kongregate - maximizing player retention and monetization in free-to-play games: comparative stats...
TRANSCRIPT
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Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Games: Comparative Stats for Asian & Western Games
David P ChiuDirector of Developer Relations & Business Development (Kongregate)Principal, Business Development (GameStop Digital Ventures)
$$$$$$$
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What is Kongregate?
• Open platform for browser-based games– Flash, Unity, HTML5, Java, etc.– 93%+ of users already have Unity installed
• 18M monthly uniques visitors worldwide• Core gamers – 85% male, average age of 22• MMOs, RPGs, CCGs/TCGs, TD, shooters, etc.• Platform level virtual currency “Kreds” for F2P games• Acquired by GameStop July 2010
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What is Kongregate?
• Mobile publisher of F2P games for core gamers
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Some of Kongregate’s Existing Developer Partners
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Stats both reflect & shape mind-setSo what statistics does F2P focus on?
Daily Active Users, DAU$/DAU1- & 7-Day RetentionTo a lesser extent MAU & 30-Day
30-Day Retention is a good stat, but 30 days is not “long-term” retention, it’s the start.
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A little background• All stats are lifetime, min 6 weeks on platform• ARPU: average revenue per user• ARPPU: average revenue per paying user• Player: a Kongregate registered user who loaded
the game page at least once• Plays = Sessions: our preferred method to measure
retention
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ARPU and ARPPU
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Big spenders matter
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Linear Growth x Many Years = Awesome Business
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Asian F2P vs Western F2P
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ARPU and ARPPU
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ARPU & ARPPU• ARPPUs for single-player games cluster around $5-$10• Multiplayer games range $20-$350
• Average ARPPU for a multiplayer game from Asia: $181• Average for Western multiplayer game: $51• Only 9 Western games have an ARPPU above $100• ARPPU is the main factor in high ARPU for Asian games,
important factor for all games
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ARPU and % Buyers
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ARPU and % Repeats
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ARPU and % 50+ gameplays
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Asian vs Western Style• Asian games: High ARPPU, tight player funnel
– Monetization caters well to big spenders• Western games: Lower ARPPU, wide player
funnel– Monetization focuses more on initial retention and
broad conversion to paid at lower prices– Pay 2 Win is not as accepted by Western devs
• Mixed games: can combine the best of both– High conversion, wide funnel, still create big spenders
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F2P Best Practices
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Best Practices for Optimizing Retention:Keeping players engaged
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Daily Play Bonuses• Daily play bonuses are good to get users coming back regular• But improve on the typical 5-7 day daily bonuses
• Reward playing game regularly in longer term
• Doesn’t reset after 5-7 days • Doesn’t “punish” players for
missing a day
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Daily Play Bonuses
• Add an element of chance - make it exciting!
• Repeat logins opens up bigger potential rewards
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Don’t punish people for taking a break• Psychologically, punishments or the possibility of punishment deters
unwanted behavior• Base/castle raided, loot stolen, crops withered, troops dead, account
de-activated, etc. deter players from being away too long• But it can be a two-edged sword• Players sometimes need to take a break (exams, vacation, illness)• Punishment may drive re-activated users away again
“I just got back from vacation/work conference/being sick but my base is completely destroyed, my resources are gone, troops are dead. No point in getting back in the game since I lost everything already.”
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Don’t punish people for taking a break• It can sting but it shouldn’t handicap
you permanently• Limit amount of resources that can
be looted or # times you can be attacked while gone
• Enable shield or protection time if you lose a significant amount
• Mix positive reinforcement with punishment
• Quick one-button rebuild• Resources still available for harvest• Gain XP or gold while away
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Keep players busy!More things to do = more players staying
• Solo and team PvE• Solo and team PvP• Asynch raids• Guild battles• World boss raids• Farming• Town Building• Weapon/Gear
Synthesizing & Upgrading• Astral Collecting and
Combining• Etc.
It is important to pace the introduction of new features/gameplay modes to not overwhelm players with a long and intimidating tutorial.
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Without progress you have nothing• The foundations of a F2P game are a strong RPG elements and a
sense of progress over time• Building up account, leveling up, adding/improves skills and stats, etc• Surprisingly it’s more important than multiplayer
Type % 50+ Plays % Buyers ARPPU ARPU
Multiplayer RPG 2.6% 0.75% $69 $0.51
Multiplayer Non-RPG 1.0% 0.45% $9 $0.05
Single-player RPG 1.8% 1.29% $12 $0.10
Single-Player Non-RPG 0.2% 0.53% $4 $0.02
Deep RPG mechanics and multiplayer matter:• 25x ARPU for Multiplayer RPG vs Single Player non-RPG!
