(Re)Start: From A Game To A Studio
Part 1: Jumpstarting Your Live-Ops Planning for Long-Term Success
My health has improved a lot since I started the OMAD (One Meal A Day) routine. Fewer calories in, more energy burned—especially when I mix in some cardio on the treadmill. It’s funny—since joining Twin Atlas, the phrase “if we get off the treadmill, we die” has become a bit of a running joke. But there’s some truth to it. While it might seem easy to create a hit game and cash out, scaling from a one-game team to a full studio is a whole different ballgame. The jump requires a skill set that not many realize.
Most devs don’t talk about how taxing it is to keep things running once you’ve found success with that first game. Sure, it’s a dream to make something that resonates with players, but growth doesn’t come as naturally as people think. It’s no surprise studios want to get off the treadmill. The law of diminishing returns hits hard—the bigger your game gets, the tougher it becomes to grow. Take a game like World of Warcraft. It serves a specific crowd—maybe 30+ year-old guys living in the US. That’s a very different audience from the players of Animal Crossing. So, to fine-tune your growth, you need to find where your next golden audience lies and build a new game for them. For a long time, Riot Games was trying to figure out how to put the “s” in “Riot Games,” and then TFT came along—a surprise success that changed everything.
“That plateau or eventual downfall you foresee pushes people to try a second time”
This is where a lot of studios stumble. Everyone wants that second game, but before we get into how to make another hit on Roblox (or anywhere else), picture this: you’re running a studio with a game that brought in $100K last year. Now, you have two options—keep doing live-ops for a 20% revenue bump or sacrifice some revenue to start working on the next big thing. Which would you choose? I'd go with the latter. It makes you pause, but when the options are laid out like that, it’s clear what’s best. The thing is, it’s a gamble either way, but you have already chosen a path that is more uncertain. Stick to what’s working, and you might plateau. Take the leap, and you might hit gold—or crash hard.
Why does that choice make you hesitate? It’s the idea of walking away from a "good enough" situation. You start thinking, “What if I could have both? What if there’s a way to win on both fronts?” I've certainly been there with those thoughts, but history always proves me wrong. That’s when you realize that real success isn’t about having infinite resources to throw at every problem. Speed and adaptability are often more important than resources. We’ve seen this play out in history—think of Alexander the Great or Google vs. Yahoo. The underdogs win because they know they can't win at every corner, but sometimes at the pivotal ones that can decide the landscape. Sometimes, resources can become a burden when you need to pivot fast. In the end, the studios that survive are the ones that move quickly and adapt to change.
We’ve learned that transitioning from a game to a studio isn’t just about making one hit; it’s about doing a ‘good enough’ job on live-ops while finding time to create something new. Many studios get stuck in the live-ops loop—constantly focused on updates and fixes. While important, this can trap you, leaving no room for innovation. If you’re always tied to live-ops, when will you have time for that next big game?
So, how do you free yourself from live-ops?
Not just from a strategic standpoint, but from a cost perspective—because putting founders on live-ops is actually burning money. Many studio heads love to work on live-ops because, in traditional game development, the notion is that live-ops is simple: plan the content, QA it, then release. No one wants to be seen as slightly incompetent, especially when the brightest minds are the ones who work on R&D, and doing live-ops is considered secondary work. But that’s really not the case. Seeing a creative powerhouse bogged down with live-ops is truly a recipe for stagnation. Live-ops on Roblox is a different beast—here, quantity changes quality.
On Roblox, most popular games update at least every other week to stay relevant. We’re not talking about minor tweaks to descriptions or one or two changes to the in-game catalog. It’s a constant cycle of meaningful updates. If you’re not regularly pushing out updates in front of players, the algorithm will stop favoring you, and your game will slowly fade into the background.
A couple of founders I’ve talked to mentioned they’re hesitant to take a break or even a few days off because no one can be let off the hook—it becomes a mental game. The constant pressure to stay on top of everything, without any real downtime, takes its toll, and stepping away starts to feel impossible. This is what makes Roblox different from traditional gaming platforms. Whether your game just got picked up by Roblox’s discovery algorithm or you’ve been around for ages, you need a solid live-ops strategy—or risk the algorithm pushing your game into oblivion. This means you have to strategically manage everything: planning, conception, pre-production, production, QA, SEO optimization, social media/thumbnail/icon planning, community management, analytics, and more—all within the same time window. Sounds intimidating? Very much so.
