Social casino continues to innovate on liveops, as they have for decades, unbeknownst to many PMs and designers. “Ew, casino” reactions miss essential learnings and design innovation.
Liveops matters so much to casinos because the core is so simple (although the slots math is not). There’s a smaller design space, so formats are contoured and create unique mechanics.
Two stood out from Liquid and Grit & Game Economist Consulting Monthly Round Table on Jackpot Party:
Safety Net: when balances hit 0, claim a 10M coin grant. Every 30 minutes, the player is eligible for another claim. This creates a rebounding effect when spending velocity is high and applies to any energy-based system. It also encourages draining balances to 0 as frequently as possible.
Star Power: grants players rewards and power if they grow their average transaction size (bet size). This creates an almost mini-progression track. If designers play with the Star Power reset periods (i.e., making it a session-based mechanic), they can ramp slot sessions as players spend progressively more, creating natural crescendo moments.
Social casino teaches us about the power of spend velocity. So far, only 4x has caught on, but match-3 is actually the genre that should benefit most from a social casino re-imagining.
