With $750M+ in lifetime IAP revenue and a $63M+ monthly peak, Gossip Harbor stands at the pinnacle of the Merge-2 genre, proving that this category never seems to have a bad year
But this wasn’t a lucky spike. It was the result of a deliberate and continuously refined LiveOps journey
According to AppMagic‘s latest article, three key phases drove the game’s remarkable growth
𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 (Pre – Q2 2024)
● ~20 events per month, most lasting 1–10 days, following standard Merge-2 pacing
● Early adoption of Race LiveOps mechanic (2023)
● Revenue relied on classic packs, seasonal pass, and gem bundles
● Began experimenting with short-term bundles and early “pick one or Buy All” offers
𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 (Q2-Q3 2024)
● LiveOps scaled from ~20 to ~50 events/month
● Shifted to short and daily events, increasing loop frequency, session tempo, and currency spend
● Introduced new events: Album events and Lava Quests
● Monetization became event-driven, with 1+1 bundles and dual-tier seasonal passes
𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 (Q3-Q4 2025)
● LiveOps became a fully connected system with ~100 events/month
● Events formed chained loops, where completing one led directly into the next
● Key mechanics: Win Streak and Lucky Wheel, boosting engagement and retention
● Monetization evolved into a layered stack, fully aligned with event pacing
What Microfun got right?
● Built a full event grid, not betting on a single mechanic
● Leveraged short events to naturally lift engagement and LTV
● Layered monetization without overwhelming players
● Applied a portfolio-wide test-and-refine approach, validating ideas across multiple Merge titles
And the result?
LiveOps went from supporting the game to driving it.
Hundreds of events. One carefully built system. Gossip Harbor didn’t just win Merge-2. It redefined how the genre scales
Takeaway
Success didn’t come from one breakthrough mechanic. It came from a dense, well-paced LiveOps grid, layered monetization, and continuous iteration