expanding peak games across the pond – growing in the us
TRANSCRIPT
EXPANDING PEAK GAMES ACROSS THE POND:GROWING IN THE US
ERDEM İNAN
Peak Games• Founded in October 2010, based in Istanbul / Turkey, a team of 100
people• 300M+ Installs globally, 2 Games in Top 100 Grossing in US Stores, 2
Games in Top 5 Grossing in TR Stores.• Active in 150+ Countries with 10+ Titles in Synchronous Multiplayer &
Casual Categories• Flagship Titles: Spades Plus (US), 101 Okey Plus (TR), Okey Plus (TR), Toy
Blast (US)
Team
• BI & Marketing Team • A Team of 15 People: Analytics, User Acquisition & Art, Big Data Team • Providing services to 10+ products in User Acquisition, CRM and Analytics• 10+ Game Launches; Regular User Acquisition Campaigns in many
countries at large scale.
• Myself: • 4 years at Peak Games. • Leading the User Acquisition + CRM + Analytics teams• Engineering Background with an Economics MSc.
Content
• How we grew two games in the US? • The differences and similarities of games in different genres• The differences and similarities of marketing in different genres
• Why we focused in the US? • Team advantages of focusing in one country• Business advantages of focusing in one country
Test Phase
Android Live
iOS Live
iOS Commercial Launch Product Iterations
Aggressive Push Start
Major Content & Service Updates
Toy Blast Growth Timeline
Toy Blast: (Puzzle) Top 30 Grossing Games in iOS in the USTop 30 Grossing Games in Android in the US
iOS Ranking in Time Android Ranking in Time
Test Phase
Spades Plus Growth Timeline
Regular Marketing Period
More Aggressive Marketing Period
Regular Marketing Period
Aggressive Marketing Period
Mobile Version Live
Largest Spades Community!
Seasonal Decline
Platform Featuring
Spades Plus: (Card)Top 100 Grossing Games in Android in the US
Android Ranking in Time
Toy Blast - PuzzleMassLess Targeted AudienceHigher Short Term RetentionLess time & short term reasons to payVirality / Hit EffectHuge Market with Many GamesContent-drivenContent OperationsPopular Game
Spades Plus - CardNicheHighly Targeted AudienceHigher Long Term RetentionMore time & long term reasons to payCommunity EffectWinner-Takes-All MarketUser-drivenUser OperationsTraditional & Cultural Game
Differences in Product
Toy Blast - PuzzleLower CPIs & Faster ROILess Precise TargetingHigher Paid User QualityHigher Short Term Marketing ImpactStrong Display MarketingLow Locality across the USMore Aggressive Pushes
Spades Plus - CardHigher CPIs & Slower ROISuper Precise TargetingHigher Organic User QualityHigher Long Term Marketing ImpactStrong Keyword MarketingHigh Locality in certain statesRegular User Acquisition Campaigns
Differences in UA Strategy
Toy Blast & Spades Plus UA SimilaritiesCreative Optimization
App Store OptimizationHigh UA Effect on the Growth
Cultural Effects in UA (US Effect)10+ Acquisition Partners’ Management
Major Acquisition Partners
Similarities in UA Operations
One Market Strategy: Only in the US?
- ROI Perspective: Better opportunities elsewhere => YES!
- We could have done higher ROI campaigns in 150+ countries at the same time. But we did not…
- Instead we focused consistently in the US; eventually hitting the ranks in top 100 => top 50 => top 30.
Advantages of Focusing only to the US• Market Specific Know-how: • Creatives • Partners & Sources & Pub IDs• Ad Units• Competitors
• Learning the customers’ expectations• Running with one country’s calendar• Team Focus: Everyone can go into great level of detail with one country.• Language & Time zone Focus• Increasing organics
UA is Cultural + UA is Regional
• Some games fit better with some cultures / countries => regions.• Learning who the real players are, might greatly increase your effectiveness.• Non-Gamer Interest Clusters performed ~40% better in ROI when compared to gaming
clusters. (Decreased Costs and Increased Response to Ads)• Target by State, By Famous Local & National Celebrities, Local Card Clubs etc.
United StatesCTR: 2.05%CR: 33%
South KoreaCTR: 3.08%CR: 20%
NetherlandsCTR: 1.23%CR: 22%
BelgiumCTR: 0.88%CR: 36%
TurkeyCTR: 2.44%CR: 33%
GermanyCTR: 1.33%CR: 37%
United StatesCTR: 1.48%CR: 42%
ItalyCTR: 1.04%CR: 33%
South KoreaCTR: 0.99%CR: 26%
CulturalDifferencesin UA Visuals
4th July Game of Thrones Season Premiere
St Patrick’s Theme
Halloween Episode
US Tax Day
Popular & Contextual
Content
Organic Installs
• Understanding organic installs is crucial.
• Organic Installs = DAU Driven Organics + Marketing Driven Organics + Rest (App Store Keywords, Category & Store Rankings, Similar Games, Other Games of the Developer)
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DAU Driven Organics
• DAU drives organics => For viral spread you need people playing.• If your game grows then you will have more organics coming in.• More Organics will mean:• Higher Conversion Rates for your campaigns (Yes, UA takes some organics on
itself. :/) thus lower CPIs. • Lesser budget constraints since the revenue increase will be more significant.• Your user base will be easier to sustain. • Even more organics => ASO, Category rankings, more people playing your
game.• Is the market finite? Not that we know. :) (For a mass game)
Marketing Driven Organics (1/2) • One User LTV > CPI is coming to an end for many genres. It was
extremely safe.• We must rethink how we think of LTV.
• Including an install’s effect on organics.• Including an install’s effect on DAU and market penetration.• Thinking on the opportunity cost of not buying an install.• Thinking of an install that you will buy next year.
• We must rethink our ROI expectations.• An install is one of the fastest increasing assets in value. • Missing a potentially successful game is worse than spending x% more
than you would ideally spend.
Marketing Driven Organics (2/2)
• Paid User Acquisition drives organic installs in different ways:• View through attribution => Very Powerful• Marketing users own virality => Powerful• Store rankings => Less powerful
• User Acquisition has a self-fulfilling loop: Your LTV can increase with Marketing => Marketing Driven Organics are usually better in quality than regular organics.
Summary
• Different Genres require different game operations & user acquisition strategies
• Focusing in one country has many direct & indirect advantages
• Basic LTV calculation without a sophisticated look into virality, organic installs and opportunity cost cannot lead to aggressive marketing strategies for 90% of the F2P companies.
