Allods F2P Monetization

Ilya Maryasov, game designer, Allods Team

Allods Monetization: designer’s experience

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What is Allods

• Allods Online is a F2P MMORPG in an original universe. Commercial launch: October 2009

Economy Flowchart

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Economic System

• Multiple currencies• Several models of item ownership (BoP, BoE, BNone)• Open market of in-game goods with a lot of participants• Internal convertible currencies

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Currency Exchange in action

5.5

10.5

15.5

20.5

25.5

30.5

20-30k transactions per day

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Social and Economic Value of Runes

Any system needs economic regulations. In Allods runes regulate the economy. Their mechanics allow to remove the excess any kind of currency: game currency, premium or promo

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Promo Currency

Main feature of the promo currency (“premium crystals”): it is account-bound. • Obtained during special events or by converting

normal real-money currency.• Prevents from economy exploits when bonuses

and gifts are given away.• Ensures that the currency will be used only by

player for whom it was intended.• Has lower liquidity.• Requires additional support in the IM

assortment

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Audience Interaction

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Customer Behavior

Purchase

Choosing item

Item search

Subcategory search

Category search

Choosing a toolIM purchase

Search for solutionExpand bag Expand bank deposit Discard items Create twink character

Demand generatedNeed more bag space

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Customer Behavior and Conversion

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

13.3

14.8

16.4

18.2

20.3

22.5

25.0

100.0Demand generated

Purchase decision

Choosing a tool

Category search

Subcategory search

Item search

Choosing item

Purchase

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Item Shop Progress

• Customer thinks of item categories instead of specific positions.

• Customer does not know the assortment.• Customer has demands they are unaware of.• Customer does not think in “bank notes”.

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Assortment Management Basics

• Convenience – fast access to required category or goods

• Transparency – logical assortment structure

• Clarity – descriptions of goods and categories

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Assortment management

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6 customer groups

• Utility-oriented

• Fashion-oriented

• Reliability-oriented

• Variety-oriented

• Pastime-oriented

• Emotion-driven

(С) McDonald

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Item Sales

• Every month several positions are sold at a discount

• Usually not revenue drivers• Revenue driver sale is followed by

overwhelming demand • Brings little to none revenue but generates

hype and news topic• Allows to reveal overpriced goods

Audience:

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Currency Sale

• Real money currency (“Crystal”) is on sale• Sets expectations among consumers• Increases revenues significantly: +10-15% to

monthly revenue

Audience:

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“Magic Lamp”

• Event encouraging non-paying users to pay• Gambling elements• Individual offer• Without a character-bound currency, results in

incorrect behavior pattern (“army of low-level twinks to receive bonus”)

• +5-10% to monthly revenue

Audience:

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Box of Crystals

• Temporary “money sink” event for premium currency

• Gambling mechanics• Binding status must be transferred to

generated bonus• +2-5% to monthly revenue

Audience:

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Individual Offers

• Special kind of crystal sale• Targeted only at active audience• Gives benefits to certain player categories• Accepted negatively

Audience:

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“Happy Million”

• Special kind of crystal sale• Limited offer• Sells a given amount of currency in short

period

Audience:

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Sales Points

• Any sale affects future purchases.• Sales on a regular basis form behavior

patterns.• Bonus must be bound to character.• Any giveaways stimulate incorrect behavior

patterns.• Available payment methods greatly affect

sales.

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Lottery Events

• Run every month• Why players are excited: – Limited-time sale– Exclusive content

• Any gambling event decreases lifetime of a customer

Gambling audience:

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Lottery Models Tested

• Zero lottery – on large numbers average cost of all dropped items equals to the price of all lottery boxes

• Zero sale – average cost of dropped items is equal or higher than the lottery box price at each attempt

• Exclusive sale – there is only exclusive content in the lottery box, it cannot be acquired from other sources, but price of this content cannot be determined

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Lowering Attrition Generated by Gambling

• Collector’s coins– each opened box gives one coin used to purchase base-level exclusive prizes. This is positively accepted.

• Rewards are still useful after single use – non binded rewards, players can stack few lesser reward to get more valuable prize

• Each attempt of lottery activity is getting user closer to top-prize. No “common” fillers-goods in the box

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Increasing Attraction of Gambling

• Grand Prix – players who opened a certain number of boxes automatically participate in daily lottery

• Jackpot - each opened box adds some gold to Jackpot pool. There is a chance to win the whole pool every time a player opens a box.

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Feedback

For each event, the following feedback must be collected and analyzed:– Audience impressions– Statistics– Experience of playing developers– Sales before, during and after the event

It allows to make a conclusion about customer behavior and results of the event.

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Conclusion

Main monetization steps:• Generate a demand• Provide the tools to satisfy it• Cover all participants by these tools• Provide reasons to re-evaluate demands• Collect and analyze feedback and statistics

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Thank you!

Ilya MaryasovGame Designer, Allods Teammaryasov@corp.mail.ru