Seven Reasons You Can't Drop Clash Royale

Since its release in early 2016, Clash Royale has been downloaded almost 200 million times, and the game has earned about one billion dollars only on in-game purchases. Clash Royale is also unique in that it is likely to earn more over time than Clash of Clans. Now compare this to all King franchise games that usually show worse results each time.

In my opinion, Clash Royale is the best game ever created for touch screen devices. I threw and deleted it more times than I can count. But I installed it more times than I deleted. This article came about because of my addiction to this game. In it, I will analyze in detail the elements that bind us to this masterpiece.
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Here are a couple of interesting posts about Clash Royale:

5 reasons why I want to throw Clash Royale
Analysis of the next billion dollar supercell game

1. Updates

As soon as you get tired of these emotional “roller coasters”, known as Clash Royale, they add another update with new maps. Cards that are sure to make you start a new trophy hunt.

If we forget about the sad tournament update of July 2016, which brought the Clash Royale revenues down to a minimum, updates every two months are either good or amazing (more: Clash Royale Tournaments Update Disappoints ).

The purpose of updates in terms of the product is quite simple: spend as little time as possible to increase involvement and monetization . To achieve this goal, developers analyze qualitative and quantitative data, as well as use the good old intuition. All this information is then used to conduct sprints, to create additional content, new features, fixes, balance changes and game improvements.


Clash Royale updates make changes “on all fronts”. Each update improves the game, adds interesting gameplay, increases involvement and monetization.

At a high level, the pace of work is quite simple. You just need to analyze the data and perform a sprint. Naturally, in reality it is much more difficult for two reasons.

First, it is almost always difficult to agree on what to do next. In my experience, the data often ask questions, but rarely give answers. For example, data may indicate that player spending is steadily declining after level 6, but retention remains constant. There are a lot of ways to deal with this problem: from fine-tuning to completely new functions, and in an experienced team where everyone has their own opinion about the design, everything as a result ends with heated debates about what to do next.

Secondly, resources are always lacking: money, time, or both. Sometimes a favorite idea is simply too expensive to implement in terms of time and money. If you do not have time to add useful content at regular intervals, then involvement will fall. So, investing in a new feature is a risk that can lead to negative consequences, like the infamous tournaments in the Clash Royale.

Clash Royale updates usually cover all aspects of the game. The most important thing in each update is the new content, which in Clash Royale are the new maps. The way to add these cards borders on the ideal.

First, each new card is introduced into the game in a special event (Event), which allows players to play with a new card, and the most experienced players can purchase it in advance. Participation in an event costs money, which allows the developer not only to increase involvement with the help of a time-limited event, but also to improve monetization thanks to the entrance fee.

Secondly, there is always hype around these new maps. Players watch educational videos on YouTube and learn how to play with and against these cards. This creates a steady desire to win in the test. And, more importantly, it pushes the community to discuss and stream video of new maps and strategies.

Thirdly, all new cards get to the players slowly. Each update usually contains about three new maps. But instead of introducing all three cards at the same time, as it happened in the first months after the release, Clash Royale unlocks these cards gradually, with an interval of two to three months. By consistently introducing content, game developers alleviate the pressure of the “content treadmill” (for more details, see the article Managing and Avoiding Content Treadmill ).

Fourth, and this is the most important thing: with each new metagame card, Clash Royale evolves. Because of this, the game always remains fresh and forces the players to learn again to play with or against a new card.

Most notably, Supercell manages to maintain the pace of creating content for the largest mobile game in the world with a team of less than 20 developers and almost no third-party artists. Its competitors, King, EA and Machine Zone, to manage a project from dozens of the most profitable games, require a team of at least a hundred developers and artists.

2. Chests

Despite the fact that most of my gaming sessions end in frustration, they all start positively - with the opening of treasure chests. Each chest contains cards that I need and unnecessary cards that I give to members of my clan. In other words, when I see a chest notification on the screen, I am ready to return to the game, despite the defeat I received three hours ago.


Chest mechanics are used to control engagement, retention, social functions and monetization. This mechanic is arguably one of the most important game mechanics since the Clash of Clans automatic farming invented in 2013.