But I want to share a few key takeaways from a strategic perspective that will hopefully help more people navigate this. You won’t be magically saved from doing all the things above as the project lead, but at least you’ll be more focused on what really needs to be done early on.
Content - Find What Drives Engagement. There’s always a hook—one or two key things that keep players coming back. If you can save yourself early on by focusing on only the essential content, you’ll avoid wasting time on unnecessary work later. It’s the most impactful thing you can do because it will streamline all your future updates. You can uncover your hook by asking your top 25 spenders, “What keeps you hooked on this game?” Is it the visual thrill of the gacha system? Or maybe it’s the character art? Once you find the answer, double down on it. This process of discovery will reveal what’s really moving the needle. Your core hook is your foundation, and if that foundation is strong, you can continue to build on it. Riot Games, for example, evolves its premium skin lines not just because skins generate revenue, but because they keep players logging in every day. Remember the 80/20 rule—maximize impact with a minimal set of core features. This isn’t about chasing trends; it’s about honing in on what makes your game stand out.
Content - Avoid Distractions. Now that you know what drives your game, the next step is discipline. Distractions are the last thing you can afford in an environment like this. This is just another way of saying: stay away from feature creep, especially the shiny ones that seem tempting. Chasing every new idea is a surefire way to lose focus. Just because Roblox is getting VR support doesn’t mean you need to jump on that train—unless it’s truly a matter of life or death for your game. Every time something new pops up in the industry, it can feel like you need to pivot, but staying focused is what sets successful studios apart from those that fade. If you can’t shut down the loudest voices in the office pushing for their pet ideas, set aside R&D time specifically for experimenting, but don’t let it take over your core live-ops improvement time. The best way to avoid freezing under pressure? Stay laser-focused on what matters, and don’t waste time on things that don’t serve your long-term goals.
Content - Reuse As Much As Possible. Trust me, I know the excitement of working on new things feels like injecting endless steroids into a project. It’s tempting to believe that players want new VFX, UI, and mind-blowing content every update. But the truth is, most players just want a familiar and enjoyable experience. Think about it—how often do you see Caesar’s Palace changing their slot machines in the lobby just because they think players are bored with the design? That may be an extreme example, but the same idea applies to Roblox live-ops. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel or create new UIs for every update if the game is already running well and delivering regular content.
Planning - Early, Early, Early. Once you’ve nailed down your strategic pillars and figured out what you’re doing with the content, start planning immediately. Planning should take no more than a day or two if you are already rushing it. In my opinion, building alignment around what you’re trying to create is crucial because good teamwork needs a clear vision. I’d rather sacrifice the final deliverable’s quality than risk bad alignment within the team. The earlier you start planning for regular updates, the more time you have to streamline the process and ensure everyone is on the same page. Planning ahead will help you avoid last-minute scrambles and keep things running smoothly over time.
Rest of the Production/Social/Community - Separate Post There are many components go into the details for the rest of the production, social media/community, and launch, which we wont have all the time to dive into for this post here today, but hopefully the things above can be acted as takeaways into your next updates.
Scaling from a game to a studio isn’t just about chasing the next big hit—it’s about mastering the balance between keeping your current game alive and finding room to innovate. By now, you probably realize this. Some might blame Roblox as a ruthless machine that forces the whole sector onto this treadmill, but with the rise of more UGC (user-generated content) gaming platforms, Roblox has surprised us all by boasting more daily usage than TikTok. Why? Because it’s interactive, it’s entertaining, and it’s enlightening. Younger audiences love Roblox not just because the games are fun, but because they’re also picking up important social skills online. In today’s world, this is how our society has chosen for kids to learn—Roblox is the new playground, the new basketball court, where a new generation learns how to interact with others.
Hopefully, what I’ve shared here makes you feel better as a game creator, knowing that you’re not just making games—you’re passing on knowledge and helping shape the way kids grow up. Isn’t that pretty cool?
Alright, survive on the treadmill and run the whole gym. Good luck and happy shipping.