Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) ‘s seasonal recharge discount strategy is closely related to the user activity cycle and market competition rhythm. According to 2023 data, mlbb top up limited time offer (discount up to 50%) debuted in the Southeast Asian market under the “515 Carnival” triggered the peak daily water recharge of 32 million US dollars, increasing by 470% compared to the daily, and the payment user penetration increased from 12% to 29%. For example, Indonesian players needed only 450,000 rupiah ($29) to top up 6,480 diamonds for the event, an 18% discount from the normal price, which led to a rise in the median single top-up value from $8 to $35.
Holiday consumption psychology is the major driving force. During the Spring Festival in 2024, MLBB offered “Top up over 300 yuan 15% diamond return” activity in China, in addition to zodiac theme skin bundle sale, which increased ARPPU (paying user revenue) by 34% quarter-over-quarter, while the growth rate of similar activities in the same quarter of the global competitor Arena of Valor was only 19%. Seasonal offers can boost user lifecycle value (LTV) by 22%, especially for the Q4 holiday shopping season, mlbb top up conversion rate is 63% above Q1.
Regional market fit must propel cycles of differentiation. In Brazil, on the “Black Friday” (November 2023), mlbb top up diamond costs decreased by 25% temporarily, overlaid “World Cup champion skin pre-sale”, a week of water surpassed 18 million reais (about $3.4 million), and paid users increased by 41%. On the contrary, in Europe’s market, the summer promotion (July-August) fell 37% due to player conduct, and Moonton shortened the discount to 12%, but through the “beach party” theme package design, it still experienced a month-on-month increase of 28%.
Technical cost and server load impact discount window selection. During the 2023 “Double 11” global promotion period, MLBB processed 180,000 recharge orders per second, the server load was 89%, and Moonton invested $2.7 million to short-term increase cloud computing capacity. Dynamic pricing program adjusts the discount slope with the actual time load – once the number of users simultaneously becomes 5 million, the system will automatically carry out the “ladder discount” (8% discount if 100 yuan or more, 15% discount if 500 yuan), so that the ratio of usage of resources remains at the level of 75% threshold level, and saves 19% operation and maintenance cost.
Black arbitrage prevention and control exert pressure on time-limited strategy. In Q3 2023, the third-party charging platform made use of the seasonal discount spread arbitrage, resulting in a formal loss of around $12 million to MLBB. Moonton then improved the device’s fingerprint risk control system, with the abnormal transaction detection accuracy advancing to 96% from 82%, and shortening the discount opening time to 72 hours (from 7 days), increasing the cost of black stock by 300%. For example, for the Philippine “Independence Day” activity in 2024, mlbb top up irregular request intervention surpassed 430,000 times per day, and **67%** of these blocked accounts were related to cross-regional discount arbitrage.
Cyclical design is motivated by financial objectives and the control of stock prices. According to Mu Pupil Technology’s parent firm, Moonton, 2023 Q4 (including double Dan promotion) mlbb top up revenue accounted for 34% of the year and moved the stock price 22% higher in one quarter. Discount budget allocation also follows the price elasticity principle – if the user price elasticity factor of a region is higher than 1.2, it raises the intensity of discount by 20%-30%, otherwise it will be controlled by 10%. Thus, for example, with a Vietnamese market exhibiting extreme price elasticity (coefficient of 1.8), over-topup traffic during 2023 “National Day Special” was 210% compared with year on year, but a paltry 19% on the same activity for Japan, which had an elasticity coefficient of 0.7.
Events and holidays provide more inter-connectedness and solidify the conditions of scarcity. During the 2024 Global Championship (M5), MLBB released the “Team top up Pack” which converted 5% of the value of every mlbb top up into team voting points, resulting in a 73% increase in diamond sales during the event, even Malaysian players due to local teams, the average recharge value reached $55, a 280% increase from the daily. This type of event is exclusively limited to 14 days of the event period and creates a feeling of urgency by compressing the time window, thereby increasing the utilization rate of discount resources to 92% (68% for regular events).