SciPlay on why your live ops strategy will make or break your mobile game

Live ops is the bread and butter of mobile games success for the long-term. 

But what makes a good live ops strategy in the modern, highly competitive mobile games market? 

We caught up with SciPlay group vice president of US games Cameron Stewart, who oversees studios that develop titles such as Jackpot Party Casino, Gold Fish Casino, and Bingo Showdown, to get his insights.

SciPlay is a specialist at live ops, and was a key reason why we ranked the publisher 37th in the Top 50 Mobile Game Makers 2024 list. The company also received Honourable Mentions for Best Publisher and Best Live Ops at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2024.

Stewart offers insights into how live ops has changed over the years and how to strategise the flow of new content and events to keep players engaged.

PocketGamer.biz: How has live ops evolved over the years?

Cameron Stewart: While mobile games have been around for over two decades, I still believe the mobile games industry is in its infancy stage, especially when it comes to monetisation and live ops strategies. The world is evolving and so are our players.

Over five years ago the industry was focused on releasing the next big feature. Today the focus is on in-game mechanics, tuning and operating your game on a minute-by-minute basis. This is the only way to have success in today’s mobile gaming world. 

Live ops is a widely used but often misapplied term. The true definition refers to the ongoing management and development of a live game service.

However, some companies mistakenly believe that part-time operations, such as those that run on a nine-to-five clock, are sufficient for live ops. True live ops requires a 24/7 commitment to providing a continuous and evolving gaming experience. If you are in mobile games, organising your team to reflect this critical component is essential for success.  

For the last 10 years, many companies in the industry have pushed live ops to the back seat to focus on feature development. At SciPlay, we predicted the power of live ops and implemented it into our strategy alongside feature development so that the two are complementary.

They are viewed in equal importance to the product, and neither can operate without the other. The product is the foundation for successful monetisation. Without a strong product feature design, the best monetisation strategy, and top-notch live ops, succeeding in today’s competitive market is extremely tough.  

So, do you think your live ops strategy is the difference between success and failure? 

Yes, our live ops strategy has been a pivotal factor in SciPlay's success.

It's one of the most significant areas of growth we've invested in over the past three years. We have strategically reorganised our teams to prioritise monetisation and live operations. 

This focused approach has directly contributed to our overall monetisation strategies and ultimately, our company's success.

How can teams develop a great live ops strategy without burning out but still ensuring player demands are met? Do you think a roadmap of what's to come needs to be considered well before the game even launches? 

First, it starts with the expectation that this is the route you want to take as a company. I still see this as a large gap in the industry. Don’t get me wrong — it’s not easy, and it may come with initial friction, but the importance of working with your employees and setting them up for success is critical. 

Second, set your teams up for success. Does running a 24/7 game require you to work 24/7? Absolutely not, but you do have to spread the workload evenly. Creating on-call schedules, having appropriate procedures, and staffing up in other areas around the world is crucial to running a live game. But also, be honest with your employees about what the expectation is for their role.

Giving the context to why it’s important and explain exactly why we do what we do leaves the team wanting to taste that success. Rather than having it pushed from the top down. 

Finally, be flexible. Having a plan is great, but in mobile games, you need to be able to adapt more quickly than in any other industry. Don’t continue to do more of the same if you are not seeing success. Be aggressive in changing your plan and strategy with both qualitative and quantitative data.

We make a lot of mistakes, but we don’t make the same ones twice, and when we do, we clean them up very quickly. Create a culture where mistakes are allowed and used as learning tools. 

To answer your second question about planning ahead before a launch, absolutely, but design for what a game needs today, not five years ago.

Whether it's soft-launching a new title or releasing a new feature, you cannot ship things like you did five years ago. Creating an MVP is very different today because the players' expectations have drastically changed.

Your feature or game must go out with levers and mechanics that drive daily behaviour. Adding those elements later is already too late. 

How can teams ensure that they implement the best changes or introduce what players really want since more players are looking for experiences tailored to them? Should there be a big focus on data or community? A combination of both of those things? What advice would you give on this?

You must think of individualism, not segmentation. Everyone talks about segmentation, but if you really want to make a splash, you must start looking at individual behaviour.

The reality is that we make games for humans, who are wildly unpredictable. 10,000 players cannot be thrown into the same bucket and treated the same. Each player is an individual with unique behaviours and preferences.

Your live ops plan needs to consider every player's behaviour throughout every session. Of course, there is a lot more to it, but that is our secret sauce and I’ll cut myself off here.

Are there certain tools that teams should be utilising? And with the rise of AI, does that have a bigger role to play in the growth of live ops games? 

There is no off-the-shelf product that can manage live ops. We’ve spent years developing our proprietary engine to help us cater to our users' individual needs and preferences.  

As for AI, there are certainly ways in which AI can be very beneficial to one’s game. But again, we make games for humans, not robots.

So, I also think the industry needs to be careful about how much AI it uses to drive behaviours. Without firsthand experience of the highs and lows that players face, it's extremely difficult to make informed product decisions.

The mobile market has had many challenges in recent years and is highly competitive. How can developers stay one step ahead?

Stop doing what everyone else is doing and be willing to question everything.

SciPlay applies some standard industry processes and structures as data pieces; however, we evaluate constantly and make sure those remain the best decisions for us and our business.

We are not afraid to challenge the industry's 'dos and don’ts' - it is how to stay successful and avoid becoming stagnant. 

Do you predict any big changes in the way that live ops functions in the coming years? Anything that will perhaps get easier or aspects that may remain a challenge? 

For a while, it was tough to be a new entrant into this market — and it still is — but I think you’ll start to see smaller developers start finding success again because indie studios are the ones that are challenging the status quo of the industry.

They are willing to bring people back to the office, structure differently, and are dedicated to running a 24/7 live business.

Countries such as Israel and India are also going to continue to grow successful studios as they demonstrate the appetite to win.