Connect with us
Prague Gaming & TECH Summit 2025 (25-26 March)

gaming

Zynga Games Announces Halloween Spooktacular Event

Published

on

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Zynga Games, a global leader in interactive entertainment, has announced the Halloween Spooktacular event. This will be a selection of new in-game events across four of Zynga’s titles – Empires & Puzzles, Farmville 2: Country Escape, Farmville 2: Tropic Escape and Puzzle Combat.

Players can celebrate the spooky season with chilly challenges, eerie activities and sweet treats to help them get into the Halloween spirit. The events will vary by title and begin to emerge on October 1 before vanishing by November 7.

It is the season for Return to Morlovia! This recurring Halloween quest in Empires & Puzzles is updated with special rewards and new hero costumes that grant exclusive powers to help players boost their attacks or fortify their defenses. During the event, players can battle or summon seven exclusive characters, including Vlad the Vampire Lord, Francine Frankenstein and Halloween Jack. Returning to the event for a limited time is the Pumpkin Bombs feature that invites players to match pumpkins before they explode. Mystery offers and free treats will be handed out every day of the spooky event.

Empires & Puzzles successfully blends approachable match-3 battles with deeper gameplay elements including hero collection, base building and social alliances. Since its launch in 2017, Empires & Puzzles has reached the #1 grossing games position in over 70 countries on the App Store and over 30 countries on Google Play. Empires & Puzzles is available to download for free on iOS and Android.

Advertisement
European Gaming Congress 2024 (Warsaw, Poland)

Something spooky is coming to the farm! Heidi and Johnny play pranks on each other all the time. But this Halloween in FarmVille 2: Country Escape, Johnny is planning something big for Heidi – a playhouse packed with loads of spooktacular scares! Help Heidi traverse the haunted house while completing fangtastic phases to win exclusive rewards such as Golden Gloves. Finish all six stages to win the final farmhand reward – Hazel, the bewitching cat.

FarmVille 2: Country Escape lets players experience the world of farming, friends and fun! Players can raise animals and grow their farms with friends where everyone can trade and share. FarmVille offers a unique experience that lets players customise and build their farms just how they wish while going on incredible adventures to collect rare goods and craft new recipes. FarmVille 2: Country Escape is available on iOS and Android.

Mortie, the young son of the Grim Reaper, is back for the second year in a row. This time, he will take players on his version of a haunted house adventure. Mortie doesn’t just live in any old house – haunted houses are so last century. His home is the underworld itself! Players must keep their exploration spells and wits about them as they compete with other participants to see who can explore the farthest reaches of the netherworld with Mortimer Reaper. Players can win Halloween decorations, guides, an undead mermaid and lots of other rewards.

FarmVille 2: Tropic Escape is a part of one of the most beloved farming franchises – FarmVille. Escape to an island getaway filled with adventure, mystery and fun new mini-games in this colorful free-to-play game. FarmVille 2: Tropic Escape is available on the iOS and Android.

Brace yourself for 31 nights of fun and fright. During the month of October, Puzzle Combat will feature a special event comprising 60 playable quest stages packed with valuable rewards like terrifying avatars and unique items to enhance battles or help characters level up. Players can summon five exclusive heroes in the event, including Ichika the Vengeful Spirit, Blaire the New Wave Witch and Strawman. A Trick or Treat gameplay mechanic is also available to unlock special Halloween boosts and attacks.

Advertisement
European Gaming Congress 2024 (Warsaw, Poland)

Launched in April 2021, Puzzle Combat is a mobile match-3 action role-playing game (RPG) where players recruit heroes, build bases and compete in player-vs-player (PvP) battles in a zombie-themed setting. Puzzle Combat is available for iOS and Android as a free download.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

gaming

Getting ready for Xmas: SplitMetrics partnership with Wargaming helps World of Warships app sail to new heights with 15% uplift in organic conversions

Published

on

getting-ready-for-xmas:-splitmetrics-partnership-with-wargaming-helps-world-of-warships-app-sail-to-new-heights-with-15%-uplift-in-organic-conversions
Reading Time: 2 minutes

 