The mechanics of treasure chests, in my opinion, is one of the most powerful game mechanics of Clash Royale for three reasons:

First, it acts as a training mechanic. It takes three or eight hours to open most chests. This allows the player to choose the time when he will play again.

Secondly, the chests limit the speed of the player mastering the new content. Each game has a finite amount of content. Theoretically, when a player has mastered all the content, his involvement should fall. And, most importantly, when players master all the content, they will no longer have reasons to monetize. Usually, to slow down players, games limit the duration of sessions (energy mechanics). The problem is that these artificial constraints of progress are felt precisely as artificial (at best). Clash Royale solves this problem with content, allowing players to play any amount of time, but after just a few wins, all four slots of the chests are filled up, and they will not advance further in mastering the content.

Thirdly, the chests ensure that players will have a good mood at the beginning of each session. This is very important because Clash Royale is probably the most punishing player game on touch screen devices. When most sessions end with a losing series and promise to stop playing, notifications about opening chests in three hours are vital to attract the player back to the game.

Clash Royale has several ways to get treasure chests. Arena Chests chests are earned when playing rating battles. Each victory gives the chest until all four slots are filled, and the player will have to decide which chest he will open: three-hour or eight-hour. There are other types of rare chests, but to be honest, when luck gives a huge chest (Giant Chest) or a magic chest (Magic Chest), the player usually spends crystals to instantly open them.

In addition to the chests that players earn in rating mode, there is a royal chest (Crown Chest) , which opens when a player destroys ten towers. This chest is pretty tricky. He makes play, even when all the slots with chests are filled. There are also free chests (Free Chests) , guaranteeing that the player will always have one or two chests awaiting his return to the game.

And finally, there is the clan battle chest (Clan Battle Chest) , which opens with the battles with members of their clan against other members of the clan. This chest not only advertises the fun 2 on 2 mode, but also stimulates retention, preventing clan-to-clan jumping: new clan members cannot use the clan trunk. Keeping in a clan means that the player will feel responsible to other players. This leads to an overall increase in retention. No one wants to be expelled.

In addition, the mechanics of treasure chests are woven into every aspect of the game. Indeed, why not? This is a phenomenal way to slow down the progress of players, stimulate social gameplay, increase monetization, and, most importantly, create a positive attitude at the beginning of each session.

3. Duration of sessions

When I wait for my wife in a store, sit in a taxi or just take a short break, I have an instinctive temptation to play a fight. In the end, this is the best way to kill three to five minutes of time.


Clash Royale provides an incredibly wide range of significant sessions: from ten seconds to several hours. Therefore, no matter where you are, there is always time for Clash .

Quite surprisingly, you can hold a meaningful session at Clash Royale, no matter how long you have it: 5 seconds, 5 minutes, or 5 hours. The ability to provide any desired session duration in conjunction with the ultra-fast loading of the game means that you have no excuse not to start the game if you wish, or when notifications about the opening of chests appear.

Ultrashort game sessions are motivated only by a “lottery” with chests. Clash Royale is loaded in just five seconds, after which the player can open his unlocked arena chest and one or two free chests. In addition, a player during this ultra-short, but meaningful session can also give cards to his friends by clan.

Sessions of average duration , in my opinion, last from five to twenty five minutes. The duration of these sessions depends on how many battles the player has enough time (or patience). During these sessions, players participate in the basic cycle of the game, battling with other players. The purpose of the middle session is to fill the slots of the chests and / or get enough crowns to open the royal chest. Sometimes it takes only one or two three-minute battles, and sometimes much more ...

Long sessions can last several hours. For such sessions, players may have different motivation. One of the reasons - the participation of the player in the test or the desire for the royal chest. As I said, sometimes it takes up to ten battles to finally open the royal chest. And after this task is completed, a new royal chest is immediately available, to which the player can begin to strive. Sometimes the tests are so exciting that the player wants to participate in them again and again.

In addition to side motivators of long sessions, they have another goal - the player develops new cards. Clash Royale uses the pay-to-progress model and strives to avoid the pay-to-win model in every possible way. In other words, it is not enough to own high-level cards, you also need to skillfully use them. Skill requires training, so there are long sessions.

