5 steps to ignite your free-to-play revenue (without advertising)
DESCRIPTION
brainCloud presentation that I gave at MIGS '14 in November 2014.TRANSCRIPT
MIGS 2014
5 Steps to Ignite Your F2P Revenue
without Advertising
Paul Winterhalder @winterhalder
What is brainCloud?
brainCloud is a ready-made, cloud-based backend
for game development.
2
Using brainCloud, developers can access pre-built features to jumpstart building the most popular free-to-play game types, without having to reinvent the wheel.
by bitHeads
Background
Only one in ten mobile games succeed.
3
Background
Harsh Reality: Free-to-Play games make more money.
Free-to-Play Games have been outpacing Premium Games since 2011.*
If you check the Top Grossing list on iOS, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a
premium game in the top 50 — other than Minecraft.
* Source - Flurry http://www.flurry.com/bid/65656/Free-to-play-Revenue-Overtakes-Premium-Revenue-in-the-App-Store#.VF2WF4elMe0
Background
Mathematically, the concept is simple…
$ Success % Conversion
X
$ Spend
X
# Players
=
Background
In practice, success requires a lot of design and meta-systems to achieve.
Multiplatform
Free-to-playSocial
Cross-play
Multiplayer Game-as-a-service
In-app
Promotions
Competition
Players
ConversionSpend
Background
Which in turn require tons of back-end technology and tools.
Multiplatform Multiplayer
Free-to-play Social
In-app
Promotions
Cross-play
Game-as-a-service
Competition
Leaderboards
MatchmakingTurn-basedClan-style
Cloud Data
iOSAndroid
Windows
AchievementsQuests
Virtual Currencies
Design tools
Store Integration
Analytics
Notifications
Pricing Controls
Background
The “Big Guys” have spent years and millions of dollars building these systems.
49* of the 50 Top Grossing games in the iOS App Store
incorporate cloud-tech to enhance gameplay and monetization.
* based on data from August 29th, 2014
Background
Most of us are not the “Big Guys”
IndividualSmall (2-24)Mid (25-100)Large (100+)Owned by PublisherPublisher
M2 Research Developer Survey, presented at Casual Connect, July 24th, 2014
Break-down ofgame developers:
75% of development studiosare less than 25 persons.
Rise of the Indie:
Background
5 Steps to leverage the cloud to ignite your F2P Revenue
(without advertising)
10
Solution
Step 1: Go Cross-Platform
Add
Consider and (↑ARPDAU)
Consider (↓ARPDAU, ↑Players)
Consider and
blackberry 2%
ios 42%
windows 4%
android 52%
Source - http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Market-Rankings/comScore-Reports-September-2014-US-Smartphone-Subscriber-Market-Share
Mobile OS NA Market Share* September 2014
Step 1: Go Cross-Platform
12
Still plenty to do!Platform-specific porting still required for leaderboards, achievements, notifications, purchasing, etc.
Strategic use of cloud tech can greatly reduce these costs.
(Integrate once with the cloud tech, and take advantage of it on each platform.)
These days the heavy lifting is done by the game engines — Unity, Unreal, Cocos2d-x save you tons of time in moving to new platforms.
Yay Engines!
Solution
Step 2: Enable Cross-Play
Takes Cross-Platform further
Single Experience across devices
Single Communityplayer
experience
Step 2: Enable Cross-Play
14
To be effective, must:
Share game state across platforms (cloud saves)
Include purchases
Cross-Play Effective?King.com (Candy Crush Saga) has attributed their cloud save feature as a critical factor in the title’s success — GDC 2013
Solution
Step 3: Add Social Competition
Social Competition is an excellent way to give players additional objectives in your game.
Attract additional players
Competition increases engagement
Step 3: Make it Social
16
Cloud features for social competition:
Social Identity
Brags / Posts
Social Leaderboards
Visits
Challenges
Multiplayer !!!
