Where LiveOps Stood at the End of 2025
By the end of 2025, LiveOps teams were operating in an environment shaped by rising expectations and operational intensity. Personalization had become a baseline capability rather than a differentiator, event calendars expanded significantly, and teams were expected to sustain high production velocity without compromising stability.
In Balancy’s final webinar of the year, Anton Slashf (Studio Director & Producer, PlayHero) and Michael Khripin (Product Owner, Balancy) reflected on how LiveOps practices evolved in 2025 and what teams should realistically prepare for in 2026. The discussion was grounded in market observation, studio experience, and concrete production examples.
1. Standardization as a Defining Pattern
One of the clearest patterns in 2025 was the increasing standardization of LiveOps systems across the market. Event formats, reward structures, and monetization flows showed strong convergence, particularly among top-grossing casual and hybrid-casual titles.
Michael summarized this trend during the session:
“It sometimes feels like the industry is working from the same LiveOps playbook. You see very similar event structures repeating across many successful games.”
From a production perspective, this reflects a rational response to market pressure. Borrowing established formats from leading titles such as Royal Match or Monopoly GO reduces uncertainty and shortens iteration cycles. For teams managing multiple games, this approach improves predictability and operational efficiency.
At the same time, both speakers stressed that copying without understanding intent can be risky.
“If you don’t understand why an event exists or what problem it solves, you may end up copying not only the strengths, but also the weaknesses,” Michael noted.
2. Hybrid-Casual Momentum and Strategic Focus
Another notable shift in 2025 was the continued movement of teams toward hybrid-casual structures. Studios increasingly applied LiveOps systems long established in casual puzzle games to newer hybrid formats.
Anton framed this as a conscious strategic choice:
“In many hybrid-casual games, innovation happens primarily in core gameplay. LiveOps then becomes a proven system that supports that gameplay rather than an area of experimentation.”
This separation allows teams to focus risk where it matters most. LiveOps becomes a stabilizing layer, while gameplay innovation drives differentiation and user acquisition.
3. Gossip Harbor: Reworking LiveOps at Scale
One of the most discussed examples during the webinar was Gossip Harbor. Despite operating in a puzzle market that showed limited overall growth in 2025, the game demonstrated how LiveOps restructuring can materially change performance, even for a mature title.
Michael pointed out that in 2024, Gossip Harbor ran roughly 20 LiveOps events per month. In 2025, that number increased dramatically to 90–100 events per month.
“The shift wasn’t about inventing new mechanics,” Anton explained. “It was about changing cadence, shortening events, increasing overlap, and delivering rewards much faster.”
Events became shorter, more interconnected, and designed to minimize idle time. Rather than waiting days between major beats, players were consistently presented with something active — an approach that significantly altered engagement dynamics.
4. Event Cadence and the “TikTok-ification” of LiveOps
A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the evolution of event cadence toward shorter, faster loops — a trend Anton described as increasingly reminiscent of TikTok-style consumption patterns.
“Events are becoming shorter, more packed, and easier to understand. Players open the game and immediately know what to do — and they get rewarded quickly,” Anton said.
Importantly, this does not mean abandoning long-term systems. Instead, most successful games now operate layered LiveOps structures.
Michael described this clearly:
“You typically see a short-term layer with very frequent events, and a deeper layer — like a season pass or collection system — that spans weeks or months.”
Titles such as Monopoly GO and Royal Match exemplify this approach, where short competitive or task-based events feed into longer progression systems, and vice versa.
5. Personalization and Fairness by Genre
Personalization continued to expand in 2025, though its application varied significantly by genre. In casual puzzle games, personalization is often applied to pacing, content exposure, or progression difficulty. In competitive or socially driven games, the margin for error is smaller.
Anton highlighted this distinction:
“In competitive games, personalization that affects core progression can quickly feel unfair. In casual games, there’s more flexibility — especially when personalization supports comfort rather than advantage.”
Michael added that many large titles now rely on layered content visibility rather than explicit personalization:
“Some players never see deeper layers of LiveOps because they don’t reach them. Others unlock more events simply by progressing faster.”
This approach, used in titles like Royal Match, allows differentiation without explicitly signaling personalization to players.
6. AI’s Practical Role in LiveOps Production
AI tools gained meaningful traction in 2025, particularly in production workflows. Both speakers emphasized that the most tangible impact has been in 2D art production, asset variation, and localization.
Anton noted:
“Top studios are already using AI for 2D art — often trained on their own visual styles — with artists refining the output afterward.”
AI is also increasingly used as a support tool for developers and designers, helping with prototyping, documentation, and technical problem-solving. However, both speakers cautioned against overestimating its role in strategic decision-making.
“AI is great at accelerating production, but it’s not ready to make balance or monetization decisions,” Michael said.
7. Operational Pressure and Scaling Challenges
As event density increases, operational complexity grows accordingly. Running 90+ events per month requires coordination across art, economy, QA, analytics, and release pipelines — often in parallel.
Michael pointed to analytics as a common pain point:
“Teams run many A/B tests, but not all of them account for sample size or noise. Interpreting results correctly is still a major challenge.”
Burnout was another recurring concern. Anton emphasized team structure as a mitigation strategy:
“Smaller, autonomous teams with clear ownership tend to handle LiveOps pressure better. Reducing dependencies improves both speed and sustainability.”
Preparing for 2026
Looking ahead, the speakers expect continuity rather than disruption. Shorter event loops, layered LiveOps systems, increased social mechanics, and deeper integration of AI into production workflows are all likely to continue into 2026.
Preparation, they agreed, is less about novelty and more about execution:
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understanding why systems work
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managing scale without losing clarity
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and designing LiveOps pipelines that teams can sustain over time
Final Thoughts
LiveOps in 2025 was defined by consolidation, cadence refinement, and operational scaling. As teams move into 2026, success will increasingly depend on how well they manage complexity — across systems, schedules, and people.
Watch the full webinar recording: