Plarium makes browser strategy games like Total Domination.
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The real driving forces behind hardcore social games

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

Konstantin Sashchuk is general manager of Plarium’s Kharkov Studio.

Developing a great free-to-play hardcore social strategy game isn’t easy. It has to appeal to an experienced audience that knows what it wants while also managing to remain consistently fun enough to draw players back each day for months (or even years) on end. So how do you do this? How do you keep a game alive and engaging for that long? In the end, what will keep your players returning day after day?

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.