Pixel Federation'​s train simulator sequel of the popular ​TrainStation game called TrainStation 2 made
an impressive success a bit later after its global launch in July 2019.
The game accumulated ​3.34 mil euros​ of revenue so far and picked up over 5 million downloads worldwide.
Let’s take a look, how they managed to turn things around.

In the first few months, the game has encountered several issues such as low retention (only 16-18%, while aiming more towards 30%) and low tutorial throughput rate (only 50%). "We knew that we had to do something about it, otherwise the game would go into the abyss. Thanks to a complete game rebalance and interface rework, w​e have managed to turn the unpromising title into a hit​," says the Slovakian free to play games developer.

The true turnaround came after the ​Construction event in January which received an overwhelmingly positive feedback from the player’s community. Actually, so positive that the game designers decided to change
the overall map of the game accordingly: “We connected the progression in the main storyline with the map visual, so the players would be able to see their map changing and enhancing along with their progress,​”
s​tates the developer.

“Regarding the player’s feedback, this feature has undoubtedly made the game more attractive and improved the overall gameplay experience. ​Adding this feature to the tutorial rework has also significantly improved
its throughput rate​,” continues the developer.


The production of TrainStaion 2 started in Q1 of 2018. In Q3, the ​Beta version of the game was released
just for a closed community​. After a bunch of adjustments, they started the first acquisitions in order to verify the stability & performance of the game, which proved the game to be ready for Soft Launch in Q2 of 2019.
During this period ​the main focus was placed on reaching selected KPI’s such as conversion to 2nd session, conversion to payment, ​ARPU, ARPPU, session length and other.​ J​uly 2019 finally brought the Global Launch.

According to the developer, ​cooperation with the UX department and feedback from the players was crucial​. ​“In January 2020 we had a breakthrough thanks to increased marketing spend which resulted in an increase
of DAU and doubling the revenues of the previous month,”​ says the developer.


The combination of ​graphical changes during the “Construction event” progression and ​limited-time event offers have caused another unexpected organic peak in the revenues. The following months were accompanied
by a continual rise of revenues, which was supported by an implementation of these changes to other regions
and also by ​a new feature - The event pass​.

The total revenue of the game so far has reached 3.34 mil euros. ​The enormous success continued in ​May​ where the revenues reached ​1 mil euros.


“The game contains 8 unique events, 1 repeatable event and 3 types of competitions. Our players can collect 166 unique 3D train models and use them in 9 permanent regions, such as Great Britain, Germany or the USA as well as in other special event regions,” ​continues the developer.

The current success of TrainStation 2 is according to the developer a result of close work within several departments - marketing, community management, user experience and the production team.
We wish TrainStation 2 all the best and many more successful years to come!