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Case HBS Case Collection September 2019 (Revised November 2019) Othellonia: Growing a Mobile Game |
Othellonia surprised the Japan’s mobile game market by supporting the launch of the game with an unusual approach: Offline community management. The management team favored a slow and steady launch entirely focused on bringing very loyal users instead of attracting too many users at once. Doing so had positioned Othellonia among the mobile games with the most loyal customer base and with monetization rates above the levels usually observed in the industry. However, after a few years of steady growth, strong loyalty from its users and healthy monetization, recent acquisition, engagement and retention metrics were worrisome for Yu Sasaki and Taku Kojo (KJ). Should the team invest in the promotional activities that drove acquisition in the past? Should they rely on the loyal base of players to keep growing the game? How could they increase user engagement without hurting monetization?
Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Mobile Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Japan;
Ascarza, Eva, Tomomichi Amano, and Sunil Gupta. "Othellonia: Growing a Mobile Game." Harvard Business School Case 520-016, September 2019. (Revised November 2019.)
