free to play: evolved - aki järvinen - grand cru
DESCRIPTION
The free to play business model has transformed the game industry in recent years, and continues to do so. This shift has occurred so rapidly that anticipating future permutations appears impossible, yet in order to evolve and further expand the audience, that is exactly what F2P game developers need to do. Aki Järvinen has worked through the change with a number of titles under his belt. He argues that we can learn by looking back at the F2P shift and chart its evolution through a number of both successful and failed examples. Aki will offer insights into the evolution of F2P, and point at future directions where you could take your product in terms of game design and monetization techniques.TRANSCRIPT
Free to Play: EvolvedAki Järvinen, Product Lead, Ph.D.
Aki’s dev path
One headline here•Exciting text goes here
How has F2P evolved?
Agenda
F2P History
F2P Shortcomings
Free vs Paid
Evolved vs Devolved
F2P Evolved
Crash Course to F2P History
F2P Games Timeline
•1997-2007: ‘The MMO Era’
Achaea, Dreams of
Divine Lands launches
1997 NeoPets launches
1999 RuneScape launches
2001 MapleStory launches
2003 Kart Rider launches
2004
F2P Games Timeline•2008-9: ‘Facebook Era’
EA launches Play4Free
with Battlefield
Heroes
2008 League of Legends launches
2009
Kingdoms of Camelot launches
on Facebook
2009Happy Farm
launches in China
2008 Mob Wars making $22K
a day on Facebook
2008 Mafia Wars by Zynga is
launched on Facebook
2008 FarmVille launches
on Facebook
2009
2009D&D Online
goes F2P & triples the revenue
F2P Games Timeline•2010- ‘The App Era’
SingStar F2P reboot
2013
CityVille; Zynga’s
profitable year
2010 Backyard Monsters
launches on Facebook
2010 ‘Mighty Eagle’ appears in Angry Birds(December)
2010
World of Tanks
launces
2011 Team Fortress 2 goes F2P;
12X revenues
2011
Candy Crush Saga launches
(Facebook; iOS)
2012
Clash of Clans
launches (June)
CSR Racing
launches (June)
Puzzle & Dragons launches
F2P Game Genres Timeline•Which genres have embraced F2P?
MMORPGs
1997Virtual Pets
1999Racing
2004Shooter, Farming
2008MOBA, 4X,
RTS
2009City sim, Hidden object
2012Match-3
Infinite Runner
2010
F2P Monetization Timeline•How have virtual goods evolved?
Skills & Gear
1997Currencies
Resources, Consumable
s
Decorative items
Premium Ammo
2013Energy
Core vs Surface F2P Models
•Surface: sell more content
•Volume (downloads) matters
•Core: sell virtual goods
•Lifetime value matters
http://www.slideshare.net/gameswithoutfrontiers/free-to-play-tricky-to-design
Agenda
F2P History
F2P Shortcomings
Free vs Paid
Evolved vs Devolved
F2P Evolved
Giving F2P a Bad Name
Giving F2P a Bad Name
•Failed Economy
http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/14/3647410/punch-quest-goes-paid-after-free-to-play-failure
Giving F2P a Bad Name
•Bad Design
•F2P ‘Devolved’
•Rises from insecurity regarding the quality of the game
Giving F2P a Bad Name
•Pay to Win
•Alienating non-paying players
•Yet, there should be also a benefit for those who pay
http://thedoghousediaries.com/4443
Agenda
F2P History
F2P Failures
Free vs Paid
Evolved vs Devolved
F2P Evolved
Free Fun vs Paid Fun
The F2P Defense Argument
•“Free to play is more fair (than, e.g. a $60 console title) to the customer, because they can decide if they pay, and how much they pay.”
The F2P Defense Argument
•But...
•This only holds true, if the game supports it’s premise:
•the more you pay,
•... the more fun and engaging the game becomes!
Spending = Fun/Convenience ++
•“Ultimately the whole structure of the game must be as much about having an enjoyable experience as well as being able to make the experience more enjoyable by injecting money, with the knowledge that the more money you put into the game the more it becomes enjoyable.”’
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/181419/7_ways_to_fail_at_freetoplay.php?page=3
Flipside: accommodating non-payers•Case: World of Tanks
•Answers: Yes. And Yes.
•Reservation: Takes mad skills.http://taugrim.com/2013/07/03/competing-in-world-of-tanks-without-premium-ammo-56wr-3000-battles/
Agenda
F2P History
F2P Failures
Free vs Paid
Evolved vs Devolved
F2P Evolved
F2P evolution•‘Devolved’
•Pay to win
•Aggressive merchandizing; bad design
•‘Time to shop’ < 60s
•Excessively whale-driven
•Spending exhausts engagement
•Evolved
•Grind & master to compete
•Clear value proposition; good design
•Shop that solves player needs which arise organically
•Whale-accommodating
•Engagement relative to spending
F2P Evolved
Monetization
Engagement
Ret
entionFun
Make Better Games!
•= The Challenge remains the same!
•It is in every F2P developers interests to evolve F2P, not devolve it!
Let’s not give F2P a Bad Name!
Thank you!twitter.com/grandcrugames
twitter.com/aquito