At a glance
- Client: Playstudios, the exclusive mobile publisher of Tetris and a maker of top-rated free-to-play games
- Industry: Gaming
- Company size: 500+ employees
- Challenge: Take OKRs from one successful team to the whole company, out of spreadsheets and into a platform that embeds them in how the business runs
- Solution: WorkBoard AI, implemented by Wave Nine: migration and a tiered OKR structure, dashboards and alignment maps, Jira and Snowflake integrations, tailored training and recurring "Ask Me Anything" sessions
- Results: 100% OKR adoption, 100% platform usage in the scoped audience (about 80% of the company), and OKRs in the company's daily language and decision-making
The challenge: one team proved OKRs work
This mobile gaming giant knew its next level-up wouldn't come from a game. It would come from strategy alignment.
Playstudios is no stranger to big wins. As the exclusive mobile publisher of Tetris and the creator of top-rated free-to-play games, it has mastered the art of blending gaming with real-world rewards. Through its playAWARDS loyalty program, players earn perks from major brands while they play their favorite games.
At the heart of this loyalty innovation is Desiree Luca, General Manager of playAWARDS, who oversees the entire loyalty ecosystem. A strategic leader with a passion for building high-performing teams, Desiree was also the first at Playstudios to bring OKRs to the forefront.
Over two years, Desiree's team refined its OKR practice, tracking goals in spreadsheets. What started as a departmental experiment would soon become the foundation for how Playstudios sets direction, tracks progress and works across teams.
"We realized that this is a really awesome framework and wanted to roll it out to the rest of the company. To do that, it became clear that spreadsheets weren't that scalable and we needed a better tool."
Desiree Luca, General Manager, playAWARDS, Playstudios
To scale, Playstudios needed:
- a more effective way to align goals across different teams
- a path from one team's success to an organization-wide program
- visibility and scalability that spreadsheets could not give
- a purpose-built platform to embed OKRs into the fabric of the organization
Level 1: choosing the right platform
After evaluating its options, Playstudios put WorkBoard AI at the top of the list. It had the functionality the team was after, fit its long-term vision and was the easiest to use. It checked all the boxes:
- Real-time visibility: Progress is tracked and updated in real time, so teams and leaders stay aligned on what matters most, even as priorities shift.
- Meetings and reviews: Built-in support for weekly check-ins, monthly reviews and quarterly retros helped cement the rituals. "We wanted OKRs to be part of our weekly meetings, not just something we set and forget," Desiree says.
- Cross-functional clarity: The Alignment Tree shows how everyone's work contributes to the broader company goals and surfaces interdependencies across teams.
- Seamless integrations: WorkBoard AI connects with tools Playstudios already used, such as Snowflake and Jira. That means less context-switching, smoother workflows and faster adoption.
- User-friendly interface: "We knew we'd only succeed if people actually wanted to use the tool," says Desiree. The intuitive interface gave teams confidence and minimized friction during the rollout.
- Single source of truth: Dashboards and analytics give leaders a pulse on progress without digging through spreadsheets or chasing updates, for better and faster decisions.
"What made WorkBoard AI different was how it integrated with the tools we already used. It wasn't just an OKR tracker. It would actually help us run the business."
Desiree Luca, General Manager, playAWARDS, Playstudios
Level 2: rolling out WorkBoard AI
With the right platform in place, Playstudios partnered with Wave Nine for a thoughtful, company-wide rollout.
To kick things off, Wave Nine migrated the existing OKRs from spreadsheets into WorkBoard AI. That jump-start gave Playstudios a clean, organized foundation to build on. Wave Nine then configured the platform to reflect the organization's real-world structure and workflows:
- Tiered OKR structure: annual corporate objectives and quarterly team-level OKRs that match Playstudios' company structure
- Migration: all existing OKRs moved over from the spreadsheets
- Executive visibility: dashboard reporting and alignment maps that give executives a view across every level
- Integrations: WorkBoard AI connected to Jira and Snowflake, to keep OKRs top of mind in day-to-day work
From there, Wave Nine led tailored training sessions across the organization, with hands-on platform walkthroughs adapted to different departments, levels of experience and roles.
"We're a global company operating across many time zones, and Wave Nine was incredible in accommodating that. They hosted multiple sessions to bring different groups together, answer their questions, and help everyone learn how to use the tool. That flexibility made a big difference for us."
Desiree Luca, General Manager, playAWARDS, Playstudios
Wave Nine also provided documentation on OKR best practices: approaches other companies were taking, tips on being more strategic and ways to improve the current OKRs. A standout part of the support was the recurring "Ask Me Anything" sessions, where team members got real-time guidance on OKRs and the platform. These sessions created an open forum for learning and helped normalize the shift toward transparency and results-oriented thinking.
"Wave Nine helped us not just implement the tool, but set up a real OKR program with structure and momentum. They were there every step of the way."
Desiree Luca, General Manager, playAWARDS, Playstudios
With weekly check-ins, training and hands-on support from Wave Nine, Playstudios moved from disconnected spreadsheets to a fully integrated system that embeds OKRs into the rhythm of work.
How to size your rollout
Playstudios chose a staggered rollout on purpose. Teams with the most complex cross-functional work, and the greatest need for the platform, went first. Not every employee needs the same level of access right away. For organizations planning their own implementation, this phased approach is a smart way to scale: start with leadership, then the next level of management and operational teams, then expand to cross-functional groups and the remaining departments as confidence in the process builds.
