Does a new Call of Duty map generate superior engagement compared to a new weapon? Which drives higher retentive effects: a new Magic The Gathering or Marvel Snap card?
In each question, retention is driven by more than the content but the systems that envelop them. In games, content operates and interacts in systems. In Overwatch, a mere balance adjustment—often implemented through a few keystrokes—ripples through other player choices. For instance, it may make mastering another counter-hero more critical. This way, a change that takes minutes to publish generates thousands of hours of strategic adaptation as players optimize their competitive advantage. However, a similar change, to say, a Vampire Survivors Hero, may not have as large of an effect, highlighting the system-dependent nature of the content.
Consider the curious case of Rocket League’s Flip Resets mechanic. Initially, a player could not jump in midair if they left a surface without jumping off it. Psyonix, the developer, thought it would be cool to jump after going up walls and allowed a player to “save” their flip, using it in midair. Now that players can jump midair, they can position all four wheels to touch the ball’s surface. This replenishes a jump (as if the car was touching a surface), allowing the player to jump again and create “swings.” The mechanic is now a standard and high-level player, driving thousands of hours of mastery as players learn it. Yet, the developers didn’t consider the change significant, so it wasn’t in the patch notes. The mechanic spawns from the interaction of the physics, map design (drive-up walls), and car abilities (jump); the systems operate on the content to make it viable.
The phenomenon adheres remarkably well to a Cobb-Douglas Production Function, where game systems (A) are technological multipliers enhancing player effort (L). This means players can achieve higher satisfaction in one game over another, given the same effort. Furthermore, the system’s design defrays content depreciation. A card game maintaining a meta of 300 cards presents a far more interesting puzzle than a meta of 30, as new cards suddenly make old cards useful.
In the headcount arms race, creating systems where a single piece of content is more valuable than alternative systems is one way to win. Investors understand that capital yields its greatest returns when deployed within the best-designed framework; the same lessons apply to content.