@diegobez http://mistralsocialgames.com

FREE TO PLAY

Free To Play

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- Subjective opinions.

- My point of view.

- Not the “right point of

• view”

2 Free To Play

Warning!. opinions

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- Different def initions available. A semantc discussion.

- Freemium / Free-To-Play

- Fuzzy def inition differences.

- I personally choose a USEFULL def inition for me.

How do we call a just-advertising model ? payed apps + inapp purchases ?

Free To Play

Whats F2P ?

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- Play for free. free ? European comission july 2014 � Apple uses “get” instead of “free”

- Core game is free. The most important content C.Crush Saga: '70% of the people on the last level haven't paid anything'

- You can spend anything from 0$ to >1.000$ No limited LTV ( life time value )

- “Freeloaders” ( non-payers ) are important : They add value ( social and/or community content ), prescriptors

Free To Play

Whats F2P ? ( in my opinion )

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- Shareware / Demo Pay to unlock core contentl

- Subscriptión ( limited L.T.V )

- Maximum payment of 5$ Limiting the LTV ( life time value )

- Forcing non-payers to exit the gameForzar Frocing choosing betwwen “pay or stop playing”. Fun and meaningfull for non-payers.

Free To Play

Whats NOT F2P ? ( in my opinió n )

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- Extended digital distribution of games.

- Digital products tend to 0$ pricing.( the market will tend towards pricing the product at it's marginal cost )

- Autopubish � No pricing control � No Monopoly ( launching slots decided by platforms, etc ... ) .

- Needs high user bases.

Free To Play

EVOLUTION. WHY NOW ?

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2004 - Steam , 2006 - Xbox Live Community 29 June 2009 - Iphone

Free To Play

EVOLUTION – Market User base

!!

70 -

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Distribución digital masiva de juegos

- 2004 � Steam- - 29 June 2009 � Iphone

Free To Play

2009 – 2011 Prices drop towards 0.99 $

“Angry birds”, Rovio business model : licencing

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2011 – F2P rises

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EVOLUTION

1111 Free To Play

Free to play. new

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I'll never … play / develop F2P ?

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Highest grossing games of 2013

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4 gaming superbowl ads (2015)

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Free to play. spreadsheet

Gamesbrief.com excell

?

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Free to play. spreadsheet

Gamesbrief.com excell

1717 Free To Play

Free to play. spreadsheet

Gamesbrief.com excell

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- Content that doesn´t affect the gameplay ( customization )

- “Accelerators”.

* C.Crush lifes. * CSR Racing express delivery * Soft currency - virtual coins.

- Exclusive content * Pay to win * Exclusive content ( similarly balanced to free items ) * Hard Currency ( diamonds, etc ... )

18 Free To Play

FREE to play – What to sell?

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- Sometimes, extra friction is added to purchase removal. ( waitings, express deliveries, repetitive or annoying tasks ) .

- Doesn´t f it well to every game design.

- What about narrative games ?

- Biggest problem I.M.O

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DOESn't “fit it all”

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- Will buyers be burned out ?

- Will buyers “feel good”and keep purchasing ?

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Sostenibility

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- Being able to spend thousands $ in a game. Ethicals & addiction.

- 50% revenues come from 0.15% of players

- Not whales, just hobby enthusiasts : http://developers.kongregate.com/blog/dont-call-them-whales-f2p-spenders-and-virtual-value

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Payments distribution

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- High user bases needed

- Big market

- Small niches ?

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Volume

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- No 60$ paywall. - Broad access to “high quality” cultural content.

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- Tradicional marketing done “outside the game”. Sells throught external channels. Sells before playing the game.

- Free To Play : marketing also INTO the game

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Marketing : out / into the game

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- “Behaviour tricks” into / out of the game

- Playing before purchasing.

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Marketing : out / into the game

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- Premium : priority on sales ( before playing ).

- Free To Play : Priority on retention, monetization, ingame metrics.

- Sales into the game � priority into the game

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product focus

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- Games as a service VS “Publish only once”

Big change ( business model, technical priorities, etc … )Continuous releases, development doesn´t end at “publishing”, but “begins”.

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Games as a service

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- “Free To Play is evil”

- Many Devs don't want to develop F2P

- Hardcore-Gamers anti-free-to-play

- Flipper anti Free To Play

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EVIL

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- Biggest “evilness nightmare”:

kids - oriented F2P payments, kids spending money themselves, unlimited spending for kids, pay-to-win.

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“EVILness nightmare “

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- Flipper anti Free To Play

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The good old times

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Our best gaming times

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When beating that final boss used to mean...

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Asking for money to our parents

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kids - oriented F2P payments, kids spending money themselves, unlimited spending for kids, pay-to-win.

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FREE TO PLAY

@diegobez http://www.mistralsocialgames.com

- “When we say that any past time was better, we condemn our future without knowing it” Francisco de Quevedo