Clash Royale's ability to give a player a session of any length is amazing and is an improvement over the rather outdated genre of building and fighting (build-and-battle). It is enough to compare Clash Royale with Clash of Clans, where after collecting resources, beginning building construction and participating in one battle, the player has absolutely nothing to do in the game, unless of course he does not want to spend money on restoring the army for another fight.

Despite the fact that in the design of sessions the player is in first place, the monetization potential of Clash Royale has not changed. It does not matter how long the sessions are - promotion in the game is achieved only when the level of the cards is increased. And for this you need chests. And the chests are locked by one timer. In other words, a player participating in a game 6 hours a day may have better skills than spending 30 minutes a day in a game, but in general they will both have approximately the same deck. This, ladies and gentlemen, is called the unsurpassed design of the system.

4. Tournaments and events

One of the most important reasons that I threw a Clash Royale (I left and returned to the game more times than I would like) is that the game becomes monotonous. When a player reaches high levels, to win he needs to achieve skill in the use of the deck. The combination of the need for skill and the fact that all battles are arranged in rank does not encourage experimentation with new maps. At least, every time I tried to change the deck, this led to a series of defeats, due to which I had to leave the arena level (league level), and the prizes in the chests worsened.

Tournaments finally allowed players to try the work of new cards against other players. The scheme is simple: the player pays a small fee to participate in the test. The test is to win 12 battles. With each victory in battle, the rewards become better. If a player loses three times, his test ends and he can receive the amount of the reward, depending on the number of battles won. In essence, tournaments are like sparrings in which players hone their skills in owning new decks before playing in a rating mode.

Events pass from time to time and coincide with the release of new maps. Always add something new. For example, the Draft Challenge offers a game mode in which players select decks for an opponent. In the Draft Challenge, each battle begins with a choice of two cards - one player chooses, the second goes to his opponent. Both players select cards four times until the deck is full. In other words, you know four opponent cards, and he knows four of your cards. The choice of choice can be any card, so you sometimes have to play something new.

Events are very popular because they change the gameplay, either giving the player a random set of cards, or completely changing the rules of the game. For example, a double elixir test, where matches are held from beginning to end in added time mode. Considering the popularity of these events, as well as strong involvement and high monetization (participation in the event is paid for with crystals), it seems that it is logical to conduct such events all the time. Right?

In fact, their influence on involvement is so strong only because these events rarely take place. If the developers of Clash Royale will hold events all the time, this will lead to a “burnout” of both the players and the developers themselves. In my experience, Supercell is one of those extremely rare companies that are able to think through long-term consequences instead of constantly exploiting the same feature that brings good performance. And even with Supercell, this was not possible, because Hay Day Derby turned the process of playing from peaceful farming into competitive grind.

5. Balance

As in Clash of Clans, the Royale metagame is extremely well balanced, it is constantly evolving and never spoils: new maps never replace old ones. This almost perfect balance of cards is evident when watching the best matches on Royale TV or when studying leader boards - almost every high-level deck is unique.


Clash Royale is disgusted with a well balanced game. Stefan Engblom (Stefan Engblom) tells how this was achieved.

There is more than enough Clash Royale balance sheet documentation on the Internet. You can even watch this very informative presentation by Stefan Engblom (designer Clash Royale) about the balance of the cards in Clash Royale. Therefore, in order not to bore you with one more repetition of the story about the system design and strategies of attack, defense, and siege, I’ll better tell you what a player’s meta-game experience gives.

When a player wins a Clash Royale deck, built on the basis of the newest legendary card, which he does not have, he feels angry about the game and the "obviously" too strong card. He closes the game and promises never to play it again, but the feeling of defeat remains in its creation. The player begins to come up with strategies for winning this new card. And suddenly he is back in the game and adjusts the deck to a new trial or spends money on a super-magic chest in the hope of getting this legendary card by himself.

But sometimes a player is beaten with a deck that he can collect at any time. When this happens, he wants to experiment with such a deck and style of play. The player thinks: “maybe the opponent has found an almost perfect deck”.

