The App Store is becoming the Game Store
New podcast episode is out today with Brent Beshore. He shares his secrets to buying micro-equity businesses and how to become a solid capital allocator. It’s something I’m trying to get better at as I acquire more community-based businesses in 2023. I learned a lot and you might too. Listen —> Apple, Spotify and YouTube. And if you’re seeing this, please subscribe to my YouTube, where I drop some extra content sometimes. Enjoy. Yesterday was an emotional day. I almost messed up my Duolingo streak on day #135 of learning to speak Spanish and that would have been tragic. I went from someone who was totally unmotivated to learn a new language to someone who almost crashed his car practicing Duolingo while driving in order to keep his streak up. Crisis averted! The lesson for product builders: if you could make your product feel like a game, you could make elephants run. Today, I’m going to talk about why Duolingo is a game, how we’re witnessing the gamification of the App Store and what that means for you. No matter if you’re a hardcore gamer like I was as a kid (see below 😅) or not, all human beings play some form of games. Going for a run is a game, cooking pasta is a game and climbing the corporate ladder is definitely a game. We’re wired to game. That’s why when products enable us to be gamers, we thrive. While Duolingo at the surface looks like a language app, at the core it is very much a game. And a highly lucrative one. Duolingo generated $415M in revenue in 2022 and has been cash flow positive since IPO in 2021. Let’s breakdown what mechanics Duolingo uses to be game-like: Scores: A real-time pulse as to how you’re doing Leaderboards: A multiplayer weekly league where you can compete with other language learners or friends. Note: I’ve written about single-player vs multiplayer in the past here Achievements: Your trophy case for completing streaks, learning new words etc. In-app currency: An economy that allows you to participate in different leagues and buy products Levels: Creates a sense of status within the Duolingo world Challenges: You need to do your challenges, because Susan has 150 more XP than you right now — and you can’t let her win Streaks: A ritual that brings you back everyday (and makes you enable push notifications) Sounds: Every core action comes with a sound. You feel like you’re playing a slot machine Characters: The teachers in Duolingo are a set of fun animated characters. It makes you feel like you’re in another world The cool thing is this thinking about what would the internet look like if it was more game-like? Think of a popular Shopify store that sells limited edition t-shirts. Instead of simply selling to the first 50 people who show up on the site for the drop, could an apparel company put their community through a series of rigorous challenges — giving purchase access only to those dedicated enough to complete the quest? Buying that shirt becomes a no-brainer. The ability to purchase becomes a status symbol. If you’ve done the work to get that shirt, and other people in the community know it — your perceived value goes up. Now imagine Adidas doing this with their most coveted sneakers. Madness. Framework for creating game-like experiences This is the framework Late Checkout uses when building game-like products and I want to share it with you.
Challenge for you: How can you use this framework to create a new product in a new niche that can reach Duolingo-like success? I believe more and more companies are going to adopt and attach game-like mechanics to their experiences. It’s where the world is going. The next major app is more likely to feel more like Duolingo than it will the New York Times. The App Store is becoming the Game Store. Be well, Greg Isenberg P.S: If you need exceptional product design, branding and engineering talent to build you products like Duolingo, hire our agency Late Checkout. We work with 1 new company per month (and most companies you love). Email me at greg.isenberg@latecheckout.studio — If this post gave you an ounce of value:
Late Checkout - a Substack by Greg Isenberg is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Late Checkout - a Substack by Greg Isenberg that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments. |
Key phrases
Older messages
The Framework to Find Traction for your Product
Friday, January 20, 2023
The #1 way to support this newsletter is to subscribe, share it and listen to my podcast of the week. I interviewed Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad) about opportunities in AI, tech and his POV on life.
Audiences versus communities
Friday, January 20, 2023
New podcast episode is out with world-class writers, Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole. This is what my editor Arie said of the episode. I made her proud. You'll come out of the episode with tactical
My predictions for 2023
Thursday, January 5, 2023
We've officially landed in 2023. And I want to start 2023 by making predictions about how the internet, the rise of AI, ecommerce, social apps and platforms will look this year. The goal? To bring
Creating products that stick (and how to do it)
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
The one product framework you need today
The Fast-Foodification of Everything
Sunday, September 4, 2022
And how you can stand out on the internet
You Might Also Like
Why I Switched My Blog to Ghost (and Why You Might Love It Too)
Friday, April 19, 2024
Tired of slow, clunky blogging platforms? I was too! Find out how Ghost changed my blogging life (and my company!), and why it might be the upgrade you need. Salehin Khan Salehin Khan Why I Switched My
Latvia's startup financing gets creative
Friday, April 19, 2024
We visit Riga to explore Latvia's tech scene, layoffs at Stability AI and why climate tech's latest phase will be built on debt. View in browser Notion flagship logo final Good morning there,
How Meta is paving the way for synthetic social networks
Friday, April 19, 2024
Five ways of thinking about Llama 3, its latest large language model Platformer Platformer How Meta is paving the way for synthetic social networks By Casey Newton • 18 Apr 2024 View in browser View in
SaaSHub Weekly - Apr 18
Thursday, April 18, 2024
SaaSHub Weekly - Apr 18 Featured and useful products Ant Design logo Ant Design An enterprise-class UI design language and React implementation with a set of high-quality React components, one of best
[SaaS Club] Scaling a SaaS Community Platform to $19M ARR
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Hey Reader Let's connect on LinkedIn! Follow me to stay in touch! Here's a quick round up of what's been going on at SaaS Club: 🎧 Podcast Circle: Scaling a Community Platform to $19 Million
The Most Profitable Software Company in Q1 2024
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Tomasz Tunguz Venture Capitalist If you were forwarded this newsletter, and you'd like to receive it in the future, subscribe here. The Most Profitable Software Company in Q1 2024 image Ethereum
Clippa and PrivacyBox
Thursday, April 18, 2024
A browser extension for PrivacySandbox control with passive income BetaList BetaList Daily Clippa Create short clip videos for social media in a few clicks PrivacyBox A browser extension for
I think I figured it out
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Read this in 1 min, 2 sec I was scrolling through our YouTube channel last night... And something finally clicked. Why are all these founders we interviewed successful? What do they know that others
stealth startups in industrials
Thursday, April 18, 2024
intel on hidden gems within the market inside Hi there, Never miss an outlier. Check out this list of target companies in industrials. These startups are hidden gems within the space. See them here The
digital health bounces back
Thursday, April 18, 2024
digital health rebounded in Q1'24. our experts are going live to explain what's going on in the sector. State of Digital Health Save a Spot Hi there, Q1'24 data is in for digital health.