S04 E10 Innogames’ Strategy To Extending The Lifespan Of Legacy Games

Extending a game’s lifespan is every studio’s grand objective, but the path to effective execution is packed with difficult decisions. Studios can lean into Live-Ops to keep content fresh and cultivate profitable partnerships to enhance their marketing mix, or they can centre community management and leverage audience listening. Or, like Innogames, they can do all of the above. Our hosts Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow welcome three guests from Innogames for insider insights into how the studio successfully lengthens the lifespan of their legendary games, Tribal Wars and Forge of Empires, which just reached 20 years of play and hit the one billion lifetime value milestone, respectively, and continuously nets new audiences for both. Matthew Milligan (Product Head), Stefan Flinterhoff (Head of Game UA), and Thorsten Schankin (Senior Product Manager) dive into Innogames' unique approach to UA and company culture—one that puts games first and centres teams around titles instead of channels. They also chat about community engagement and sourcing inspiration from Forge of Empires’ million daily active users. From forecasting tools and Live-Ops to embracing power creep and integrating cross-platform before it was cool, this episode is loaded with useful information for indies and triple-As alike.

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

02:19 - Product and marketing come together

07:19 - Leaning on your community

11:13 - Cross-platform before it was cool

17:52 - In the case of power creep

19:50 - Forecasting tools

25:08 - Community starts internally

28:05 - Constantly testing new partners

30:37 - Staying novel

34:16 - A little more about Matt, Thorsten, and Stefan

38:15 - Favourite games Q&A

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