 8%, showing that players were more likely to return to the game.

 

We see a very promising trend of better uplift by each event iteration in the table below.

 

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Average Revenue Per Daily Active User: Athlos vs Control group (without Athlos)

 

Impressions per watcher uplift per each Athlos leaderboard event iteration

 

Ad revenue uplift per each Athlos leaderboard event iteration

 

In app purchases –  average revenue per user uplift (without and with Athlos)

 

In app purchases conversion uplift (without and with Athlos)

 

IAP revenue uplift per each Athlos leaderboard event iteration

 

Conclusion

With minimal effort and cost, Athlos enables studios to create and manage thousands of player interactions, automatically organising players by skill and location to deliver dynamic, organised competition and help build and foster a community of highly engaged players.

Athlos was able to add competition and leaderboards without affecting Tiny Tower’s traditional game play and thus their core following. Players became more engaged, spent more, and played more often. Partnering with SuperScale, we delivered scalable solutions that drove a 15% revenue increase, extended session durations, and enhanced player retention demonstrating how Athlos helps game studios elevate engagement and monetisation.

 

SuperScale’s Approach 

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SuperScale used its data-driven approach to introduce Athlos’ leaderboard system into Tiny Tower. The leaderboard gave developers flexible options to set different scoring rules and adjust how players engaged with the game. Tasks such as building floors, elevator assistance, watching adverts all provide multiple scores which users can accumulate over time.

 

Key Takeaways

Competitive Single Player Works

The leaderboard encouraged single players to complete specific in-game tasks, creating a fun, competitive experience that kept them engaged and active. This led to more time spent in the game and higher spending.

 

Behavioral Influence

Players who participated in tournaments showed better engagement and monetization compared to those who didn’t. This proves that competitive features can work well, even in casual single player games.

 

Risk Free Feature Enablement

Features like leaderboards can be added without major changes to core gameplay, preserving the player experience. This allows developers to test and refine features risk-free while maintaining game stability and focusing on broader improvements.

 

Scalability

The leaderboard system is scalable and adaptable for running multiple live events for every skill level simultaneously, making it a sustainable solution for ongoing player engagement and revenue growth.

 

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If you’re a game studio looking to improve player engagement, increase revenue, and simplify tournament management, this case study shows how Athlos’ scalable gaming solutions can help. The results speak for themselves: players stay longer, spend more, and keep coming back.

Ready to boost your game’s performance? Contact SuperScale to see how our collaboration with Athlos can help your studio grow and succeed.