From 'Legacy' to 'Live Service'
Retrofitting an older UI system to create a functional live service shop
The game loop revolves around staying alive as long as possible, as waves of debuffs and powerups come your way, making the game exponentially more difficult. Players are motivated to try again and again, experimenting with different strategies and tactics to see how far they can go. This constant trial and error can lead to a satisfying feeling of progress, encouraging continued play.
Legacy System from a different era
When Hungry Shark World initially launched in 2016, its original design predated modern live service monetization standards, requiring significant adaptation to meet current market expectations
Legacy Monetization Systems
The Shop remained untouched since Hungry Shark Released.
Original
The shop could only accommodate one format, a horizontally scrollable component with individual panels
The Problem
Live Ops Managers cannot tailor make bundles and offers for players
The shop's placement is obscure and unobvious
The Navigation was clunky and unclear
The tech was dated
Structural changes to enable live-ops customization
How I redesigned the Shop under heavy technical constraints
Arrangement Option 1
Big Offer Unit
Small Offer Unit
Arrangement Option 2
Small Offer Unit
Small Offer Unit
Small Offer Unit
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.
!
Drag the handle to see the before & after results!
Results
Success Metrics
The changes made to the shop were to enable Live Ops to make changes on a fly, and to provide an overall better user experience for the player when interacting with the shop. Here are the impacts made:
Conversion Rate
8.5%
Customer Acquisition Cost
18.2%
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
2.3%
Session Duration
0.8%
Session Duration
— 0.8%
Session Duration
21%
User Satisfaction Scores
—
All metrics refer to the first launch of Splash Pass in 2021