Funko Pop! Blitz

Casual, Match-3, Puzzle (iOS, Android)

Fast paced Match-3 where players score high to collect their favorite Funko Pops and become the ultimate Pop collector! Funko Pop! Blitz contained Pops from well known brands such as Jurassic Park, Doctor Who, Hello Kitty, The Office, and many more!

This project became the highest grossing game in Tic Toc Games. It endured 2 publisher transitions, achieved monthly revenue goals, added new content each week, and allowed me to grow from Game Designer to Game Director.

Game Director /
Associate Game Director /
Game Designer

Notable Achievements

    • Developed game proposal in collaboration with studio leads and NBC Universal

    • Designed all core and meta game features

    • Successfully transitioned the project’s focus to align with the new publisher’s KPI goals

    • Reinforced the importance of live events by introducing special bonuses, limited-time rewards, and collectible pops to boost engagement, retention, and monetization.

    • Established a consistent event cadence, delivering fresh weekly content and ensuring players had regular, meaningful reasons to return to the game.

    • Gradually increased monthly revenue through ongoing live ops optimization, event planning, and content updates, ultimately reaching a peak of $100K per month.

    • Monitored player behavior and engagement trends to identify key monetization opportunities and refine the game’s economy over time.

    • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure updates balanced player satisfaction with strong business performance.

Funko Pop! Blitz - Case Study

Weekly releases across dozens of licensed franchises demanded a scalable approach to both content delivery and monetization. Here's how I directed the design of an event strategy and launched a VIP Pass that grew monthly revenue from $30K to $100K (+233%).

The Problem

Every week, Funko Pop! Blitz introduced new characters tied to licensed franchises through limited-time events.

As the catalog of supported IP continued to expand, event production became increasingly difficult to scale. New character releases required updated event assets, promotional materials, configuration work, and coordination across multiple disciplines.

At the same time, content releases alone were not creating enough opportunities to meaningfully accelerate revenue growth.

The challenge was twofold:

  • Create a scalable framework capable of supporting weekly content releases.

  • Increase the value generated from player participation in those events.

My Strategy

The strongest-performing content consistently revolved around recognizable franchises and new character releases.

Rather than treating each release as a standalone content drop, I wanted every event to contribute to a larger engagement ecosystem that encouraged players to return week after week.

Action Plan

  • Build a scalable event framework capable of supporting weekly IP-driven releases with minimal operational overhead.

  • Introduce long-term collection goals that connected multiple events together and rewarded sustained participation.

  • Launch a premium VIP offering that increased the value of recurring engagement while creating additional monetization opportunities.

Together, these systems allowed content, engagement, progression, and monetization to reinforce one another rather than operate independently.

Execution

Scalable Event Framework

Weekly releases demanded a more efficient approach to event production.

I directed the design of a framework that allowed events to be configured and deployed through CDN-driven configuration and asset bundles rather than requiring extensive manual implementation for every release.

The framework supported:

  • Multiple event types

  • Franchise-specific branding

  • Flexible reward structures

  • Rapid content updates

To further streamline production, the team established an efficient art-swapping workflow in Figma that significantly reduced the effort required to prepare event-specific visual assets.

This allowed the game to maintain a steady cadence of weekly releases while supporting an expanding catalog of licensed content.

Long Term Collection & Progression

Mega Collection

Weekly events created short-term engagement opportunities, but I also wanted players to have goals that extended beyond a single event.

To accomplish this, I directed the design of Mega Collection, a four-week progression system that rewarded players for collecting characters released across multiple events.

Rather than participating in a single event and moving on, players now had a long-term objective that encouraged consistent engagement throughout an entire collection cycle.

Mythic Pop!

To further increase excitement and aspiration, we introduced Mythic Pops, new rarity of characters that could be earned through Mega Collection participation.

Together, these systems transformed weekly character releases into part of a broader progression journey, giving players stronger reasons to return and complete event collections over time.

VIP Pass

To complement the event and collection systems, I directed the design and launch of a VIP Pass inspired by successful monetization models used throughout the genre.

The pass was designed to deliver value across multiple time horizons:

  • Immediate value - Premium currency granted at purchase

  • Daily value - Access to an exclusive VIP Spin Wheel with enhanced rewards

  • Ongoing value - Increased Heart capacity, allowing longer play sessions

By combining immediate rewards, daily engagement incentives, and persistent gameplay benefits, the VIP Pass created a compelling value proposition for highly engaged players while supporting long-term revenue growth.

Outcome

The combination of scalable event delivery, long-term collection goals, aspirational Mythic rewards, and VIP monetization created a sustainable framework for engagement and growth.

Outcomes included:

Monthly revenue increased from $30K to $100K (+233%)

Weekly event releases became significantly easier to operate at scale

Increased participation in recurring events

Strong adoption of the VIP Pass

Strong adoption of Mega Collection progression

Reflection

This project reinforced the importance of designing engagement and monetization systems together rather than treating them as separate initiatives.

The most effective live-service ecosystems create a cycle where content drives engagement, engagement drives participation, and participation creates monetization opportunities.

By investing in scalable systems , the team was able to support a growing catalog of licensed franchises without increasing operational complexity at the same rate.