How to Drive Mobile Game Monetization Through Holiday Events

Why Release New Content for Holidays?

As the holiday season approaches, mobile game developers are gearing up to create exciting in-game events and promotional offers. These seasonal activities not only attract new players but also help retain current ones, boost session times, and most importantly, drive in-game purchases.

Mobile games introduce new content during the holidays for one big reason: revenue. Mobile game developers prioritize holiday events due to their high ROI for engagement, revenue, and retention. Players are more active and willing to spend during festive periods, while events foster excitement, loyalty, and a sense of urgency around exclusive content. This translates to significant revenue boosts. The trend extends across the gaming industry, with total consumer spending on video game content seeing a sharp rise during the holiday season, according to Statista.

In this article, we’ll explore why holiday-themed content is a critical component of mobile game monetization strategies and how Xsolla Web Shop LiveOps features can amplify the impact of these events to maximize your revenue this holiday season.

Holiday Event Mechanics for Mobile Games: Which Approach is Best for You?

When planning holiday events, you can consider several different mechanics to enhance engagement and grow monetization. Here are some popular event mechanics that are often used to create memorable and profitable holiday experiences.

1. Game decor and skins

This involves decorating game locations or changing the appearance of characters, emoticons, dances, and more to fit a holiday theme.

• Pros: This approach is relatively simple to develop since it focuses on visual elements.
• Cons: It may have a lower value for players since it doesn't significantly alter gameplay.

For this type of content to be effective, the game needs a built-in decoration mechanism. While this doesn’t require additional mechanics or a new in-game economy, it adds a seasonal flair that appeals to players. This option is well-suited for competitive games.

2. Content as part of the resource cycle

Introduces additional characters or buildings that operate within the game's existing mechanics and economy.

• Pros: Players receive content naturally by playing the game, and it's easier for the development team to add characters if the pipeline is well-optimized.
• Cons: It may lead to lower player engagement since the content doesn’t differ significantly from the core game elements.

To implement this type of content, developers need to integrate new game objects into existing systems, like configuring resources, properties, and synergies with other game elements.

This approach works well for games with a developed meta but limited live operations, like adding thematic holiday characters in battler games like Raid or skins in competitive games like Fall Guys and Fortnite.

3. Content as part of the LiveOps system

Additional characters or buildings become goals within a live operation system, often supported by season passes or trophy road mechanics.

• Pros: This approach significantly boosts player engagement by turning content acquisition into a meaningful achievement.
• Cons: It requires a more complex implementation compared to simpler holiday event setups.

This type of content builds on the previous mechanics, adding layers like quests, season systems, or trophy roads that guide players through earning holiday rewards. This approach is suitable for games with advanced live operations systems, where players earn content through tasks, like in Genshin Impact.

4. Content as an additional resource cycle

Creates new resource cycles that operate independently or in conjunction with the main game mechanics.

• Pros: Players are already accustomed to consuming new content, making it easier to introduce and sustain engagement.
• Cons: It’s complex and costly to implement.

This approach requires developing new game systems or resource cycles based on the existing game mechanics. It’s ideal for games with a solid core that can support additional layers of gameplay. For example, casual games like HomeScapes could introduce new locations or challenges that require special resources that accumulate over time.

5. Discounts

One of the simplest ways to create an event in the game is by launching discounts on specific items in the in-game store. This requires a discount mechanism and offer windows to draw the player's attention to the available discounts.

• Pros: Easy to implement.
• Cons: Can negatively impact the game's economy if overused.

Discounts can quickly increase player interest and boost short-term revenue by making in-game items more attractive at a lower price. This approach can drive impulse purchases and encourage players to engage with the store more frequently during the event.

However, discounting in-game items comes with risk. When resources are devalued through discounts, it often leads to a post-event decline in sales, as players use the stockpile they acquired during the promotion. Over time, this behavior disrupts the balance, making it harder to generate consistent revenue outside of sales events.

6. Offers

Offers are special, limited-time bundles that are often dedicated to specific events and can be used regardless of whether they are tied to a holiday. To implement it, you need the offer and pack mechanism itself, along with a sufficient variety of in-game resources to make the bundle appealing.

• Pros: Relatively simple to implement and effective at drawing the player's attention to specific items or bundles.
• Cons: May not be effective enough without the support of additional event mechanics or in-game incentives.

Offers are versatile tools widely used in conjunction with various event mechanics. Whether a game features special content or integrates that content into the main resource cycle, offers help highlight valuable items to players. They can be particularly useful when creating a separate resource cycle for an event or limited-time content.

If the demand for resources varies among players, you can structure the offer to balance value and economy:

• Include a primary resource with a noticeable, but not overwhelming, bonus compared to regular pricing.
• Bundle it with secondary resources that have a significant bonus, enhancing the overall appeal.

This approach makes the offer attractive to players while also mitigating the risk of flooding the game's economy with an excess of high-value resources.

7. Seasons

A season is a complex framework of various monetization and retention mechanics designed to enhance player engagement and demonstrate the value of investing time and money in gaming events.

To create this, you need a mechanism for a seasonal trophy road, which provides players with tasks to complete in exchange for rewards. Offers for season passes and resource bundles that help players complete these tasks should also be included.

• Pros: Players are already accustomed to consuming new content, making it easier to introduce and sustain engagement.
• Cons: It’s complex and costly to implement.

Seasons can contain an array of mechanics, including quests, reward systems, and bonuses that keep players motivated and invested in the game. For example, a valuable reward could be an active VIP status during the event, granting players enhanced bonuses related to event mechanics.

Advantages of Xsolla Web Shop in the Holiday Season

No matter the avenue you choose to pursue this holiday season, Xsolla Web Shop can be your go-to solution if you want to amplify the impact of your in-game events.

• Offering a platform that supports and enhances holiday-exclusive offers, Web Shop integrates web-specific LiveOps into your existing game mechanics to empower you to expand your holiday event beyond the confines of the game itself.
• This makes it easier than ever to create a positive experience where gamers can access special promotions, redeem exclusive items, and participate in live holiday events.
• The flexibility means any in-game mechanic you choose can be fully supported on the web, giving your players more ways to engage and spend.

Holiday events are powerful tools for increasing engagement and boosting revenue in mobile games. By leveraging mechanics like time-limited offers, exclusive content, and daily rewards, you can create memorable experiences that keep players coming back for more.

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