Tough times in the gaming industry

In an industry where 76% of launched games experience their peak revenue within the first year, and 83% of games die within 3 years, developers are faced with the constant challenge of sustained long-term success. This leaves developers with the reality that a lot of good games will end up failing. But there are proven ways to avoid the downfalls and continue scaling, even during these somewhat turbulent times. 

Studios are now starting to shift resources away from such games, going into ‘autopilot’, and in some cases, being removed from the app store. On average, studios manage a portfolio of 18 “legacy” games, each representing a unique set of opportunities and challenges, with many not being left fully optimized. But when considering that over  two thirds of developers prefer working on new titles, this creates a catch-22 scenario with developers constantly looking for the next big hit, even though it’s so hard to develop a successful game in this climate.

The past 12 months have seen every third game studio forced to make difficult decisions, including layoffs, as they strive to optimize their operations. We’re coming to the market to firstly change the narrative and help developers, even those who don’t partner with us, succeed in this market by shifting their attention to their existing portfolio.  And secondly, to present a solution to help studios ensure sustained success in an ever-evolving market.

Introducing Legacy Game Management

The top-performing mobile games receive continuous support over many years, however not all titles can achieve that same level of success. Many are overseen gradually, experiencing either a sharp or gradual decline, until it becomes necessary to introduce something fresh, or a more successful title becomes the main focus.

We’ve developed a new, revolutionary partnership approach to help gaming studios optimize their operations and increase revenue with no upfront cost. Legacy Game Management is about studios looking inwards at games that might not be as popular as before and seemingly may have their best days behind them. 

They still have players who pay, but either their earnings are going down for a while, or the developers are choosing to focus on other games that could make more money or be more interesting.

SuperScale’s Game Management is built on three main pillars:

1. We join forces and become part of your team

We put our tech, time and skill into maximizing your game’s performance. From analytics and growth marketing to LiveOps, we’re on your team, freeing up your resources in the process. No two games are the same and each requires a bespoke process designed by our experts to achieve revenue growth. 

2. You always keep your IP and control

Ensuring you retain full control of the IP is key. Imagine watching extra revenue flow in without giving up what makes your game uniquely yours.

3. We share the uplift

With a share of uplift, we only get paid when you do, with no upfront cost on your side.

Optimizing the whole portfolio

While this approach works particularly well for legacy games, we’re here to help you maximize the potential of your whole portfolio by freeing up resources and generating new ones to help you focus on the most important parts of your business, keeping your business profitable and team engaged and focused.  We also work with you to explore IP expansion strategies for your whole portfolio, with our experience and expertise in doing so with our current partners.

“It’s not just about creating the next big thing, it’s about getting more out of what you have and not writing off your existing titles.”
Ivan Trancik

We can also help you launch a completely new game or scale your existing portfolio to new heights. Learn more about it on our ‘new’ and ‘active’ game management services here.

How it’s all possible 

We start by playing and evaluating your game and its growth prospects, leveraging cutting-edge technology and a team of seasoned gaming experts. From there, we make a personalized proposal, addressing every nuance of your game’s needs. Whether it’s analytics, growth marketing, LiveOps, or GameDesign, we’ve got it covered.

Sometimes, it’s not about building new, but getting the most out of what you already have. By targeting the right offers to the right players at the right time, we managed to increase game revenue by as much as 11%, equating to millions in revenue per year using existing game assets.

We continue to test, iterate and optimize to achieve sustainable growth. The more data we have, the better results we deliver.

“We see a lot of undervalued assets in this business, opening a whole universe of growth that does not rely on UA.”
Ivan Trancik, CEO

The numbers speak for themselves

Interested to see how Legacy Game Management helps Nimblebit reach new heights with Tiny Tower? Read our case study here to learn how we achieved +151% overall revenue growth, DAU increase of +32%, and how we jumped more than 100 positions in App Store category rankings.

“We’re seeing record-breaking revenue, with no time and cost on our side.”

Ian Marsh, NimbleBit

Try it yourself 

If your game studio has some titles that aren’t shining as bright as they used to and could use a little extra love, SuperScale is here to help. We dive into hundreds of games every month, searching for that hidden potential, and we’d be thrilled to manage yours for you. Reach out below.