In other words, since there is at least one “antidote” card for each card in Clash Royale, the chain of defeats returns the player to the choice of cards. He begins to experiment with different strategies, communicate with the community and / or spend money to unlock the missing cards. When changing the metagame by entering patches and new cards, previously invulnerable decks become weak or completely stop working.

To summarize: thanks to the near-perfect balance, Clash Royale constantly forces players to find new ways to win. In creating a strategy you can never stop, and therefore you can not finish playing.

6. Clan

A good clan is a great source of maps. Whatever card you ask for, you will be given it. Musketeer? Take it. Horse Rider (Hog Rider)? By itself! Little Dragon (Baby Dragon)? Yes please! But there is a trick: not only is it difficult to get into a good clan, it is difficult to stay there too.

If you were a member of an active clan, then you know what I'm talking about. Although your requests for maps are fulfilled quickly and without question, you also need to fulfill requests just as quickly. And it is not enough just to maintain a high level of donations. In a good clan, you need to constantly raise the level of your donations to match other members. If you are unable to reach the level of weekly deposits and trophies, you will quickly be thrown away by their clan. In addition, such good clans are a great place to chat. And no one wants to be thrown out of the community of friends.


Clans increase engagement. A good clan requires every player to actively donate and increase his trophies. If you can not keep up with other members, you will have to look for a new clan. And this is not fun at all ...

In my opinion, the clans in Clash Royale are much more convenient than their counterparts in the Clash of Clans, although they have less monetization. In Clash Royale, the volume of donated cards is crucial, but in Clash of Clans, the number is not everything. In addition to troops transferred to clan members, in Clash of Clans, a player must transfer troops that have been upgraded to the maximum level. In other words, when an archer of the seventh level is introduced into the game, all members of the clan must invest enough research timers and upgrades to start giving an archer of the seventh level. If the player is too slow to receive archers of the seventh level, the clan members will complain about him and he will be expelled.

7. Friends

And finally, you can't finish playing Clash Royale because of your friends. It so happened that I deleted the game and did not touch it for a week or two. But every day I was reminded that my friends participate in battles. At first I spoke some jabs about the game and refused to look at the messages. But soon he began to observe what they were doing, give them advice and ask for help. Then I installed the game again, joined the clan and started the grind to get trophies. Too many reasons for not just leaving Clash Royale ...

+ Perhaps this is the best game on your mobile device.

Of course, on all my devices a lot of games are installed. I download a pack of games every Thursday and give them a chance. The problem is that with the exception of indie games, most new games do not look new. They either completely copy the already existing hits, or are their lesser-known versions.

There are fighting games that are copies of Game of War with modified graphics. Clones of “three in a row” puzzles where you need to connect fruits or animals have existed since 2011. You can also play combat RPGs where you either participate in the game, like in the Contest of Champions (interesting reading: How Kabam's Contest of Champions Made $ 100 Million in Seven Months ), or just watch the game itself, for example, Galaxy of Heroes (interesting reading: Galaxy of Heroes - Full Deconstruction of EA's Death Star ).

I want to say that the only reason a player can move from one game to another is that she can give him a new type of experience. Clash Royale, like the Pokemon Go with the Fire Emblem, is completely different from other games on the market. I think that while competitors, such as Netmarble's Force Arena ( Fast Following Clash of Royale - the Case of Star Wars: Force Arena ), will continue to copy Clash Royale, this game will remain unsurpassed.

In my opinion, a Clash Royale clone with other intellectual property / more control / more ways / RPG mechanics / shooter mechanics or any other combination has very few chances to create something successful. Therefore, copying Clash Royale makes no sense either in terms of product or entertainment.

Of course, it is worth remembering that Clash Royale is imperfect. In the long run, it still has too much grind, and a small development team has to contend with a very high demand for new content. One new card every two months is not enough.

However, in general, as the creator of the games, I am very pleased that Clash Royale has become such a phenomenon. This game, in my opinion, evolved from the construction and battle genre and created a demand for affordable tactical competitive games for touch-screen devices. We all need to understand what makes Clash Royale so attractive, interesting, disappointing and awesome to apply this knowledge in our games.