RPG REPORT Competitive Research and Actionable Product Recommendations - Rackcdn.com
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RPG REPORT Competitive Research and Actionable Product Recommendations
TABLE OF CONTENTS
IMPACT DRIVER 3
High-Level Expansion Feature
Doom Tower in RAID: Shadow Legends
Product Insights
JANUARY
IMPACT TRENDS 8
RPG Feature Releases by Type
Expansion Feature Impact Analysis
NEW CONTENT 11
Content Releases
MARKET WATCH
Soft-Launch & Breakout Apps
Notable Releases
15
2021
APPENDIX 20
RAID: Shadow Legends Release Schedule
Liquid & Grit RPG Personas
Premium Partnerships
RPG Mechanics Taxonomy
IMPACT DRIVER
Features and events that boost revenue, retention, or downloads
3
RPG > FEATURES > EXPANSIONS
High-Level Expansion Feature
Doom Tower in RAID: Shadow Legends
4
REVENUE ANALYSIS
RAID: Shadow Legends' revenue was +14% with downloads +97% MoM after the launch of Doom Tower.
See the Appendix for a full release schedule.
RAID: Shadow Legends
$500K Revenue Downloads 30K
$400K Doom Tower 24K
Downloads per Day
Revenue per Day
$300K 18K
$200K 12K
$100K 6K
10/15/20 10/29/20 11/12/20 11/26/20 12/10/20 12/24/20 1/7/21
MoM = Month over month.
Graph data is iOS, U.S. only.
5
FEATURE TEARDOWN 1
An expansion feature offers 120 stages at two difficulty levels, including
12 bosses. Progress resets each month, and bosses can be replayed for
additional rewards.
Details
• Players battle through 120 floors to reach the top of a tower (1, 2, and video).
2 3
• Every 10th floor is a boss battle with bosses pulled from across the game.
• Twelve secret rooms each have unique rules (3).
• Every floor grants a reward on the first completion.
• Floors require gold or silver keys to play.
• Players receive 10 of each key per day.
• Gold keys grant access to floors and bosses on the first playthrough.
• Silver keys grant access to secret rooms and allow players to replay bosses
for additional rewards.
• Each month, tower progress resets, bosses change, and secret rooms get
new rules (4).
4 5
• The tower can be played at two difficulty levels, each with unique rewards.
• Rewards include feature-specific resources that can be used to unlock
exclusive heroes and equipment.
• A feature-specific $19.99 IAP offers five days of drip rewards (5).
Additional Information
• See the Doom Tower library for more images and videos.
6
PRODUCT INSIGHTS
Don't stop at new levels—add new stories and gameplay systems, too. 1
While new mission or quest areas are staples of expansions, make sure they aren't just more of the same. The most comprehensive
expansions add to overarching narratives and even offer new gameplay systems.
For example, Empires & Puzzles' Season III expansion led to a +23% MoM revenue increase by focusing heavily on new heroes and
embracing a Norse mythology-inspired narrative. In contrast, RAID's Doom Tower doesn't provide much in the way of story. A stronger
narrative context would create more enduring goals and give additional meaning to the expansion's unlockable heroes and artifacts.1
On the other hand, Doom Tower employs a fresh quest system by having players ascend a tower, battle bosses from across the game
world, and unlock secret rooms that have special rules. AFK Arena introduced an equally novel structure during its Voyage of Wonders
quest event that built puzzles directly into level maps and helped increase revenue +24% WoW (1).
Offer optional end-game challenge modes for high achievers.
Doom Tower appeals to high-level players with two difficulty levels and monthly resets that rotate bosses and secret rooms. The
secondary rewards for replaying bosses provide additional incentives for return play, but allowing players to ratchet up the difficulty on
subsequent playthroughs would create even more top-tier content. 2
This can be seen in AFK Arena's Trials of God, which let players apply a wide range of conditions to make levels harder and saw a +72%
MoM revenue increase (2). Alternatively, Doom Tower could offer extra-difficult versions of bosses or even allow players to battle
multiple bosses at once. Adding one or two prestigious rewards for the most difficult challenges would likely further boost engagement,
since achievement-based rewards increase intrinsic motivation.2
Give long progressions compelling midpoints.
