Match Factory is a Match 3D casual puzzle game released by Peak Games on November 1st, 2023, and even after a year, it’s still generating $500K+ in daily revenue, according to AppMagic.
Let’s take a look at what design strategies make this game so successful…
High Quality Gameplay
As its core, the game challenges players to find objective items and collect identical ones within a time frame. While the mechanics sound simple, the game stands out with polished visuals, satisfying animations, a seamless UX and well-designed levels that feature a balanced adaptive difficulty curve. Additionally, the practical presentation of boosters enhance the immersive experience, making the gameplay more engaging.
Fresh Interactivity
Unlike most games that rely on static daily rewards, this manages to keep engagement high by introducing an interactive mini-game for daily bonuses. Additionally, tying LiveOps features such as solo tournaments and minigames to core gameplay not only brings players fresh challenges but also allows developers to introduce more monetization tactics. Furthermore, social features enhance retention by enabling players to create or join teams, chat, participate in team events, and request or provide help, adding more interactive elements to the game.
Currency Scarcity
With no ads and an IAP only monetization model, currency scarcity becomes a key driver of player spending. Coins, essential for continuing levels after failure and acquiring boosters, are strategically limited to specific sources such as daily rewards, events, the factory pass, team assistance rewards and In-App Purchases. Additionally, this enables the game to leverage loss aversion techniques, subtly nudging players toward making purchases. When combined with the immersive gameplay experience, this approach makes in-game spending feel like a natural and necessary choice.
Genre Insights: Match 3D
Match Factory is not the first game in Match 3D genre, but it has managed to outperform its predecessors through its superior design and high quality implementation. According to AppMagic, this genre shows 3.3% success rate, with 11 games surpassing the $100K/month in revenue benchmark.
What do you think of Match Factory’s approach in design and monetization? Have you seen similar strategies in other successful games? Let’s discuss!
Original Post: Kavindu Priyanath – LinkedIn
