Lessons in mastering live ops from Marvel Snap

• Live ops now drives long-term success across mobile, console, web, and UGC platforms.
• Data is powerful but must be combined with qualitative player feedback to understand the “why” behind the numbers.
• Live ops strategies aren’t one-size-fits-all, as testing hypotheses for your own audience is crucial.

Live ops has become the core of modern mobile games. Running a title successfully isn’t just about a great launch day - it’s about what comes next. Long-term success depends on ongoing engagement, community management, new features and how you monetise your game. 

Ethan Levy of Deconstructor of Fun and Matt Ricchetti, senior director of product management on Marvel Snap, will explore the world of live ops in a fireside chat at the upcoming Pocket Gamer Connects Summit San Francisco.

“Over the past decade, the importance of running world-class live ops has only grown more central to the success of game studios across every platform,” says Levy.

“Whether you’re on console, mobile, web, messenger or UGC, live service and live events are make or break for those few games lucky enough to connect with an audience as measured by marketing, engagement and monetisation metrics."

Levy has seen live ops evolve firsthand, working with Ricchetti on Legendary: Game of Heroes, a mobile F2P card game that set benchmarks in both monetisation and event management. 

“We were all rightly proud of Legendary’s success, and at the time it was a leader in both live ops and performance marketing, and raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue due to the hard work of the expert teams at N3TWORK,” Levy recalls. 

Since then, Ricchetti has gone on to work as the senior director of product management on the cross-platform hit Marvel Snap. Levy tells us: “I want to learn from Matt and the Snap team about running world-class live ops in the current market, where winners are even more entrenched, communities are even more guarded, and cross-platform deployment adds another order of magnitude of complexity.”

Data with purpose

For Ricchetti, live ops is all-encompassing. It’s the day-to-day, behind-the-scenes work that keeps a game alive, from content releases and in-game events to merchandising, updates and fixing live issues. Though he also stresses there’s no single formula.

“I think it’s important to remember live ops strategies aren’t one size fits all. It’s critical to research and understand how successful titles monetise,” Ricchetti says. “But just because a monetisation approach works in one game, even in the same genre, doesn’t mean it will work in another. So it’s always important to test hypotheses in your own games before investing too deeply.” 

Modern live ops teams have deep access to player data, but that alone is not enough. Teams also must identify which KPIs matter most and combine those insights with feedback from players to gain the best insights. 

This is something which Ricchetti touches on, saying “every live game has tons of quantitative player data at its fingertips, but it’s important to not get overwhelmed by it".

"Always identify the key KPIs you plan to measure up front. Then test properly and analyse the results," he adds.

“Data can tell you what’s happening but often not why. Make sure to corroborate your findings with qualitative data from players.”

Data without context behind it can be misleading, and observing players' behaviours - listening to feedback whilst taking note of the data - can help create a more realistic outlook of what is going on. 

Retention and scaling

Retention is often the backbone of a successful live ops strategy. Having players download your game is only the first hurdle, while the long-term goal is having them stick around. Core gameplay must be rewarding and fun enough to entice players to keep coming back.

“Retention is everything. If you don’t have strong long-term (D30 plus) retention, monetisation doesn’t matter,” says Ricchetti.

Live ops is what keeps adding new layers of engagement. New content streams ensure players feel the experience is fresh but teams also have to balance how to ensure that new content feels fair and rewarding. The goal is to always offer ongoing value to players. 

“A lot of retention comes from your core gameplay. Is it fun? Is it rewarding? Is it something players want to do repeatedly over weeks, months and years? Beyond that is where metagame and live ops matter. How do you layer long-term goals on top of your core gameplay that keep players coming back?”

Ricchetti goes on to tell us that he sees gacha as one tool in the monetisation toolbelt, and that it may or may not be right for your game but “if you choose to use it, it’s important to ensure that what you’re offering is fair and transparent to the player”. 

Another aspect that is becoming incredibly popular is cross-platform, but that introduces its own technical live ops complexity.

“The key is making your game as back-end driven as possible. Different platforms require different versions of your game client. The thinner that client is, the less overhead you’re signing up for in the long term. The most successful teams are able to update everything about their game without needing to push client updates.”

Planning ahead is also critical. Live ops strategies must be designed before a game even launches. Ricchetti states the importance of thinking in advance: “Don’t wait until your game is built or launched to develop your live ops strategy. By then it’s already too late. Build your live ops from the outset.”

Studying top-performing games can also provide a roadmap for teams. Ricchetti says to “learn from the best”, that there are many incredible live operators out there, and to research their games, talk to their people and learn what it takes to operate a game at a world-class level.

Live ops is not something to be treated as an afterthought and having a well-planned-out strategy for engagement, retention and long-term monetisation can make all the difference in taking your game to the next level.  

You can learn more about running live ops from Levy and Ricchetti at Pocket Gamer Connects Summit San Francisco on March 9th, 2026.