A month-long set of 120 levels is a long way to go. The ten-level intervals with boss battles break it up nicely, but a more notable battle at
the halfway mark would create a strong medium-term goal. Player motivation is lowest at the middle of a progression, so a big win with
an exciting reward could help them get over the hump.3
1 Narratives and Goals: Narrative Structure Increases Goal Priming, p. 12 2 Achievement-Based Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: A Test of Cognitive Mediators
Materialising Digital Collecting: An Extended View of Digital Materiality 3 Stuck in the Middle: The Psychophysics of Goal Pursuit
7
IMPACT TRENDS
Revenue and market share impacts for event and feature releases
Tracked RPG Apps: AFK Arena, BLEACH Brave Souls, Dragon Ball Legends, Empires & Puzzles, Epic Seven,
Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire, Fire Emblem Heroes, Guns of Glory, King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare, Last
Shelter: Survival, Lords Mobile: War Kingdom, MARVEL Strike Force, RAID: Shadow Legends, Rise of Kingdoms,
Star Trek Fleet Command, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, Summoners War
8
EXPANSIONS AMONG MOST RELEASED FEATURES
Expansion and level features tied for the fourth most released feature type in tracked RPG apps in 2020.
RPG Feature Releases by Type (2020)
90
Number of Releases
60
30
Clubs
Collections
Flows
Expansions
Levels
Currencies
Competitions
Accelerators
Conflicts
Cosmetics
Missions
Notices
Profiles
Quests
Rewards
Challenges
Other
Purchases
Interactions
Collected data is based on Liquid & Grit's feature taxonomy for tracked RPG apps.
Only feature types with 10 or more releases in 2020 are shown.
9
EXPANSIONS PRODUCE LIMITED MARKET SHARE GROWTH
Expansion feature releases saw a relatively small average market share growth of +2.1% MoM in 2020.
However, two other frequently released features—clubs and flows—had similarly low impacts.
Market share growth is the average percentage change in an app's revenue market share for a given time period following a new release. Revenue growth is the
average percentage change in gross revenue during the same period.
Market Share Growth MoM (2020) Revenue Growth MoM (2020)
Missions Missions
Currencies Currencies
Accelerators Accelerators
Levels Levels
Collections Collections
Competitions Competitions
Conflicts Conflicts
Notices Notices
Expansions Expansions
Flows Flows
Cosmetics Cosmetics
Clubs Clubs
-5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Impact models are made by Liquid & Grit by combining our data with revenue data from Sensor Tower.
Only feature types with 30 or more releases in 2020 are shown.
10
MoM = Month over month.NEW CONTENT
New heroes, equipment, and abilities
11CONTENT RELEASES I
1 2
RPG > Content > Abilities, Equipment, and Heroes
12/15 Hero Adjustments and Changes — AFK Arena abilities
12/15 Shroud of Verdure — AFK Arena equipment
12/15 Alna — AFK Arena hero (1)
12/22 Frozen Enchantress — AFK Arena equipment
12/22 The Glacial Child — AFK Arena equipment
12/22 Winter Reaper — AFK Arena equipment
12/29 Hero Adjustments and Changes — AFK Arena abilities
12/29 Joker — AFK Arena hero (2)
3 4
12/29 Queen — AFK Arena hero (3)
12/13 New Resurrection Characters — BLEACH Brave Souls abilities
12/16 Christmas Summons: Snow Dream — BLEACH Brave Souls heroes (4)
12/28 New Resurrection Characters — BLEACH Brave Souls abilities
12/31 Thousand-Year Blood War Round 14 — BLEACH Brave Souls heroes
12/2 Zenkai Awakening - Gotenks — Dragon Ball Legends abilities (5)
12/2 Awakened Let's go, Vegeta! No. 1 — Dragon Ball Legends equipment
12/9 Zenkai Awakening - Frieza — Dragon Ball Legends abilities
12/9 Zenkai Awakening - Super Gogeta — Dragon Ball Legends abilities
12/16 Awakened I can tell. No. 1 — Dragon Ball Legends equipment 5 6
12/23 The Broly — Dragon Ball Legends heroes (6)
12/23 The Gogeta — Dragon Ball Legends heroes
12/29 Awakened He's a Saiyan! No. 1 — Dragon Ball Legends equipment
12CONTENT RELEASES II
1 2
RPG > Content > Abilities, Equipment, and Heroes
12/30 Zenkai Awakening - Broly: Fury — Dragon Ball Legends abilities
12/1 Reuben — Empires & Puzzles hero (1)
12/1 Seasonal Summon — Empires & Puzzles heroes
12/24 Lord Loki — Empires & Puzzles hero (2)
12/10 A Symbol of Unity — Epic Seven equipment