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Asynchronous > Synchronous
Type % 50 Plays % Buyers ARPPU ARPUSynchronous 1.4% 0.54% $43 $0.25
Asynchronous 3.6% 0.80% $88 $0.66
Both 2.9% 1.07% $51 $0.55
Single-Player 0.8% 0.85% $7 $0.05
• Multiplayer keeps players engaged and busy in the long run • But not all types of multiplayer are created equal
• Top games have both synchronous and asynchronous multiplayer (more is better)
• Asynchronous is better than synchronous because it allows players to play at their own pace and convenience
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Best Practices for Optimizing Monetization:A happy customer is a paying customer
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Shopping should be easy and frictionless
• Location, location, location – make the store easy to find!• Make it easy to find the right item
– Meaningful categories and item descriptions– No massive scroll bars
• Mix soft currency and hard currency items • BUT – don’t try to sell too hard, too fast. First few sessions should
focus on fun & giving players reasons to come back to play and get hooked.
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Buy Screen
• Bonuses % or/and items provide incentives for buying larger hard currency packages• Clearly call out bonuses of larger packages!• Make all packages visible in one page• Hide $100+ packages until after first purchase
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Making the shopping experience interesting
• First time buyer/ Starter packages• Seed players with some paid/hard currency and guide “intro purchase”• Deals/events to get people into the habit of spending regularly• Offer items that enhance the gameplay experience (not just speedups)• Intro the right items at the right time
– Lvl 1 players should not be shown the lvl 100+ holy sword that’s on sale for $100)
• Keep them coming back – keep store fresh by adding new items, unlocking items as players level up and featuring seasonal and time-limited items
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Make sure players can spend as much as they want
• The longer someone plays your game the more likely they are to buy and the less price sensitive they become
• Give committed players the ability to spend at $1,000+ if they want• Have lots of items that are appealing and useful to a committed player
and price them higher (if possible) than items meant for early/mid-game play. [Higher means $30-100, not $1000]
• If you make a fun game, someone may want to spend an infinite amount.• Don’t create a situation where spending is capped by availability or utility.
• Again, remember to make it easy for players to buy!
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Best Practices for Community Building:When you’re here, you’re family!
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Make it easy for community to buildChat, forums, player-to-player messages are all great
Real relationships build when people interact. The more ways they can do it, the better.
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Guilds are awesome• 100% of our top games have guilds• Guild members spend 10-20x more than non-guild members• Strong correlation as guilds improve retention and monetization
with late stage players
Some reasons they make a difference• Social incentives to return I want to see my friends• Social pressures to return I don’t want to disappoint them• Improves the psychology of purchases I’m doing it for the
team, not me• Upends the dynamics of pay-to-win can set up a symbiotic
relationship between buyers and non-buyers where both add value to the same group
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Community Management and Customer Service
If a player invests many hours into a game they begin to feel some ownership. It may be YOUR game, but it’s THEIR experience
1. Be visible – forums, chat, email2. Listen to their concerns and acknowledge their emotions3. Be transparent, honest, and accurate4. Give advance notice of changes and downtimes5. Don’t feed the trolls
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Opportunity Complains
Customer service is a chance to surprise and delight• Handle things quickly• Be generous with compensation• But don’t do something unless you’re willing to do it
for everybody
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Surprise and delight• IGG rewards its players with some resources after each of its
weekly 30-minute maintenance
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Have fun with your community
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Case StudyFantasy Online: A Coming of Age Tale
• By Pixelated Games (Jeromy Stroh)
• Launched May 2010• 4.20 rating• 10M+ gameplays
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Fantasy Online: A Humble Start
• Game was popular, highly rated and good retention• But couldn’t monetize well (only sold aesthetic equips)
• Jun 2010 – First month Monthly ARPPU: $5.50
• Sept 2010 – New zones, modest growth to $8.50
• Nov 2010 – No updates, Monthly ARPPU down $8.11
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Fantasy Online: Release the Guilds!
