PeopleFun has experienced considerable success with its lineup of puzzle games, and the appointment of a new CEO can have many repercussions, not least a precursor to considerable change. However, following her appointment as CEO of PeopleFun at the close of April 2022, Carol Miu is making two core declaration: more investment in its team members, and a greater appreciation of data.

Miu briefly spoke with PocketGamer.biz on her ambitions for PeopleFun, as well as lessons learned from the dramatic impact browser titles such as Wordle.

PocketGamer.biz: A revamp of leadership often predates seismic shifts in company culture and activity. What opportunities for change do you see at PeopleFun?

Carol Miu: Our incredibly skillful, intelligent, and thoughtful team at PeopleFun has built some of the world’s biggest games over the years, including titles like Wordscapes, which is now at more than 200 million players to date, as well as Wordscapes Search and Blockscapes. In the near future, we want to be laser focused not only on continuing to iterate the gameplay in these top titles to retain and attract new players, but also on developing and building the next generation of fun and engaging hit games.

Beyond the games we create, our other key area of focus at PeopleFun is continuing to prioritise professional development initiatives to establish ourselves as a best-in-class workplace. Some of the things we’re working on in the immediate future to support this include company-organized group training for key skills like game team communication and management, as well as implementing a $1,500 annual budget for each employee to go towards professional development courses and services.

Wordscapes and Word Stacks are among the most popular word puzzle mobile games, but what can we expect from both PeopleFun's suite of successful titles and any new initiatives the company is exploring?

In terms of new initiatives, at PeopleFun we’re focused on prioritising data-driven product innovation by leveraging rapid iteration and testing to discover what our audiences and players really want in their gameplay. Players can expect more exciting feature updates (hint: they may include a few furry friends!) as we’ve done in the past with Wordscapes Star Rush Tournament, Butterfly Event, and Sticker Event.

Has the success of Wordle and the growth of browser-based word puzzle games encouraged any exploration of browser-based games from PeopleFun?

First, we can zoom out and look at the hypercasual and casual mobile gaming market more broadly. Especially over the past two years throughout the pandemic, the genre has seen explosive growth. In the third quarter of 2021, hypercasual games had their most successful quarter to date, with 3.6 billion downloads of hyper-casual games in that three-month period alone.

As part of this growth, puzzle and word games, specifically, have also gained attention. Our games, like Wordscapes – celebrating its fifth anniversary this June – have garnered an increasingly growing player base throughout the years in large part due to PeopleFun’s approach to iteration. By steadily introducing new and exciting feature upgrades, players are constantly surprised by what’s in the game. Beyond this, we’ve built a strong framework at PeopleFun of leveraging testing and player feedback to ensure the features we’re putting out are meeting players’ wants. Our bread and butter at PeopleFun is mobile gaming, and the opportunity in this space remains strong as the industry grows and more people become mobile game players.

It’s been exciting to see and experience the success of browser-based games like Wordle, which I think rose in popularity rapidly due to the exclusivity of the once-a-day play involved, and the ability to build community through sharing your results with family and friends. What becomes tricky from a business standpoint is figuring out how to monetize a browser-based game and build a loyal player base overtime, especially when it only involves one level per day. We’ve seen a lot of success with our mobile games like Wordscapes that give players the opportunity for continuous play with various challenges and levels. Our top players today complete upwards of 200 levels per day.