Avoiding Common Pitfalls: Key Considerations for a Successful Soft Launch

For those familiar with the concept of soft launching, this article will delve into the mistakes that developers and publishers often make when introducing their mobile games to the market. We'll use the example of Love & Flowers, a game from our portfolio that ultimately didn't make it to launch, to illustrate the problems that can arise and how to address them. A soft launch is essentially a trial run of a game, released to a limited audience before its worldwide launch, aimed at gathering feedback to improve the product. This preliminary launch can help save resources and inform the decision to continue investing in the game. To better understand why errors may occur during this phase, let's examine the existing approaches. Historically, Canada has been a popular choice for soft launches due to its similarities to the US market in terms of audience and location. However, it's crucial to analyze user behavior in a Tier-1 region or a similar market, and the sooner this is done, the better. The concept of country tiers categorizes regions based on their economy and other factors, with each tier having its pros and cons, particularly in user acquisition. While Canada might seem like an ideal test bed, it's not always the best choice, especially if your game is tailored for a specific region like Asia. Testing in Western countries won't provide accurate insights into post-release performance in such cases. Moreover, the devices your potential players will use should be considered, as iOS dominates in America and Europe, whereas Android is preferred in Asia. Attracting a large number of players is necessary for a successful soft launch to obtain reliable results. For instance, launching monetization in a populous country like India can increase downloads, but it poses challenges like lower solvency compared to the US and Europe, making the 'more people, more money' rule inapplicable for monetization testing. There's no one-size-fits-all formula for the perfect number of users needed for such tests, but the general rule is that fewer players result in less accurate results. Some experts use approximate figures as a guideline. Over time, tests have been conducted in countries that are the target audience for the final product, such as the US, which was initially considered an experimental approach but is now more common. Testing in Tier-3 countries for technical aspects, Tier-2 for retention metrics, and Tier-1 for monetization optimization is still more cost-effective. However, blindly following these rules can become monotonous, and attempting unconventional approaches can lead to significant discoveries and profits. It's essential to thoroughly study the market before deciding to take such risks, as rash decisions can have unpleasant consequences, including project cancellation. Love & Flowers, a mobile game developed by one of our internal studios, was inspired by Cooking Diary and aimed to create a time management game in a unique setting - a flower shop. Despite the promising idea and set budget, several factors contributed to its eventual cancellation. The time management genre peaked in popularity between 2018 and 2020, with each year seeing one game significantly leading in earnings. Restaurants are the most popular setting, followed by hotels, with all projects generating the highest in-app revenue in the US, except for those specifically designed for the Asian market. The team aimed to create a high-production-level game in an extremely short time, which, from a technical standpoint, was far from perfect due to the rushed development. During the soft launch, it became clear that numerous parts of the game needed modification, and the market analysis had not been conducted correctly. The game was made instinctively, with the only analyzed subject being the setting, without considering the target audience or genre features. As a publisher, our mistake was not conveying the need for long, thorough development to the team, leading to a lack of proper analysis and a series of mistakes. When the first tests were run, there were no target metrics, only the desire to make the game as good as possible, which made it unclear which metrics needed fixing. The approach made it difficult to identify which changes benefited the project and which didn't. Most time management games have a narrative, and Love & Flowers was no exception, but its plot was not backed by in-game events, and the text was written in a short time without iteration. An experiment comparing the original game with a version without dialogues showed that removing the story didn't affect retention or session length, highlighting the need for new features to have a purpose. Testing Love & Flowers exclusively in the US for the sake of the experiment resulted in higher-than-expected costs for testing hypotheses and changes. Ultimately, the project was cancelled due to the accumulation of these issues. It's crucial to think through every stage of a soft launch, regardless of how promising a project may seem. Not all games that reach a soft launch are guaranteed to succeed, and some may fail to scale up, make wrong decisions, or fail to achieve desired metrics. In such cases, it's essential to reassess and potentially stop further development to avoid unnecessary expenses. To avoid the fate of Love & Flowers, it's vital to plan ahead, not rush through development, and test changes systematically. Avoiding attachment to the product and being willing to cancel it if metrics are poor can also save resources. By learning from the mistakes made with Love & Flowers, developers can better navigate the challenges of soft launching and create more successful games.