Merge Dice - Puzzle Game 5x5v1.2.0

Released November 10, 2021Major

iOS

The latest major update resulted in a 0.78 star decline in average rating, falling from 5.0 to 4.22. While the tutorial addition provides minor onboarding value, critical technical regressions and broken monetization features drive a strongly negative sentiment shift. The release requires immediate stabilization to recover the baseline performance.

What changed

New featureAdded game boosters
MonetizationAdded an in-game shop
PerformanceFixed bugs
UXImproved UX/UI design
PerformanceImproved app performance

Reception

25/ 100 impact scoreStrongly Negative

What worked

UX
The addition of a tutorial provides a new onboarding path for players, though its impact is currently overshadowed by technical defects.

What didn't

Monetization
backfired
Users report that ad removal purchases fail to persist and reward video buttons are non-functional, creating friction in the new shop.
Performance
backfired
The update introduced launch crashes and spontaneous redirection to advertisements, causing a 0.78 star decline in the average rating.

How it played out

Retrospective analysisAugust 27, 2026

The average rating declined by 0.78 stars following the update, driven by technical regressions and failures in the newly introduced monetization features. Users report that ad removal purchases do not sync or persist, while others cite launch crashes and broken reward video buttons. Despite the addition of a tutorial, the overall sentiment momentum is weakening due to these persistent functional defects.

-0.78 ★

Sentiment shift

New praises (1)

Inclusion of a tutorial improves the onboarding experience for new playerslowversion-tied

New complaints (3)

Purchased ad removal fails to persist across devices or after reinstallationmediumversion-tied

Technical instability including launch failures and spontaneous redirection to advertisementsmediumversion-tied

In-game shop mechanics are broken with disabled reward video buttonslowversion-tied

Marlvel takeaways

Prioritize a hotfix for the ad removal sync failure to restore revenue integrity and user trust.
Address launch stability regressions immediately to halt the decline from the previous 4.79 average rating.
Investigate the reward video button failure to ensure the new in-game shop monetization functions as intended.

Original release notes

- Add game boosters and shop.
- Fix bugs.
- Improve UX/UI.
- Improve performance.

Wish you enjoy the update of this Merge Dice game!