• Dec 2010 – Guilds launched Monthly ARPPU jumped to $12.93
• June 2011 – Crafting, mining, XP potions, new zones added, kept Monthly ARPPU in that higher range, growing to $18.66
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Fantasy Online: Whale Hunting• Jul 2011 – “Gem Packs”, expensive “uber” items ($30+) were added to court big
spenders Monthly ARPPU soared to $32.80
• New content, new equipment slots, Halloween event, grew to $36.23 in Nov 2011
• Jan 2012: Guild Warfare, peak of $41.86
• Mar 2012: New high level content, $54.37
New high level features, content and items catering to committed players + big spenders allowed players to spend more if they wanted to
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Fantasy Online: Monthly ARPPU
May-10
Jun-10Jul-1
0
Aug-10
Sep-10
Oct-10
Nov-10
Dec-10
Jan-11
Feb-11
Mar-11
Apr-11
May-11
Jun-11Jul-1
1
Aug-11
Sep-11
Oct-11
Nov-11
Dec-11
Jan-12
Feb-12
Mar-12
Apr-12
May-12
$-
$10.00
$20.00
$30.00
$40.00
$50.00
$60.00
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Fantasy Online: Monthly ARPPU
May-10
Jun-1
0Ju
l-10
Aug-10
Sep-10
Oct-10
Nov-10
Dec-10
Jan-1
1
Feb-11
Mar-11
Apr-11
May-11
Jun-1
1Ju
l-11
Aug-11
Sep-11
Oct-11
Nov-11
Dec-11
Jan-1
2
Feb-12
Mar-12
Apr-12
May-12
$-
$10.00
$20.00
$30.00
$40.00
$50.00
$60.00
Guilds
Mining / Crafting Chance Box
Gem Packs & Uber Items
New EquipSlots
Changed GemPack Items
Changed Gem PackItems, Guild Wars
New High-Level Content
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Fantasy Online: Takeaways
• Monthly ARPPU grew from $5.45 to $54.37• Monthly ARPU grew from $0.04 to $0.70
• Social features like guilds drive long term retention & monetization
• Incentivizing purchases leads to bigger spends• Make sure you appeal to your big spenders• Keep content fresh to keep players interested• If a core game is fun, you can probably make it
monetize. The converse isn’t necessarily true.
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The Value of Developer ActivityKeep feeding your players• Regular updates, new features, and events yield greater
engagement and reduced fatigue.• Sales and specials can offer significant jumps in revenue.
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The Value of Developer Activity
May-10
Jun-1
0
Jun-1
0Ju
l-10
Aug-10
Aug-10
Sep-10
Sep-10
Oct-10
Oct-10
Nov-10
Dec-10
Dec-10
Jan-1
1
Jan-1
1
Feb-11
Mar-11
Mar-11
Apr-11
Apr-11
May-11
Jun-1
1
Jun-1
1Ju
l-11Ju
l-11
Aug-11
Sep-11
Sep-11
Oct-11
Oct-11
Nov-11
Dec-11
Dec-11
Jan-1
2
Jan-1
2
Feb-12
Feb-12
Hot New Games
Badges added
Custom User Items
New zone, XL, etc.
Equips, Guild bonuses
Halloween, sale
Christmas event
Guild wars
Fant
asy
Onl
ine
Reve
nue
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The Value of Developer Activity
Nov-09
Dec-09
Jan-1
0
Feb-10
Mar-10
Mar-10
Apr-10
May-10
Jun-1
0Ju
l-10
Aug-10
Sep-10
Oct-10
Oct-10
Nov-10
Dec-10
Jan-1
1
Feb-11
Mar-11
Apr-11
May-11
Jun-1
1Ju
l-11Ju
l-11
Aug-11
Sep-11
Oct-11
Nov-11
Dec-11
Jan-1
2
Feb-12
Feb-12
Front Page
Badges
Item promotionNew Version
Fantasy OnlineAsian MMO
Reve
nue
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The Value of Developer Activity
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Front page
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Fantasy OnlineDream WorldAsian MMORe
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Opportunities for Japanese Developers• Combine the best of both worlds:
– Asian developers higher monetization, F2P expertise– and Western developers fun + engaging gameplay
• Japanese game developers have valuable console games experience to draw from and AAA production values
• But important to understand the fundamentals of F2P design and build a game from the ground up while thinking out long term retention and monetization
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THANK YOU
For a copy of the presentation or questions, email [email protected]
For more talks & data visit developers.kongregate.com
For web games contact us at [email protected]
If you’re interested in mobile publishing it’s [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter: @EmilyG & @KongregateDevs