"50% of our players have been playing with us daily for over five years"
"50% of our players have been playing with us daily for over five years"
Playtika’s Director of Customer Experience Shoval Nachum spoke at Calcalist's Gaming Conference in partnership with Google and Playtika about how the gaming company has maintained its success through personal and connections with players.
"People play an average of four hours a week, and in 2023, the gaming industry generated $196 billion in revenue - more than the streaming and film industries combined. Gaming is a key player in the entertainment sector," said Shoval Nachum, Director of Customer Experience at Playtika, at Calcalist's Gaming Conference in partnership with Google and Playtika in Tel Aviv.
"The gaming industry is evolving and presenting new challenges," Nachum added. "Every time you open your phone, dozens of apps are trying to grab your attention. How do you survive in this jungle in the long-term? How do you retain players and keep growing? Fifty percent of Playtika players have been playing daily with us for over five years. How many apps on your phone have you opened daily for five years? It's not something to take for granted."
"How do we achieve this? First, by creating a direct and personal connection with players: we invest in understanding their wants and needs, their major life events and hobbies. The conversations we have with them aren't about the game - they're about themselves.
"Equally important is fostering connections between players. One of our first steps for every game is establishing a Facebook community that serves as a hub for players. There, they can brag about achievements, ask questions, make new friends, and even vent their frustrations about the game when needed. Every morning, we publish an article about the hottest trends in the game to understand what's working, what isn't, and why. We've often caught bugs thanks to this community. And, of course, every major feature goes through the players, and their feedback is taken into account in the decision-making process."
"In 2023, we held an awards ceremony for our players," Nahum shared. "We selected six with inspiring personal stories and invited them to speak at an event attended by hundreds of other players. Each [of the six] received a personalized trophy from one of our team members. The event had over 250,000 views; it was a tremendous success."
Shani Adiel, Marketing Director at Playtika, added: "Why are our games so meaningful to our gamers? We listen [to them] and adapt our marketing approaches, taking the games beyond mobile into the offline world. It's important for us to understand our players, and we involve them in decision-making. We hear their opinions, what they like, and what doesn't work for them. This creates trust and a sense of partnership throughout the journey. In a cooking game, for example, we asked players what they wanted to see in the game and incorporated family recipes they sent us."
"In marketing, the focus is often on acquiring new players or customers," Adiel continued. "At Playtika, our mission extends to current and lapsed players. We work on increasing engagement with active players and bringing back those who have left. For instance, we ran a local campaign in Germany with Drew Barrymore. We had her dubbed in German and found that the campaign resonated incredibly well with both active and lapsed players in Germany, far more than with new ones. We also collaborate with other brands like Pringles. When you bring strong intellectual property from players' everyday lives and create a powerful, relevant experience, you can excel at both player acquisition and retention."
Adiel explained further: "We're used to thinking of mobile games as confined to mobile, but with a game like Bingo Blitz, we took it beyond. We host bingo parties in cities where our gamers are. A player who attends such an event stays with us, builds connections, and makes friends from the game. We focus on engagement, community, and conversation - metrics which help us see the full picture. We believe emotional connection to the game is crucial. If players feel emotionally connected, they stay with us, and that's how we survive in the gaming jungle."
