This week, we take a look at Mob Control, a hybrid-casual game by Voodoo that has seen tremendous growth in recent months and how liveops has contributed to that.
Hyper-casual games may be dead, according to the rumor mill. But liveops can help bring these types of games back to life as hybrid-casual games.
This week, we take a look at Mob Control, a hybrid-casual game by Voodoo that has seen tremendous growth in recent months and how liveops has contributed to that.
Not Mind Control. Mob Control.
According to App Magic, Mob Control has grown from $234,280 USD to $1,295,202 between Sep 2022 and Feb 2023, a 452% increase over 6 months!
In Mob Control, you launch stick people onto multiplier gates to increase your crowd and capture all the bases. The game is PVP (a mix of AI and real people, in my opinion). The game has both a lite renovation (decorate your diorama) and attack your neighbors meta (aka, Coin Master).
Mob Control may not have as many live op events and offers as the Candy Crush Saga, the game we played last week in our ongoing series, “This Week in Live Ops.”
But, it has a surprising amount of liveops in one week of gameplay, which likely is a key factor driving its hockey stick growth and the way it differs from a hyper-casual game.
Battle Pass
Mob Control has a well-designed Battle Pass like you would be in any top casual and mid-core game.
The current season, Spring Season 1, is
- 5 weeks long
- Has daily, weekly, and seasonal missions
- A free and paid reward path
AND the value proposition is simple and generously priced at $4.99, which feels like a sweet spot for the current audience.
We can see the value and price increase in the future, as the audience matures and players become repeat buyers of the season pass.
The rest of the live op campaigns and offers are what we would expect in a top grossing hybrid-casual game like Mob Control:
Single Player Competition
Players unlock Champions League, where you can compete individually to rank on top of the Pyramid.
We did not encounter a team-based competition in our one-week of play. But, we can see how teams and team-based PVP live events would be very fun with this game mechanic.
Piggy Race - Weekly Competitive Event with a Twist
Piggy Race is a solo competition that runs every weekend. You compete against other players and fill the piggy with prizes when you advance. It’s a guild mechanic event where you share rewards with other players. But the twist is that you share rewards with your opponents, not your team-mates.
Offers
The special offer where you pay $9.99 to unlock a Triple Cannon, 50 Cannon Cards, and remove Forced Ads is standard in our book. Every time I saw this offer, it made me want to buy the Season Pass for $4.99, which maybe is the point.
Speaking of which, Forced Ads is the one feature of Mob Control which reminded us of a hyper-casual game. There a lot of long ads, where I have to save the poor mom and her daughter (never a son, strangely enough) from freezing to death.
Hopefully, there are less ads as you progress in the game. Or, I just need to break down and buy the Season Pass!
🔌 And now a fun plug from UserWise
What’s better than showing an offer in your game that removes forced ads? Personalizing special offers for different segments of players in your game!
