Battle Pass
Designing an engaging progression system that rewards players through seasonal content and unlockables.
Introduction
What is a Battle Pass?
In 2021, we introduced a battle pass to Hungry Shark World, enhancing the game's reward structure. This feature offers players a tiered progression system with both free and premium tracks. Players can earn increasingly valuable rewards by completing challenges and playing the game, with premium pass holders gaining access to exclusive content. This modernization aligned Hungry Shark World with contemporary gaming trends, where battle passes have become a standard feature for player engagement and monetization
Screenshot taken from Fortnite's Battle Pass
The Problem
Why do we need a battle pass?
The Opportunity
The battle pass transforms existing 3D assets into seasonal content, creating recurring revenue while boosting player engagement and market position.
The essential building blocks
Anatomy of a Battle Pass
Premium
Content
Free tiers in battle passes offer basic rewards and steady progress, ensuring broad player participation and retention.
Free
Content
For Freemium/F2P, having both free and premium tiers are important as they encourage everyone to participate, providing more incentives for non-paying players, to convert and upgrade in the future.
The essential building blocks
Our Battle Pass: Splash Pass
We also included skip-tier mechanics to encourage in-game spending. Lastly, we displayed in-game challenges within the Splash Pass interface to clearly guide players towards their rewards.
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Drag the handle to see the before & after results!
For Freemium/F2P, having both free and premium tiers are important as they encourage everyone to participate, providing more incentives for non-paying players, to convert and upgrade in the future.
FTUE & Tutorial
Onboarding players onto the new Splash Pass feature
We guided players through the new feature using a clear infographic that appears on first encounter and remains accessible via the Splash Pass screen - ensuring instructions aren't lost when players dismiss initial popups
What the user sees when first encountering the Battle Pass System
Seasonality
Designing the Battle Pass to accommodate Seasonal Content
Opting for a seasonal Battle Pass design brings in several advantages. It keeps the game fresh and interesting by consistently supplying new themes tied to real-world seasons or festivities. This fosters a natural cycle of anticipation and engagement among players. It also offers us the chance to plan updates strategically and refine the game based on player feedback.
Integrating Premium Bundles
Further Monetization Mechanics
Splash Pass Extreme
The Splash Pass features a premium 'Extreme' tier that includes 10 tier skips, providing an accelerated progression option for high-value players
Tier skips
Players can use hard currency to skip reward tiers, offering flexibility in progression while driving additional monetization opportunities
Outcome
Success Metrics
D1 Retention
Before
41%
After
48.3%
D7 Retention
Before
26.1%
After
32.2%
D30 Retention
Before
6.3%
After
9.0%
Conversion Rate
5.11%
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
16%
Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU)
25%
Session Duration
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All metrics refer to the first launch of Splash Pass in 2021
Outcome
What does Splash Pass look like today?
All metrics refer to the first launch of Splash Pass in 2021
In 2024, Splash Pass is still going strong with new UI iterations. For the UI Artist, a backlog of seasonal art is created in batches, in anticipation for future releases. Splash Pass 10: Party Pass still retains the same FTUE/Tutorial format, with overall newer visuals and more rewards, delivering more value to players