How to achieve long-term success in games
4 strategies to grow your business responsibly, from game developer Crowdstar at Glu Mobile — part of the Apps, Games, & Insights podcast
Authored by Sarah Fuchs, Vice President & General Manager of Covet Fashion, and Judy Chen, Director of Product & Management at Design Home
Game developer Crowdstar by Glu Mobile is the maker of Covet Fashion and Design Home, and recently discussed how to grow your business for long-term success, on Google’s Apps, Games, & Insights podcast.
At Covet Fashion and Design Home, we believe games have the ability to empower players to use their game learnings outside of the game and in the real world. Our games appeal to anyone looking for a creative outlet to express themselves, connect with a passionate community and learn about fashion and interior design.
Here we’ll share some of the strategies we’ve used to foster our long-term vision for our games:
1. Build and harness a diverse team
While we have team members with a traditional games development background, many of our team members come from the fashion industry or interior design, or have a personal passion for our games.
We believe that people who make the game should look like the people who play the game: if the development team shares common interests and aspirations with the game’s players, our players will get a better experience. At the same time, we strive to have diverse voices that create an exchange of ideas and creative tension that builds a better game experience.
When companies intentionally focus on creating a different kind of diversity in the workplace, it transcends into impactful and inclusive games made for every type of player. We focus on empowering our teams to lean into meaningful efforts to hire, elevate and lead diverse voices.
Create a working environment and model the work-life balance behavior
Many employees want the flexibility and the freedom to drop their kids off at school or take their cat to the vet without somebody saying “You’re late.”
We provide those opportunities for our team. By giving our team a working environment where they can have a life, they are more likely to be passionate about what they’re building.
2. Brand partnerships
One of the ingredients that contributes to the success of both of our games is our brand partnerships. Covet Fashion fosters deep integrations with fashion brands such as Badgley Mischka, Nicole Miller and Calvin Klein to drive passionate consumers to discover their latest fashion trends, their brand identity and build long-term familiarity with their products.
Recently, Covet Fashion worked with Badgley Mischka and She’s the First, an organization that provides education opportunities for women. Covet Fashion organized a competition for people to donate to She’s the First and be entered into an opportunity to win seats at the Badgley Mischka Runway Show at New York Fashion Week. The contest winner brought her daughter to the runway show and they had an incredible time experiencing fashion week in real life.
3. Build an engaged player community
Covet Fashion has a passionate community of players from all around the world. To make it easier for players to connect in-game, Covet Fashion offers a community feature called Fashion Houses. Players interested in joining a fashion house take a short quiz: What kind of Covet player are you? Are you Zen or are you super competitive? And we match them with the right house. Players in Fashion Houses regularly communicate with each other and connect over shared interests outside of the game.
Our players have relationships that extend outside the game and into their personal life. Recently, a player from England told her Fashion House that she was going to have to stop playing because of her financial situation and drop out of school. Her Fashion House responded by creating a GoFundMe to put her back into school. We are humbled when we hear stories demonstrating we are building more than just an entertainment experience: we’re building a platform through which people can connect to each other.
Player driven change
Both Design Home and Covet Fashion engage with our players through ambassador programs and talk to players on a daily basis about the new things we are working on. Our players regularly provide feedback that goes directly into our game design process. Once we have implemented that feedback into the game, we go back to our community and give them the opportunity to share additional feedback.
4. Real World Value
Through creative and meaningful game play, Design Home helps players live the life of an interior decorator. Players describe Design Home as a creative outlet to relax, unwind and be creative with their decision-making and expression of their personal style.
As players learn about the latest home décor trends and brands, they describe the game as a productive use of their time as they hone their real-life decorating skills and feel more confident expressing their personal interior design taste in their everyday life.
By providing real-world value for our players, Design Home is transforming the way women discover, learn, create and engage with the interior design industry online and in their daily lives.
Final thoughts
We hope that our approach to our passionate community of players at Covet Fashion and Design Home, will help you take steps to achieve similar long-term success in your games.
Find out more
Listen to Sarah Fuchs and Judy Chen from Crowdstar at Glu Mobile speak about this topic in more detail on episode 1 of the Apps, Games, & Insights podcast.
What do you think?
Do you have thoughts on building sustainable growth for apps and games? Let us know in the comments below or tweet using #AskPlayDev and we’ll reply from @GooglePlayDev, where we regularly share news and tips on how to be successful on Google Play.