12/10 Operator Sigret — Epic Seven hero (3)
12/17 Ancient Dragon's Legacy — Epic Seven equipment
12/17 Mort — Epic Seven hero
3 4
12/24 Fairy Tale for a Nightmare — Epic Seven equipment
12/24 Two New Exclusive Equipment — Epic Seven equipment
12/24 Fairytale Tenebria — Epic Seven hero (4)
12/7 Weapon Refinery Update — Fire Emblem Heroes abilities
12/8 Book V Begins: Reginn and More — Fire Emblem Heroes heroes
12/8 Knoll: Darkness Watcher — Fire Emblem Heroes hero (5)
12/10 Niles: Cruel to Be Kind — Fire Emblem Heroes hero
12/17 Special Heroes: A Festive Miracle — Fire Emblem Heroes heroes (6)
12/18 Felix: Icy Gift Giver — Fire Emblem Heroes heroes
12/25 Delthea: Free Spirit — Fire Emblem Heroes hero 5 6
12/25 Lilina: Firelight Leader — Fire Emblem Heroes hero
12/7 R8 Sky Gold Airship Parts — Guns of Glory equipment
12/22 Immortal Gemstone — King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare equipment
13CONTENT RELEASES III
1 2
RPG > Content > Abilities, Equipment, and Heroes
12/4 Cottageroar Set — Lords Mobile: War Kingdom equipment (1)
12/8 Character Ability and Trait Updates — MARVEL Strike Force abilities
12/8 Shatterstar — MARVEL Strike Force hero
12/18 Longshot — MARVEL Strike Force hero
12/19 Yelena Belova — MARVEL Strike Force hero (2)
12/3 Champions and Battle fixes — RAID: Shadow Legends abilities
12/3 Artifact Set Rebalance — RAID: Shadow Legends equipment
12/7 Doom Tower Artifacts — RAID: Shadow Legends equipment
3 4
12/7 Doom Tower Champions – RAID: Shadow Legends heroes
12/14 Pyxniel — RAID: Shadow Legends hero (3)
12/15 Winter Champions — RAID: Shadow Legends heroes
12/25 Double Holiday Summon Draft — RAID: Shadow Legends heroes
12/3 Nebuchadnezzar II — Rise of Kingdoms hero
12/4 Cyrus the Great — Rise of Kingdoms hero (4)
12/9 Sarcophagus — Star Trek Fleet Command equipment
12/9 Discovery Part 4 Officers — Star Trek Fleet Command heroes (5)
12/3 Demoralized — Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes ability
12/3 Moff Gideon — Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes hero (6) 5 6
12/16 The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) — Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes hero
12/3 Holidays Special Transmogs — Summoners War equipment
12/14 Howl and Grim Reaper 2nd Awakening — Summoners War abilities
14MARKET WATCH
New apps and notable releases from established competitors
15SOFT-LAUNCH APP
Perfect World VNG: Fly With Me by VNG Game Studios 1
App Details
• This 3D open-world MMORPG evokes PC MMOs with a seamless world, innovative flying
mechanics, and boss raids (1).
• Players choose their character's race, class, and appearance via an unusually extensive
customization system (2).
• A wide range of player interactions include physical emotes and in-game weddings with
invitations, gifts, and parties (3).
• PvP includes open-world combat and arena modes for a variety of team sizes.
2
Launch Information
• Soft-launched on 10/17/20 in the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia
• Average daily revenue (90 days): $2,879
• Average daily downloads (90 days): 341
• View Perfect World VNG: Fly With Me on the App Store
Liquid & Grit's Take
While open-world MMOs are the backbone of the Asian mobile RPG scene, they 3
haven't caught on to the same extent in the U.S. and Europe. Genshin Impact is
currently the only open-world MMO to reliably crack the 50 highest-grossing RPGs in
the U.S., although it consistently ranks in the top 10.
That could mean there's opportunity for a competitor like Perfect World, or it could
mean there just isn't much demand for this type of app in the West. Still, the fact that
Perfect World currently ranks among the top 10 RPGs in two out of three of its test
markets (the Philippines and Indonesia) bodes well for its success in Asia.
16BREAKOUT APP
NARUTO X BORUTO NINJA TRIBES by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.
App Details
• Players build teams of characters from the Naruto manga/anime universe for turn-based battles (1).
• Artwork and animations imitate the style of the TV show (2).
• Players choose from upcoming attacks to build combos and target enemy weaknesses (3).
1
• A tower mission feature maintains players' progress if they log in daily but resets if not.
• Skill points must be spent on a timer.
• Battles randomly award timed chests (4).
