In-app game events are time-limited, in-game activities (such as live competitions, seasonal campaigns, or exclusive challenges) designed to boost player engagement, retention, and monetization. These events are discoverable both within the game and on external platforms like the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Lucas Nogueira is the Monetization and LiveOps Manager at Ritz Deli Games, a data-driven mobile studio based in Oakland. Before that, he spent years scaling some of the more recognizable names in casual mobile gaming (Bid Wars (50M+ downloads), Smashing Four, and We Are Illuminati) running pricing, economy design, A/B testing, and event systems.
We asked him eleven questions. Here’s what he said.
1. Events are motivation layers, not new gameplay
The first thing Lucas wants studios to understand is what an in-game event actually is.
“A successful in-game event starts with one thing: giving players a fresh reason to care about repeating the core loop.” Most events are a new layer of motivation sitting on top of what players already do daily. Playing levels. Completing missions. Collecting rewards. Coming back tomorrow.
Where studios go wrong, he says, is underestimating communication. “A good event needs to be very clear: what the goal is, what the player can earn, how close they are to the next reward, and why playing one more level matters.” If the event is buried in the UI, most players won’t find it.
The payoff, when done right: the event creates genuine engagement, and monetization follows naturally.
2. Start with the objective (always)
When designing an event, the instinct is to jump straight to mechanics and rewards. Lucas pushes back on that.
“I would start with the player motivation and the business goal.” What behavior is the event actually trying to drive? More sessions? Higher retention? Booster usage? Reactivation? That question has to be answered before anything else.
His approach from there: 80% benchmark, 20% innovation. Study what already works in the genre (competitive events, co-op goals, streaks, milestones, collections) and then add a small twist that fits the game. Rewards and segmentation should come after the objective and core format are clear. “Rewards should support the event motivation, and segmentation can adjust pacing, difficulty, communication, and perceived value for different player groups.”
3. The first major event is an experience
Studios launching their first big event tend to treat it like a themed content drop. That, Lucas says, is the most common mistake.
“Studios often focus too much on the theme, art, and rewards, but underestimate the basics: visibility, communication, pacing, reward clarity, and how the event connects to the core loop.”
His advice: keep the first event simple, clear, and measurable. “I would rather launch something simple, clear, measurable, and well integrated than something ambitious that creates confusion, bugs, or operational pressure.”
The first event’s real job is to teach the team how players react, not to turn LiveOps into an overengineered science project.
4. Measure in these three stages
Lucas splits event measurement into layers, and the order matters.
- Visibility and activation. Event impressions, popup click-through rate, entry rate, participation rate. Is the event even being seen?
- Engagement and progression. Rounds played, session frequency, milestone completion, reward claim rate, retention during the event window. Are players changing their behavior because of it?
- Real business impact. “Ideally through an A/B test or holdout group. That is how we separate actual incremental impact from normal fluctuations in player behavior.” From there: ARPDAU, conversion rate, IAP revenue, ad engagement, booster usage, payer behavior, and post-event retention.
Without that structure, he says, “we are not really evaluating the event. We are just decorating the game and hoping the spreadsheet claps.”
5. Cadence is about layers, not volume
The goal with events is to have a rhythm where different types of players always have something meaningful to do.
Lucas uses a layered approach: longer events around seven days for committed players who want sustained progression across multiple sessions, and shorter events completable in 15 to 30 minutes for casual players who just want a quick win and a reward before closing the app.
“The cadence should create layers: longer events for sustained engagement, shorter events for quick wins, and enough spacing so players don’t feel like every session starts with five different systems screaming for attention.”
6. The best event format is the one you can run 100 times
When asked for an example that exceeded expectations, Lucas points to the themed auction events in Bid Wars 2 and the reason is operational, not creative.
“The core mechanic was simple and reusable: players already understood the auction loop, but by changing the visual assets, theme, and rewards, we could make the event feel fresh every time.” From the player’s side, a new event. From the studio’s side, an efficient LiveOps framework. The same base structure generated more than 100 variations with low production cost and fast execution.
7. Small studios should build frameworks first
“The best approach is to create reusable event frameworks that can be refreshed with different themes, rewards, visuals, and pacing.” A small studio building a strong, single event structure that supports many variations will consistently outperform one that tries to produce a bespoke event every month.
The Bid Wars 2 example holds here too. One mechanic, many themes, low cost per variation. “Events that feel fresh to players, but are simple, scalable, and sustainable for the team.”
8. What players say and what players do are two different signals
Player feedback matters. But Lucas is careful about how much weight it carries on its own.
“I like to combine what players say with what players actually do.” Feedback from reviews, support tickets, Discord, and surveys reveals confusion, frustration, or reward perception. Behavioral data tells you whether that feedback is coming from everyone or just a loud minority.
“If players say the event is too hard and we also see low completion, high drop-off, or lower retention, that is a strong signal. If players complain about rewards but engagement is high, maybe the issue is reward perception or communication, not necessarily reward value.”
9. Rewards should feel abundant (and valuable)
“Sometimes, it is more important to make the reward feel compelling than simply making it very large.” A bundle of nine different resources including 50 coins can feel more valuable than a flat 1,000 coins, even if the raw economic value is lower. Variety creates a sense of abundance and forward progression.
His actual structure: small frequent rewards combined with a few stronger milestone rewards, with tight tracking on completion rate, reward redemption, resource balance, payer behavior, and whether players reduce purchases after receiving event rewards. “The goal is not to be cheap. The goal is to make rewards feel exciting without breaking the economy or teaching players to wait for free stuff.”
10. A/B test the format before you test anything else
Small test group against a holdout. Full funnel measurement: visibility, entry, participation, progression, completion, reward claims, session frequency, retention, monetization, and post-event behavior.
“I would also avoid testing too many variables at once. First, test the core format: the mechanic, duration, and main reward structure.” Only after that iterate on pacing, reward values, communication, difficulty, and segmentation. Once the format proves it can lift engagement or revenue without hurting retention or the economy, scale it.
11. The future of events is adaptive
The first is player control over difficulty. “Some games are already experimenting with letting players choose the difficulty or complexity of an event, with rewards adjusted accordingly.”
The same event serves casual players who want a quick achievable goal and hardcore players who want a harder challenge with better payoff.
The second is player choice in rewards. Instead of a fixed prize, events let players choose which reward path they care about most. “Perceived value is different for each player. A payer, a non-payer, a new player, and a veteran may all value different resources.”
Difficulty choice, reward choice, social events, modular formats; all pointing in the same direction. Studios that build event frameworks will have a stronger chance of sustaining LiveOps performance.
