6waves: the end of social games?

The End of Social Games

Confidential

Flash GAMM Moscow 2013

Stephen Lee, Executive Director, Business Development

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• About 6waves

• Social and Mobile Games

– The Headlines

• Mobile Realities

• The State of Social

• Tips for Developers

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ABOUT 6WAVES

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The Leading Independent Publisher of Social

Games on Facebook

What Do We Do?

• 6waves helps social games to scale quickly and globally, allowing developers to focus on making and maintaining great games

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Global Users Network

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22%

3% 1%

28% 30%

6%

20M MAU - 3M DAU

10%

Global Partners

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Global Offices (Hong Kong | San Francisco | Moscow | Tokyo | Beijing )

THE HEADLINES

SOCIAL AND MOBILE GAMES

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Not too long ago…

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• Social Gaming Explosion

Zynga and other Large Players

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In the Meantime…

• Smartphone Growth

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Mobile Market Is Attractive

• New and exciting hardware / software

• Captive audience

• Lower development costs

• Higher monetization

• Viral growth

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iOS Still Leads the Way

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Android is Gaining Ground

• Growth of Mobile

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Android Growth

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Mobile and Tablet Explosion

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Massive Mobile Hits

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More recently, in Social…

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Rise of Mobile Companies

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Mobile Investment & Growth

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MOBILE VS. SOCIAL

QUICK SURVEY

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More Mobile Startups

• GDC Survey of over 2,500 Game Developers

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• 53% independent

– almost all within the last two years

• 38% developed for mobile on previous project

• 58% planning mobile for next project

– 90% iOS

– 75% interested in Android

– 15% Windows Phone

Where will your next game be?

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MOBILE REALITIES

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Mobile Discovery Issue

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• How will my game get discovered?

Costly User Acquisition

• Must maximize both Virality and Retention to ensure ROI

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Competitive Landscape

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Top 25 developers account for half of all iOS revenue.

Source: Canalys

Why Go Mobile? Seems to be:

• High-potential

• Shorter dev cycle

• Higher monetization

• Viral

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But actually…

• Highly competitive

• Shorter life cycle

• Expensive acquisition, not sustainable

• Big companies dominate revenue

THE STATE OF SOCIAL

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Mobile Has Changed Social

• Decreased launch DAU/MAU numbers

• Reduced player attention span

• Forced developers to improve user experiences

• Traditional leaders have struggled to adapt

• Is this the end?

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NO

Desktop Games Are Thriving

• Record number of people playing games

• Increased Game Installs by 75% year over year

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Facebook Revenues

• Payments to Developers

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Zynga Other Developers Overall Games

- 37%

+ 60%

+ 12%

Competitive Landscape

• Level playing field – anyone can succeed

• Developers are experienced and well-armed

• Proven channels for developers to grow games

• Platform continues to improve

– No preferential terms

– Deprecating FB Credits

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Plenty of Room for Facebook Hits

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Facebook On Mobile

• Improved Acquisition, Discovery, and Virality

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Social Graph Vital to Monetize Mobile

• Facebook Penetration in top Grossing 100 apps

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81/100 70/100

iOS Android Source: Facebook earnings call Q1 2013

The Importance of Being Social

• Even if you’re 100% set on developing for mobile, it doesn’t make sense to rely only on mobile

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• Social is a proven way to improve the stats of your games and increase your odds of success

Candy Crush Saga

• The Social and Mobile “Sweet Spot”

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TIPS FOR DEVELOPERS

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Tip #1: Think Global

• Think about genres, languages, themes

• Know your intended audience

• Target areas of opportunity

– Avoid “Red Oceans”

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New and Emerging Markets

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Tencent

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Huge Market Gaming Network

Top Games on Tencent are netting over $3M USD

Over 560 Million on Tencent alone Tencent Revenue Distribution

Yabage

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Gaming Culture High Monetization

Tip #2: Think Cross-Platform

• Maximize user touchpoints as easily as you can

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Tip #3: Spread Your Bets

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• Increase probability of payout

Tip #4: Strength In Numbers

Consider Partnerships

• Especially if you’re working on multiple platforms

• Especially in hard to crack markets

– Additional revenue with minimal effort and risk

• Look for:

– Established players

– Proven platforms

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Tencent

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Marketing Regulatory Issue

Licenses are require to operate Online Games in China.

Yabage

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Localization Developer Support

Thank You

stephen@6waves.com

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