Launch Information
• Released worldwide on 10/15/20
• 53rd highest-grossing RPG app as of 1/1/21
• Average daily U.S. revenue (90 days): $13,511
• Average daily U.S. downloads (90 days): 1,998
• View NARUTO X BORUTO NINJA TRIBES on the App Store
2 3 4
171
NOTABLE RELEASES I
App Release Description
• Players complete match-3 levels to advance on a quest map for rewards (1).
Forest Mania • Points earned during levels fill a meter for more rewards at milestones. 2
mini-game feature • New levels unlock based on campaign progress.
• Friend and server-wide leaderboards for each level rank players based on points (video).
AFK Arena
• Three menus rank heroes based on their popularity for battle types, special equipment, and
Hero Popularity
custom design boosts.
other feature
• Players can filter rankings by feature, battle, campaign progress, and hero type (2 and video).
3
• Individuals and clubs compete to deal the most damage to a boss (3 and video).
• Each battle offers a choice between three difficulty levels.
Empires & Mythic Titan • Heroes begin to weaken if used for more than three battles.
Puzzles club event • Leaderboards rank players based on solo damage, single-attack damage, and club damage.
• An event IAP bundle grants two sets of items: one for the purchaser and another for all club
members.
• A trivia mini-game asks timed true-or-false questions about the game (4). 4
• Each round contains up to 40 players.
Last Shelter: Christmas Quiz • Players can participate in three out of four scheduled rounds per day.
Survival mini-game event • Players answer questions by moving their avatar to either side of the screen (video).
• Players who answer incorrectly are eliminated from the round.
• Eliminated players earn a number of prizes determined by their number of correct answers.
181
NOTABLE RELEASES II
App Release Description
• Players choose five heroes for timed, turn-based PvP duels.
• Turns must be completed within 15 seconds or they proceed automatically (1). 2
• Players who miss three turns in a row forfeit the match.
MARVEL Strike Real-Time Arena • Players win by defeating all enemy heroes or having the most heroes when the timer expires.
Force competition feature • Daily and weekly challenges award tokens.
• Tokens fill a meter that advances players to the next reward tier when full (video).
• A $19.99 season pass unlocks a second set of rewards for each tier.
• A $39.99 season pass unlocks the second set of rewards and advances players 30 tiers.
• Players spend gems to buy gacha pulls for prizes (2). 3
Esmeralda's House
• The value of each pull's prize always exceeds the gems spent on the pull.
mini-game event
• Pulls fill a meter for additional rewards at milestones (video).
Rise of
• Players collect pieces of a treasure map by destroying barbarian forts, training troops, and
Kingdoms
making purchases in an exchange shop.
Treasure Hunt
• Club members can trade map pieces with one another.
challenge event
• Completing the map reveals the location of a chest and starts a timer (3 and video).
• Failing to claim the chest before the timer expires clears the current map and chest. 4
Ancient
Summoners Transcendence Pack • A $99.99 IAP bundle includes a summon of a rare hero not currently owned by the player (4).
War
purchase event
Quickly review all features and events
Filter the Library Tool by month and year to see all new releases.
19APPENDIX
20RAID: SHADOW LEGENDS RELEASE SCHEDULE
Releases
12/4–12/7: Global Summoning Boost accelerator event 12/7–12/9: Ice Golem Tournament competition event
12/7: Doom Tower expansion feature 12/8–12/12: Dungeon Divers Event challenge event
• 12/7: Doom Tower Artifacts equipment content 12/9:
• 12/7: Doom Tower Champions hero content • $29.99 Bulk Value Pack IAP moved +1 to #3
12/7: $14.99 Medium Pack IAP moved +1 to #3 • $4.99 Mini Pack IAP moved +1 to #4
12/7–12/9: Champion Training Tournament competition event *No app version updates during this time frame
RAID: Shadow Legends
$500K Revenue Downloads 30K
Doom Tower
$400K 24K
Downloads per Day
Revenue per Day
$300K 18K
$200K 12K
$100K 6K
10/15/20 10/29/20 11/12/20 11/26/20 12/10/20 12/24/20 1/7/21
Graph data is iOS, U.S. only.
21LIQUID & GRIT RPG PERSONAS
We collected and analyzed survey data from 1,415 mobile RPG players in the U.S. The results produced
seven RPG player personas with distinct values, gameplay preferences, and spending habits.
See the full RPG Personas Report for detailed breakdowns of each player type.
Felicia Fiction seeks immersion through single-player stories with strong aesthetics. She likes turn-based or action
RPGs that involve customization, meaningful choices, and emotionally difficult challenges. She spends money to
personalize her experience.