Wargaming, a leading game developer, teamed up with SplitMetrics, an app growth solutions company, to boost conversion rates with seasonal Christmas-themed screenshots for the launch of its game World of Warships: Legends.
Coinciding with the game’s soft launch in Brazil, the Philippines, Canada, and France ahead of the Christmas holidays, Wargaming wanted to capitalise on the seasonality effect to influence its app engagement without advertising.
By working with SplitMetrics Agency, a leading mobile growth agency, Wargaming increased conversions by an average of 15% on iOS across App Store storefronts in Canada, the Philippines and France. Canada experienced the highest conversion rate increase with 31.45%, followed by the Philippines (9.61%) and France (3.44%). On Android, the Brazilian Google Play storefront experienced the highest conversion rate increase with 6.68%.
SplitMetrics Agency focused on A/B testing as its core strategy. The agency optimised visual assets, analysed performance and tested various creative hypotheses. Using SplitMetrics Optimize, the agency’s experts ran experiments to identify the best-performing illustrations for both the App Store and Google Play product pages.
A key hypothesis tested during this project was whether tailoring visuals to each region during Christmas would have an impact. For France and Canada, the images were adjusted to include a winter theme featuring snow, fireworks and a Christmas tree. For the Philippines, the agency used white ribbons, a local Christmas tradition, along with fireworks and ornaments displaying the country’s flag. And for Brazil, fireworks and ornaments decorated with the Brazilian flag.
During this testing period, there were no in-app events or paid user acquisition campaigns, allowing the performance changes to be directly attributed to the updated screenshots.
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency, said: “Christmas is one of the main calendar events that app marketers need to prepare for, especially in the gaming category.
“The World of Warships: Legends case study is a great example of how seasonality can significantly impact your app’s performance and give you a boost in users. And this can be achieved without an advertising budget. It can all be done organically when you have the right calendar event, great graphics and A/B testing.
“As in the case of the Wargaming game, a comprehensive analysis and testing strategy increased its conversion rate by an average 15% across three markets.
“It is essential that app marketers forward-plan for any relevant calendar events. It’s also important to note that Christmas may not be relevant for every app but if you’re unsure you can always try A/B testing to see what works. And keep optimising.”

The post Getting ready for Xmas: SplitMetrics partnership with Wargaming helps World of Warships app sail to new heights with 15% uplift in organic conversions appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Continue Reading

gaming

Nolimit City revisits the brutal factory life in Outsourced: Slash Game

Published

on

nolimit-city-revisits-the-brutal-factory-life-in-outsourced:-slash-game
Reading Time: 2 minutes

 

Nolimit City takes you back to the grind with its latest release, Outsourced: Slash Game. For those who thought their consumerist cravings were a safe indulgence, think again. Following in the footsteps of Outsourced, this new addition pulls back the curtain on the sweat and sacrifice lurking behind those everyday luxuries—this time with a dash of danger. Outsourced: Slash Game is the studio’s second venture into crash-style gameplay, the first being xCrash™ in Skate or Die – but this time it’s a standalone crash game!

In Slash Game, players have to make some cutthroat decisions as a laser traces the outline of their hand, increasing the multiplier with every pass. Players hit “stop” to cash out, locking in the multiplier when they feel the timing is right. After which, they will be shown the potential winnings if they wouldn’t have stopped. But here’s the catch: if players hesitate a second too long and the laser slips, all the winnings are lost. A live scoreboard displays the Top Win, Top Miss and Last Round, so that players can keep track of their previous rounds.

Outsourced: Slash Game is not a familiar Nolimit City slot to some players but could cause some excitement with an increasing multiplier and a maximum payout of 1,500x the base bet. Outsourced: Slash Game, unlike Nolimit City’s high-volatility slots, is rated as ‘Medium Volatility’ but don’t let that fool you as it still includes the risk of losing your hand.

Advertisement
European Gaming Congress 2024 (Warsaw, Poland)

Per Lindheimer, Head of Product at Nolimit City, said: “Get back to work, will you? We’re bringing players back to the unrelenting factory floor of Outsourced with an all-new twist. Slash Game is a standalone take on our crash-style games, and it’s packed with plenty of heart-stopping moments (and maybe a few hand-stopping ones, too). We’re thrilled with how it turned out and we hope that our fans will be too!“

‘Outsourced: Slash Game’ will be available to all Nolimit City partners on November 5th, 2024.

