To Self-Publish or Not To Self-Publish? An Indie Survival Guide to Self-Publishing in the Mobile F2P World

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


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


Makes 3rd party publishing model

challenging

Revenue sharing makes UA difficult

Recoupable marketing 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


SELF-PUBLISH VS. PUBLISHER?


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?


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?


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?


SELF-PUBLISHING VS. PUBLISHER

Self-Publishing Publisher

Pros 100% net revenue and control Complements or augments your capabilities/ resources

Cons Need appropriate team/ resources Revenue share More chefs in the kitchen


SELF-PUBLISHING BEST PRACTICES


SOFT LAUNCH


Choose soft launch countries and roll-out schedule

1. Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, etc) Cheap CPIs ($0.20-$1) 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


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

BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING RETENTION


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 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

BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING MONETIZATION


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.

MINIMIZE FRICTION INCREASE CONVERSION AND ARPPU

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)

1) Hard currency unlocked 2) Show players where they can spend them

Almost a Hero

3) Introduce to shop with free introductory purchase

Almost a Hero

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

Dont 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


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


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

QUESTIONS?


David P. ChiuDC Games Consulting LLC

david.p.chiu@gmail.com