Competitor Research

Writing notes helps me think more clearly. I share them in case someone spots a gap in my thinking.

I have been heading Products in the mobile gaming industry for 6 years now. This is what works for me.

Start by picking the top 5 products in your industry. Try them all. Then choose the one you personally enjoy. You will only dig deep if you genuinely like the product and use it regularly.

In this blog post, I will talk about my industry, i.e., the mobile games industry.

Every game is different. Each one can have different graphics, sound, UX, economy, difficulty, progression, etc. Start spending 30 minutes a day playing and observing.

Take screenshots. Record gameplay. Write notes. Writing helps you notice the ‘why’ behind features. You will start to see why their features work and what your own games might be missing.

Do this daily for a few months. After a point, you will stop needing recordings, as you would have already seen most of the features.

Check subreddits. Read what players are saying. Comment anonymously if you want. You will either learn something or get corrected. Both are useful.

Look at the small things:

  1. How fast does the game load?
  2. What happens in the first 10 seconds?
  3. When do you get to the gameplay?
  4. What happens when you win or lose?
  5. Where do coins come from?
  6. How long does level progression take?
  7. When is the best time to log in?
  8. When do you see the best offers?

If something does not make sense, play more. Try different things, and you will get to know.

Reach out to support. See how they talk to players.

If it is multiplayer, play with real people. Talk to them. They often know things you don’t like hidden rewards or clever strategies.

Ask yourself:

  1. Do I think about this game when I am not playing?
  2. Do I ask my friends to join? Or do they ask me to play? What is the reason behind it? Is there any in-game reward for that?
  3. Read app reviews.
  4. Track how often new events come. How often do they run your favorite events?

Your notes should cover the following:

  1. Onboarding
  2. Progression
  3. Coin sources
  4. LiveOps
  5. Sale formats
  6. Mini-games
  7. Monetisation (Ads, IAP, or both)
  8. If it has ads, what type of ads do they use rewarded videos, interstitials, banners, or offerwalls?
  9. When they start monetising (some games don’t monetise for a few days)
  10. Track social posts, emails, and push notifications
  11. What happens if you don’t play for a week
  12. Keep track of frictions in gameplay
  13. Talk to other players, online or offline. They’ll tell you why the game works.

Finally, study new games by the same company. Are they solving past pain points? Or repeating the same mistakes? Sometimes, friction is intentional.

You can reach out to me via Linkedin or email.