[Geee]

I agree that those monetization patterns aren't unique to them, but they are fairly recent trends in gaming, in general. Well, Valve innovated something with TF2 free-to-play model. And now, with IAPs and stuff, I think more game developers are consciously focusing on tricks in conversion optimization. Not just 'how to make a fun game that everyone will buy'.

Of course, that doesn't help if the actual game isn't good/addictive enough, which might be the case with Galaxy Life (or app market dynamics/luck/anything). However, Supercell probably 'recreated' it just because they saw a great monetization potential in that type of game.