Caleb Competition is drawn to multiplayer competitions, clubs, and hardcore gaming. He prefers MMORPGs with
action gameplay and difficult challenges. As a result of his competitiveness, he makes purchases to be the best.
Andrew Achievement likes completing single-player tasks and overcoming challenges. His favorite subgenre is puzzle
RPGs with innovative challenges and entertaining mini-games. He spends money to advance his progress.
Ethan Epic is a hardcore gamer who thrives on difficult challenges in both story-driven solo experiences and
multiplayer competitions. Ethan plays the widest range of RPG subgenres and strives to optimize his play with out-of-
the-box tactics and strategies. He spends primarily to support the games he likes.
Chloe Casual prefers single-player puzzle RPGs with casual mechanics. She likes custom cosmetics and spends
primarily for personalization or access to special events.
Dean Desktop turns to mobile for convenient, short bursts of play. As a result, he is the lowest-spending player
persona and is primarily interested in story-driven, single-player experiences. He likes action, survival, and turn-based
RPGs with meaningful choices and active combat.
Steven Social is driven by social interactions, including both collaborative and competitive activities. He is the highest-
spending persona and prefers MMORPGs or fighting RPGs. He spends money to be the best and show off to others.
22PREMIUM PARTNERSHIPS
Liquid & Grit partners with these premier market research and analytics companies to infuse our
reports with the most relevant and detailed gaming user personas, data, and statistics available.
Quadrant Strategies Kinrate Analytics Sensor Tower
Market Research Player Personas Mobile App Store Intelligence
Quadrant Strategies Kinrate Analytics Sensor Tower
Quadrant Strategies is a market research Kinrate Analytics offers game developers, Sensor Tower is relied upon by financial analysts,
consultancy that uses research to help the world's consultants, publishers, and cloud gaming VCs, and publishers who need to leverage data to
most prominent technology, gaming, and operators the best cross-platform game identify the fastest-growing apps, emerging
entertainment companies develop strategies for recommendation engine for targeted marketing, as markets, and more.
building their user base, increasing user well as a novel profiling-as-a-service solution for
Clients harness Sensor Tower's suite of app
engagement and spend, and strengthening their intelligent market segmentation and social
intelligence tools to:
marketing and brand plans. networking.
‣ Evaluate app economies and app vitality.
We do that using a range of quantitative and Other services include advanced market prediction
‣ Drive organic growth with the leading App Store
qualitative methodologies, including gamer analyses for identifying emergent gaming trends
Optimization platform.
segmentation and persona development, feature and access to unique AI-enhanced data of 140
‣ Get the best global download and revenue
testing, message creation, and loyalty and thousand game titles and 48 million game players.
estimates for the App Store and Google Play.
engagement modeling. The work of our senior
The products of Kinrate Analytics have been ‣ Discover top creatives and better shape user
leadership goes back many years, and includes
developed in university-led research projects in acquisition strategy.
long-term engagements for console and gaming-
collaboration with economists, psychologists, game
PC hardware-makers, individual games in a range
scholars, and data scientists.
of genres, and across consoles, PCs, and mobile,
and for some of the top game franchises.
23RPG MECHANICS TAXONOMY
Family Definition Family Definition
Accelerators Increases the power, impact, or efficiency of play Hazards Level elements/blockers that make levels more difficult
Banks Saves a % of spend that can be unlocked later Interactions Social features with direct or indirect interaction
Bonuses Free bonuses given to players (e.g., retention or W2E) Leaderboards Stand-alone leaderboards
Challenges Goal-oriented tasks for players to complete
Levels Anything to do with leveling
Clubs Groups that accomplish goals or compete with other groups
Mini-Games Smaller, shorter games within a game (e.g., scratch cards)
Collections A set of items players collect (often for a completion prize)
Missions Linear sets of tasks that players must complete
Competitions Players competing against other players
Notices Feature or product announcements
Conflicts Players engaging in battle with their characters
Other Miscellaneous features and outliers
Cosmetics Improvements or updates to the app or a feature
Profiles Players' setups, profiles, settings, and controls
Currencies Changes to currencies, economies, stores, and items
Purchases Anything to do with purchases
Custom Design Options to customize aesthetics
Quests Tasks that players complete to progress along a map
Expansions Additional rooms, worlds, play modes, VIP lounges, etc.
Rewards players receive for engagement or spend (other than
Flows Specific flows, like the NUX, ratings, and surveys Rewards
those in the bonuses family)
24“So much to do, so little RAM."
— Tony Stark, Iron Man #290
LiquidandGrit.com
Brett.Nowak@LiquidandGrit.com
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