Clans
Social Competition Effective?20 of the Top 50 Grossing iOS Games are Multiplayer.*
Another 11 are Social Builders (visits).*
* based on data from August 29th, 2014
Solution
Step 4: Reduce Cheating + Theft
Client-side IAP validation isn’t secure
Client hacks can ruin a competitive game
Step 4: Reduce Cheating + Theft
18
Cloud features for social competition:
Server-side receipt validation
Server-side game config + tuning files
Server-side game logic and win determination
Server-side matchmaking
Server-side player data protection
Reduce Cheating Effective?Some developers claim to experience 3X revenue gains by implementing server-side receipt validation — would definitely vary by platform though.
We’ve all experienced or heard stories of cheating ruining games.
Solution
Step 5: Grow + Keep your MVPs
All players are not created equal
Track and categorize your MVPs
Figure out what they like — why they leave
Create promotions to keep them longer
Create promotions to grow more of them
Step 5: Grow + Keep your MVPs
Dividing your player base into segments allows you to better target your promotions.
Example classifications based on Emily Greer’s (Kongregate) talk at Casual Connect 2012.
Percentage of
Play once, then bounce
Non-repeats Repeats
Play 2-9 times
Regs
Play 10-49 times
Committed
Play 50+ times
37% 40% 12% 11%0% 3% 13% 84%
Percentage of Revenue
Step 5: Grow + Keep your MVPs
Define promotions to monetize players and move them upstream.
Play once, then bounce
Non-repeats Repeats Regs Committed
Play 2-9 times
Play 10-49 times
Play 50+ times
Ignore Push them into Regs
Push them to Committed
Don’t let them leave!
Step 5: Grow + Keep your MVPs
Promotion Example: Committed
Committed
Play 50+ times
Keep them from leaving
GoalSegment Definition
Played >50, spent >$20,
hasn’t played in >5 days
Most committed players play every day… if you start to see gaps in activity, it’s a sign they’re thinking
of leaving
Promotion Definition
Veteran Sale!
Super sale on an offer large enough to get them recommitted again.
Enter brainCloud.
brainCloud is a ready-made, cloud-based backend
for game development.
23
Using brainCloud, developers can access pre-built features to jumpstart building the most popular free-to-play game types, without having to reinvent the wheel.
brainCloud is…
24
Rich gaming back-end - multiplayer, cloud data, leaderboards, in-app purchases and much more
Extendable via custom cloud code
Native libraries for iOS, Android, Windows and more
Unity, Cocos2d-x and Unreal engine integration
Easy-to-use development portal
Advanced promotional tools to maximize your monetization
Affordable usage-based pricing
Any Engine, Any Platform…
25
brainCloud supports Unity, Cocos2d-x and Unreal - with native libraries for iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry and more!
And Any Game Type
26
Sweet Spot!
Architecture
We have built a secure, reliable and super-scalable architecture — so you don’t have to.
Key APIs
And pre-built all the key APIs that you’ll need.
Tools
brainCloud is more than an API. It’s a toolset to aid in all aspects of the product lifecycle!
DesignDevelopment
Test +Support
ProductManagement
No-brainer Pricing
30
Tier API Calls / month DAU * Cost / month Early Adopter!
(until 2016) Per M API +
Tier 0 - 100** $0 $0 $0
Tier 1 2M 2K $49 $25 $35.00
Tier 2 5M 5K $149 $125 $35.00
Tier 3 10M 10K $299 $250 $34.00
Tier 4 25M 25K $799 $700 $33.00
Tier 5 50M 50K $1,599 $1,450 $32.00
Tier 6 100M 100K $2,999 $2,700 $31.00
Tier 7 250M 250K $7,399 $6,900 $30.00
Tier 8 500M 500K $13,999 $13,000 $28.00
Tier 9 1B 1M $24,999 $23,000 $26.00
* Based on 33.33333 API calls per DAU. ** Limited to 100DAU during development (Free!)
Sign up in 2014 -‐ get
Early Adopter Pricing until 2016!
Sign up now!
Register today to level the playing field!
Remember - sign up before Dec 31st, 2014 to get Early Adopter Pricing until 2016!
Go to http://getbraincloud.com
Thank you!
Contact me at [email protected]