The post Nolimit City revisits the brutal factory life in Outsourced: Slash Game appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Continue Reading

CS2 Intel Extreme

CS2 Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 SuperComputer: NaVi to bounce back after Blast Fall Final loss

Published

on

cs2-intel-extreme-masters-rio-2024-supercomputer:-navi-to-bounce-back-after-blast-fall-final-loss

Final: Natus Vincere (36.5%) to beat Team Vitality (28.1%)

Semifinal 1: Natus Vincere (52.6%) to beat MOUZ (16.3%)

Semifinal 2: Team Vitality (47.7%) to beat G2 Esports (18.7%)

Quarterfinal 1: G2 Esports (39.8%) to beat FaZe Clan (32.8%)

Quarterfinal 2: MOUZ (35.9%) to beat Eternal Fire (24.7%)

Advertisement
European Gaming Congress 2024 (Warsaw, Poland)

Group stage

  1. Natus Vincere – 48.7% to finish 1st; 17.0% to finish 2nd; 84.1% to make playoffs

  2. Team Vitality – 40.8% to finish 1st; 17.4% to finish 2nd; 77.7% to make playoffs

  3. G2 Esports – 19.3% to finish 1st; 20.4% to finish 2nd; 56.7% to make playoffs

  4. MOUZ – 14.5% to finish 1st; 21.8% to finish 2nd; 53.0% to make playoffs

  5. FaZe Clan – 13.9% to finish 1st; 21.0% to finish 2nd; 50.2% to make playoffs

  6. Eternal Flame – 40.7% to finish 1st; 16.2% to finish 2nd; 40.7% to make playoffs

  7. Liquid – 16.3% to finish 7-8th; 35.7% to make playoffs

  8. Virtus.pro – 15.4% to finish 7-8th; 29.9% to make playoffs

  9. Astralis – 28.9% to finish 9-12th; 31.5% to make playoffs

  10. The MongolZ – 32.7% to finish 9-12th; 25.4% to make playoffs

  11. Complexity – 34.3% to finish 9-12th; 21.2% to make playoffs

  12. Heroic – 26.8% to finish 9-12th; 23.5% to make playoffs

  13. paiN – 36.5% to finish 13-16th; 21.0% to make playoffs

  14. FURIA – 36.4% to finish 13-16th; 20.9% to make playoffs

  15. 9z – 44.7% to finish 13-16th; 14.6% to make playoffs

  16. Imperial – 49.1% to finish 13-16th; 13.9% to make playoffs

It has been quite the run for NaVi despite their loss with back to back grand finals in recent weeks but CSDB.gg’s predictive model suggests there will be no let up for the Ukrainian esports organisation.

G2 will also be looking to build more momentum in preparation for Majors season with NiKo on a quest to finally get over the line this year to win his first major title. Hopefully Rio won’t have to see a repeat of his reaction in the semifinals at BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 where he punched a hole in a table after losing out to Team Vitality in a key moment.

However, the hosts of Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 may want to lockdown any nearby furniture and reinforce their desks if G2 are set for disappointment at the semifinals stage as predicted by the CSDB.gg SuperComputer.

A victory in Rio could be even more consequential for how the end of the year shapes up for the leading teams on the circuit. The Valve Global rankings have both teams close at the very top (NaVi at 1988 and G2 at 1953) meaning a win for either team could hand them a key advantage when it comes to who enters the Majors as top seed. 

Advertisement
European Gaming Congress 2024 (Warsaw, Poland)

Back-to-back wins in T1 events for G2, should they prosper in Rio, would set the Berlin-based team on an incredible trajectory going into the winter months.

Meanwhile, Brazilian hopes for glory look slight according to the CSDB.gg SuperComputer with FURIA, the team co-owned by Neymar, having only been given a 20.9% chance of even making the playoffs. 

They are the leading contenders to make an impact for the home crowd but there are other teams flying the flag for Brazil with paiN and Imperial also set to give it their best to give local fans something to cheer on.

In terms of forecasted matchups of note, G2 and FaZe Clan could offer up a fascinating encounter in the quarterfinals should both teams qualify, with each organisation rated as having a strong chance of making the semis with little to separate them should they meet.

How was the CSDB.gg CS2 Tournament SuperComputer created?

Advertisement
European Gaming Congress 2024 (Warsaw, Poland)

The CSDB.gg CS2 Tournament SuperComputer is a predictive model created using world ranking points, team quality ratings and performance trends. An element of randomness is also included in the model to avoid the best teams and players always winning, to reflect the fact that upsets can happen.

Every tournament is simulated 1,000 times with the results aggregated into a percentage rating of the chances teams or players have to achieve the predicted result.

Continue Reading

Trending