
In Running a Successful Live Service Game, Sergei Vasiuk explores how true success in gaming comes from creating lasting value - for players, teams, and the business. It’s about building engaging systems, fair experiences, and staying deeply connected to your audience.
This post is the second in a three-part series, compiled from chapters of the book Running a Successful Live Service Game: Live Outside of Game Updates (Sergei Vasiuk, 2025). To read the full content, purchase the book. In this piece, we dive into how to craft personalized player journeys by shaping progression paths, segmenting audiences, and delivering tailored experiences that drive retention, engagement, and value at scale.
The first part explored the foundations of value creation in live service games. The final post in the series will focus on analytics as the lifeblood of LiveOps, highlighting how data fuels smarter decisions, refined features, and ongoing growth long after launch.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Big games come with big teams. And with that, big operational challenges. While LiveOps teams have frameworks to simplify plans and roadmaps, players often open your game and face an overwhelming wall of content: events, offers, updates, seasonal promos, and community activities. From their side, it's chaos.
So, where is the issue? We might see a clear, logical roadmap internally, but players just see clutter. Without structure and relevance, even the most thoughtful LiveOps schedule can become noise. So, the job of a great LiveOps team is to guide players from that generic game path toward their own, personalized experience. That's the path that keeps them engaged, spending, and coming back.
An example of a game calendar from the perspective of a player who faces an enormous amount of information.

From generic to personal: The three LAPs
The framework for doing this comes down to what we call the three LAPs:
- Live around the player
- Live around the proposition
- Live around the promotion
Let’s break these down.
1. Live around the player
We start with segmentation. Like Google tailoring search results to each user, your LiveOps should shift from one-size-fits-all to player-centric strategies. This means matching in-game content, offers, missions, and events with relevant player segments.
There are four core types of segmentation:
- Marketing: Who are your players demographically and psychographically?
- Motivational: Why do they play? (e.g. competition, creativity, social connection)
- Behavioral: How have they interacted with the game? (spending patterns, session frequency)
- Lifecycle: Where are they in the game’s journey? (newbies, mid-game, endgame)
As your game matures and you collect more data, move from descriptive (what a player did) to predictive (what they’re likely to do). This unlocks far more relevant targeting.
You’ll also want to identify strategic segments:
- Newbies: Focus on FTUE campaigns like first-time conversion offers or referrals.
- Lapsed: Break these down into highly engaged churners vs casual ones vs disinterested. Each needs its own strategy.
- Churners: Identify signs of attrition early and address them through targeted engagement.
- Non-payers: Differentiate those likely to convert vs those who never will, and still extract community value from the latter.
- Active payers: Watch for signs of drop-off or upsell opportunities based on spend cadence.
- Resource surplus/deficit: Balance your in-game economy with tailored events, sinks, and promos.
All segmentation ages. Stay agile and update regularly.

2. Live around the proposition
Once you know who you're talking to, focus on what you’re offering. Different player types perceive value differently, and your value proposition needs to reflect that.
There are four layers of value to keep in mind:
- Functional: What does the item or feature do? Does it offer utility in gameplay?
- Financial: What’s the real or in-game economic value?
- Intangible: Does it add comfort, trust, or a sense of security? Think: try-before-you-buy or refund guarantees.
- Emotional: Does it connect with deeper motivations? Identity, prestige, nostalgia, or purpose?

Let’s say you have a character in an RPG. On its own, it has functional value (e.g., speed). Add financial value with a price or bonus. Then layer on intangible value (e.g., “full refund if not satisfied”). Top it off with emotional relevance (e.g., limited skin tied to a creator or cause). That’s how you turn a commodity into a powerful conversion driver.
Propositions built only around functional or financial value usually stick close to historical pricing. To generate surplus and stand out, you need to lean on the emotional and intangible aspects, too.
3. Live around the promotion
Now that you know the player segments and what they value, it’s time to communicate it clearly and effectively.
There are two things to get right here: omnichannel delivery and regional relevance.
Omnichannel means players experience a unified message across touchpoints: launcher notifications, in-game banners, emails, social, SMS, etc. It’s not just about being everywhere. It’s about being cohesive and adaptive. If someone opens your email but doesn’t click, you retarget with a banner. If they engage with a Discord promo, maybe follow up in-game.
Regional relevance means recognizing that your global game lands differently in each market. A single calendar event won’t work across the board. You need to align offers with cultural moments, local habits, and even unexpected external distractions (like a major sports event or streaming release).

If your game is big enough, it’s not just competing with other games anymore. It’s competing with every other form of entertainment for player attention. That’s why LiveOps needs to maintain player interest even outside the game.
Final thoughts
Players don’t want to feel like they're navigating a corporate roadmap. They want to feel like they’re on their journey - one that grows, adapts, and rewards them for sticking around. The evolution from generic to personal is at the heart of LiveOps success.
By living around the player, the proposition, and the promotion, you’re not just managing a game. You’re building a relationship.