GDC 2025 Session Viewer
Harnessing the power of Innovation to achieve DAU growth in Ace Racer
Yuyuan Jiang (Game Producer, Netease Games)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Design
Format: Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
In this session Yuyuan Jiang, game producer on NetEase's first racing game Ace Racer, will walk us through the story of how his design team introduced genre-bending gameplay mechanics and features to successfully increase the game's DAU (Daily Active Users) from 200k to 1M since its launch in 2021.
This session will tell the story of how they achieved and surpassed their goals on Ace Racer by adding non-racing mechanics and features such as: vehicle skills or "Ultimates"; class-based car designs inspired by RPGs; victory conditions based on an ancient Chinese story; MOBA-inspired racing improvements; and UGC tracks. Attendees will be presented with concrete examples, data to show the impact of these changes, as well as the development challenges that these innovations introduced and their solutions.
Takeaway
Attendees will learn about how Ace Racer's design team introduced gameplay mechanics popularized by non-racing games in order to significantly grow their DAU from 200k to over 1M.
Intended Audience
Game designers who are interested in increasing the sales and DAU of their mobile games, especially racing games.