Having to come to terms with hard truths, Mighty Kingdom Ltd (ASX: MKL) today has decided to cut ties with the development of their ‘Ava’s Manor’ video game as it shifts focus to higher-potential projects.

Mighty Kingdom initially began co-developing ‘Ava’s Manor’ with its publishing partner, Uken Games, before its launch in November 2020. The video game is Solitaire based and targets mobile users, where players receive rewards from completing rounds of Solitaire to fund upgrades and features within the game.

The co-development contract between Mighty Kingdom and Uken Games expires on 21 June 2022, when Uken will step in and take over complete control of ‘Ava’s Manor’. 

The decision comes a few days after Mighty Kingdom set about a partnership with Lion Studios and Google LLC, which will take up all of the Company’s resources and time.

As stated in a progress update from 28 October 2021, the Company reported that ‘Ava’s Manor’ had generated $6.5m in revenue and recorded over 2.4m downloads since its launch. The Company had used the launch of this game to conduct audience testing and establish methods to maximise user lifetime and customer spending on the platform. 

The Company initially conducted ‘live’ testing over 30 to 60 days where they would implement minor changes to the game that would affect a specific subset of players and compare the results to unaffected players. The testing allowed the Mighty Kingdom team to develop better techniques to capture more reliable revenue streams, maximise user numbers and extend user lifetime.

Mighty Kingdom CEO, Phillip Mayes commented on the testing: “Games generally show a decrease in retention rate after time in the market but we have flipped this trend on its head by increasing retention with significant upside for Mighty Kingdom.” 

The good times will continue for Mighty Kingdom if they can translate and implement the techniques and methods they developed for the future projects they have inked with Lion Studios and Google.

“Working on Ava’s Manor really helped us grow as a company, and we’ve learned a lot throughout this partnership. It’s been a difficult decision to make, but ultimately the best one. Our relationship with Uken is still as strong and we wish them all the best as they take on Ava’s full development,” said Phillip Mayes.

As of 31 March 2022, the Company recorded a 31% year-over-year increase and a 15% quarter-over-quarter increase in revenue at $1.09m and reported net cash at bank of $6.8m.