Temporary and permanent medal rewards

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AFK Arena’s new Medal Rewards feature drove a large stepwise revenue increase of +30% 2Mo2M.

This release grants medals to the best players in high-level features—including solo and team competitions, a boss battle, and a race to complete a campaign—and then regularly resets those medals.

Our first takeaway is to combine temporary and permanent rewards to create enduring incentives for high-level competitions.

By resetting medals after each round, AFK Arena gives players a reason to keep returning to endgame content. 

But temporary rewards have drawbacks, too: They can make players fear losing progress, which has been found to limit engagement in competitive games (see the report for the full study).

To reduce this fear, give players a permanent reminder of their achievements alongside the temporary rewards. A strong example of this is in Game of Sultans‘ Imperial Road, which awarded temporary skins and permanent profile frames to top-ranking players—and helped boost revenue +27% 3Wo3W.

Our second takeaway is to create immersive achievements.

According to our player persona research, RPG players want to feel immersed in the game world and earn achievements (see the report for the full study). Medal Rewards creates both of these feelings by awarding detailed medals for players’ achievements that include exclusive lore.

Video Insights: Community-Oriented Competitions

This week’s video insights take a deeper look at Game of Sultans’ Imperial Road event mentioned above. Watch the video to learn how to design competitions that build community by offering individual reward progressions in addition to traditional leaderboards.

Download the full Core Report for our complete analysis, impact data, and other notable releases.