Level 3: winning and leveling up
After two years of success within playAWARDS, the expanded rollout quickly brought company-wide OKR adoption to 100%. All teams now use the OKR framework, and about 80% of the company, 100% of the audience in scope, uses WorkBoard AI to update, track and align progress on a regular basis.
Playstudios has seen a remarkable shift in how teams set goals, communicate, collaborate and execute. Transparency and integrations have helped teams move away from siloed efforts toward cross-team collaboration. One of Desiree's biggest goals is "making OKRs part of our culture and not just a planning exercise," and that shift is well underway.
OKRs have become part of the company's language. They are discussed in senior leadership meetings, company-wide all-hands and functional check-ins. When the executive team set an ambitious objective for the year, to launch a new product, every team built OKRs to support it.
"We've seen that objective trickle down into the entire company. Every team across the organization has their own OKRs that are in support of this objective. Before, we didn't have that alignment, collaboration, and transparency. It's very easy to see who's accountable for moving the needle and what teams are making progress."
Desiree Luca, General Manager, playAWARDS, Playstudios
The results of the rollout are clear:
- 100% OKR methodology adoption: every team across Playstudios now uses the OKR framework to set and track goals, up from pockets of usage two years earlier.
- 100% WorkBoard AI adoption within the scoped audience: teams in the staggered rollout regularly use the platform to track and update OKRs, with a focus on weekly usage and team rituals.
- Insight-driven conversations: WorkBoard AI is used in MBRs, QBRs and team sessions, making OKRs part of the company's daily language and decision-making culture.
- Better alignment and cross-team collaboration: visibility across departments helps teams identify interdependencies and drive shared outcomes.
"The clarity we've gained has completely changed how we lead. It's easier to align, communicate, and show how we're all contributing to company goals. I spend less time chasing status updates and more time focusing on how we can drive impact."
Desiree Luca, General Manager, playAWARDS, Playstudios
WorkBoard AI showcase
How Playstudios uses WorkBoard AI to spend less time on status updates and more time on decisions.
Automate Executive & Initiative Briefings (AI Chief of Staff Agent)
Scheduled AI briefings give Playstudios leaders a regular plan-versus-actual summary of objectives, key results and risks, delivered without anyone compiling updates by hand.
Benefits:
- Leaders get progress without chasing status updates
- Risks and blockers surface before the next meeting
- Everyone arrives at cadence meetings with the same facts
Instant Scorecards & Dashboards (Business Review prep)
Playstudios runs its MBRs and QBRs in WorkBoard AI, with AI-drafted summaries of what changed since the last review sent out as pre-reads.
Benefits:
- Live data replaces manually built review decks
- Shorter, more focused business reviews
- A stronger fact base for leadership decisions
Risk analysis, nudges and status requests (AI Chief of Staff Agent)
The agent reviews team OKRs together with Jira activity to flag at-risk key results and nudges owners to update progress, feeding the red, yellow and green heatmap leaders use to decide where to lean in.
Benefits:
- At-risk results are flagged early
- Owners keep key results current without reminders from managers
- Leaders focus conversations where teams need help
Level 4: scaling for impact
With a successful rollout behind it, Playstudios isn't slowing down. The company is deepening adoption and raising the strategic value of OKRs across the organization, adjusting the OKR process as it goes.
This year, Playstudios introduced quarterly OKRs at the executive leadership level for the first time. Executive OKRs used to be set only once a year, which often didn't reflect the pace of change across the business. With annual and quarterly OKRs in place, the executive team now revisits and refines its goals every quarter, so the organization stays nimble and aligned on evolving priorities.
"We're almost there. Now it's about fine-tuning. We plan on getting those last few teams fully engaged and fully making WorkBoard AI part of how we talk, plan, and measure success."
Desiree Luca, General Manager, playAWARDS, Playstudios
With a clear vision, the right platform and an ongoing partnership with Wave Nine, Playstudios is winning the OKR game and rewriting the leaderboard in the process.
Spotlight: Q&A with Desiree Luca
How has the rollout affected your role specifically?
"In my role managing the loyalty platform, WorkBoard AI has helped me lead my team and department with greater clarity. I spend less time chasing status updates and more time focusing on how we can drive impact. It's made it much easier to communicate with executives and other teams across the organization about how our loyalty platform contributes to broader company goals, and how we're all aligned and moving in the same direction."
What is one of your favorite WorkBoard AI features?
"One of the most useful features in WorkBoard AI is the heatmap. I love that it's color-coded, so we can easily see where teams are tracking red, yellow, or green. It gives a quick visual of where we need to lean in and have deeper conversations."
If you could give one piece of advice to a company that is new to OKRs, what would it be?
"Don't treat OKRs as just a tracking tool. You should use them as a tool to have meaningful conversations. The real value comes when everyone's aligned and talking about the same priorities."
Would you recommend Wave Nine to other companies looking to implement OKRs and WorkBoard AI?
"Yes, Wave Nine truly was an invaluable partner. They made it easy and really set us up for long-term success."
"Working with Wave Nine didn't feel like working with a vendor. It felt like adding a team member who was just as committed to our success."
Desiree Luca, General Manager, playAWARDS, Playstudios
