To Self-Publish or Not To Self-Publish? An Indie Survival Guide to Self-Publishing in the Mobile F2P World
Post on 24-Jan-2018
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TO SELF-PUBLISH OR NOT TO SELF-PUBLISH?
AN INDIE SURVIVAL GUIDE TO SELF-PUBLISHING IN THE MOBILE F2P WORLD
David P. ChiuDC Games Consulting LLC
• 12+ years in games industry
• Intel in Gaming Developer Relations & Business Development, US Gaming Marketing & Campaign Strategy
• Head of Business Development and Developer Relations at Kongregate
• Vice President of R2 Games USA
• Worked on hit games such as Clicker Heroes, Politicats, Game of Thrones Ascent
• Now at DC Games Consulting LLC
WHO AM I?
DC Games Consulting LLC
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE IN MOBILE GAMES
DC Games Consulting LLC
• F2P is the dominant business model
• Usually only 1-2 paid games in the iOS Top 150 Grossing
• Incumbents tend to dominate the charts
MOBILE USER ACQUISITION IS EXPENSIVE
DC Games Consulting LLC
• Makes 3rd party publishing model
challenging
• Revenue sharing makes UA difficult
• Recoupable marketing à developer
receives little revenue
• Minor feature: 10k to 100k+ installs• Medium feature: 100k-300k+ installs • Major feature: 300k to 1M+ installs
***For F2P games, not paid
APP STORE FEATURES ARE INCREDIBLY POWERFUL
# of Apps 3.10M
Approx. # of apps each week ~9k
# of Games 780k
Approx. # of games each week ~3k
Promo slots of new games 16
BUT APP STORE FEATURES ARE HARD TO GET
DC Games Consulting LLC
• Publishers can help by allowing you to focus on the game development while they handle publishing
• Publishers can provide the following:
• Marketing creatives (icon, screenshots, ads, videos, keywords and do A/B tests)
• User acquisition
• App store relations and featuring
• PR and media outreach
• F2P expertise and analytics
• Customer service and community management
• Functional QA Testing
• Localization and localization QA
• Development funding or royalty advances
• Marketing guarantees
• IP licensing
IS A PUBLISHER RIGHT FOR ME?
DC Games Consulting LLC
Evaluate the publisher:
• Are goals and interests aligned?
• Putting some skin behind the game?
• Potential for long term partnership?
• Track record of success?
• Repeat deals with developers?
• Who will be working on your game?
• 1st party and 3rd party games?
• Audience and portfolio fit?
IS A PUBLISHER RIGHT FOR ME?
DC Games Consulting LLC
Evaluate your game and team:
• Goals for the game and studio?
• Does your team understand F2P?
• Do you have the key talent for a F2P game dev and UA?
• Do you have enough capital for dev and UA?
• Do you plan on doing UA for your game?
SELF-PUBLISH?
DC Games Consulting LLC
SELF-PUBLISHING VS. PUBLISHER
Self-Publishing Publisher
Pros Ø 100% net revenue and control Ø Complements or augments your capabilities/ resources
Cons Ø Need appropriate team/ resources Ø Revenue shareØ More chefs in the kitchen
DC Games Consulting LLC
SOFT LAUNCH
DC Games Consulting LLC
Choose soft launch countries and roll-out schedule
1. Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, etc)• Cheap CPIs ($0.20-$1) à can get large # of installs quickly• Stability and compatibility testing• Not for A/B testing or estimating metrics
2. Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, etc)• Player resemble US/CA/AUS players• Relatively lower CPI• A/B test features• A/B test marketing/ app store creatives
3. Canada, Australia and New Zealand• Resemble US players the most• Expensive CPIs
SOFT LAUNCH CHECKLIST
DC Games Consulting LLC
• A/B test and optimize in-game features and tutorial/ FTUE
• Test in-game analytics and app attribution platforms
• A/B test app store page and marketing creatives
• Icon
• App Name
• Subtitle
• Screenshots
• Video(s)
• Copy
• Keywords
IMPROVING RETENTION
Early retention:
• Daily log-in rewards or monthly check-in calendar
• Quests system
• Mini-game or lucky wheel
• Daily Events/ Challenges
• Daily Limited Time Events
• E.g. Everyday 6-7pm PDT à Double XP Power Hour
IMPROVING RETENTION
Mid and Late Stage Retention:
• Achievements with rewards
• Multiplayer features (PvP, co-op, clans, clan battles, clan
perks, chat)
• Leaderboards (single player, PvP, event-based)
• Limited Time Events
• Seasonal Events
• Features and items specifically geared towards elder players
that are unlocked later on
INCREASING MONETIZATION: SHOP UI
• Have all items viewable in one screen without scrolling
• Easier for comparing packages
• Clearly call out bonuses for bigger packages
• Call out Most Popular and Best Deal packages
• Break up into categories or tabs if needed (heroes, armor, consumables, etc)
INCREASING BUYER CONVERSION AND ARPPU
§ Drive buyer conversion and spending with:
1. First time buyer packages
2. Additional bundles after the first purchase
3. Targeted offers based on player behavior
4. Time limited offers
5. Bundles for IAP events/holidays
6. Hard currency daily drips/ subscriptions
7. Purchasables specifically for elder players
§ Perform A/B tests to determine optimal pricing, timing, offers, etc.
MONETIZATION: SHOP TUTORIAL
• Seed players with some hard currency at the
beginning
• Lead them to the shop
• Guide them thru a “free” introductory purchase
• Player gets a taste of the benefits of buying (like free
samples at Costco)
HARD CURRENCY SUBSCRIPTIONS/ DAILY DRIPS
• Encourages daily login• Helps increase retention• Provide one-time
reward at purchase for some instant gratification
GAMIFYING THE BUYING EXPERIENCE
• With a Chinese MMO-style Buyers VIP system• Players earn points for spending within the game• Which can unlock tiers with different rewards or perks• Modelled after airlines, hotel and casino VIP systems
• Risk: may make you look greedy and the game P2W• This is more for games with deep, complex economies
NOTIFICATIONS
• Don’t ask to opt in at app launch
• Ask later in the first or second session of the game and offer an incentive to do so• Free chest every 4 hours• Spin prize wheel every 4 hours
AD MONETIZATION
DC Games Consulting LLC
• Consider adding rewarded video to increase your LTV
• Good for high retaining casual games with low monetization
• Integrate mediation platform and multiple ad networks
• Negotiate superior deal terms
AD MONETIZATION
DC Games Consulting LLC
• Integrate ads into gameplay (core loop or regularly repeating screen)
• Prominent surfacing/ placements
• Offer meaningful rewards
• Incorporate ads into new content or/and limited timed events
• Limit video pre-caching to minimize OTA data usage
• Avoid long ads or ads that require users to pre-qualify
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