Live Ops Archives - GameAnalytics

What to Expect When Your Game Turns Into a Viral Hit

Alexander Bergendahl — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 16:52:18 +0000

Every game developer hopes to see their game hit the top of the charts. The thrill of seeing people play it on the train, glowing reviews in gaming outlets, and your own section on Twitch. (The increased revenue doesn’t hurt, either.) But nobody really prepares you for success. What happens when you get that surge of new players and become so popular that even non-gamers have heard about you?

With great success comes great responsibility. The more players you have, the more pressure you’re under to improve the game, add new content, fix bugs and keep the game alive. It’s a tough gig and one game can easily turn into an entire career.

And there are quite a few tasks you’ll need to take care of behind the scenes.

What goes on behind the scenes?

This isn’t an exhaustive list, by any means. But here are the top things you’ll need to consider.

1. Respond to your players

People are going to reach out to you in every way possible. Email. Discord. Twitter. Some will be praising you, others will be complaining. You need to make sure you’re responding to these messages and dealing with any issues.

This is especially important if you have any in-game economy or items they can purchase. Your players might have problems accessing new content or want a refund. Make sure you have the tools necessary to sort these things out.

2. Keep your servers online

A sudden surge of players can tax even the most robust systems. If you have a multiplayer game, it’s even more vital that these servers stay active. Make sure you have a way to scale your servers and cope with the pressure.

Think about how you’ll cope with the cost, too. If you suddenly need to switch on a dozen new servers across the world, it’s going to be expensive. You need to understand how those costs will increase.

3. Keep creating content

Demand for a popular game will fizzle out if it’s not consistently fresh. You don’t need to drop a big update every week, but you do need to set a schedule. Let your players know what’s on the horizon, how long it’s going to take and make sure to follow through.

A good tactic is to have something prepared before you launch. Have your next idea at least partly finished, ready to release – perhaps for the next major holiday event. This not only gives you a slight reprieve, but it also gives you an idea on how long it takes to create new content. That way, you can make more accurate promises to your players, without needing to go into crunch mode.

Even better, give your players a way to add their own content. Let them share it in game and keep themselves busy. Modding communities are fantastic at keeping a game alive.

4. Balance the game

When you reach critical mass, you’ll find that you receive a lot of feedback around game mechanic balancing. People will complain about characters being overpowered, levels being too hard or bugs that realistically only happen if you’re trying to break the game. Even if these complaints are small, their voices are loud. And you’ll need to address them.

Being able to make changes on the go, without a huge update, makes it much easier to keep your game balanced while you’re in the spotlight.

5. Expand onto different platforms

Once your game goes viral, you’ll soon have players demanding it on new platforms. You’ll want to release your game on everything, it’s only natural. But make sure you don’t overcommit too early. And make sure you’ve set up the tools to let people transfer their progress from one platform to another. It’s unlikely they’ll want to start from scratch.

That’s a lot to do. So while you’re developing new content, adding in new mechanics and responding to your community, who’s going to work on all the fiddly tasks? Well, that’s where a backend system comes in.

What’s a backend service?

A backend solution is typically called Backend-as-a-service (BaaS). It’s a set of out-of-the-box services that cover the most common features and tools that you’ll need. They free you up to focus on developing your game, rather than reinventing the wheel. Think of a BaaS as the game engine for everything that isn’t actually the game.

By using a BaaS, you can quickly roll out features without worrying about whether it’ll cope with a huge surge of players. (In fact, some even come with surge protection, so you’re not hit with a big bill at the end of the month.) And you don’t need to worry about maintaining or improving it all, either.

Typically, backend services include a bunch of different features. Things like leaderboards and achievements, game content management like cosmetics or currencies, and ways to track and manage your players progress in your game. Let’s look at a few in a bit more depth.

1. Manage your player accounts

Every player will need a profile that stores their inventory, what they’ve bought from the store, their story progress and their basic information. All the essential things to make sure they can play the game, but also so you can deal with any complaints. This is particularly important if you want them to use the same account across platforms. With modern backends, players don’t need to login manually to the backend – this is all handled behind the scenes using their platform ID as an identifier.

2. Release new content (or tweak existing content)

Add new DLC, cosmetics, levels, even items. You can easily release or unlock these without needing to push out a big update on the app store. Use this to your advantage to keep the game always feeling fresh, and time updates with seasons or global holidays.

Don’t forget that a backend also lets you tweak existing content on the fly. They can include game settings that could tweak gameplay balancing for characters, levels, or anything else in your game. Use this to your advantage in case you find out an area of your game is too challenging for your players.

3. Let your players create, too

User-generated content is fantastic. But how do you moderate them? A good BaaS will give you tools for checking they’re appropriate as well as ways to curate the content so your players can find all of the best content. This is particularly important these days as players are both bound to create a few pieces of content that are off-color – to say the least – but also create such amazing content that can go viral on their own!

Integrate a backend early

It’s tempting to put off implementing a backend system, thinking that you can deal with it when you have enough players to justify the time. But you can never predict when a surge of players will come in. That’s why it’s called a surge. A single Twitch stream or a review at just the right time, can suddenly catapult you into the spotlight. And by then, it’s too late.

If you don’t have your backend set up, neither you or your game will be able to handle it. Servers will go down. Bugs will go unfixed. And your players will grow frustrated and bored. It’s hard to fix a reputation, once it’s damaged. Even if you do, it’s extremely unlikely that lightning will strike twice.

So it’s really important that you make sure you at least talk to a BaaS before your game explodes, or even better – before you even launch. Make sure everything is set up, and you’ll be fine.

Try out LootLocker – for free!

Not to blow our own trumpet, but we reckon our backend service is pretty great. So if you’re interested in using LootLocker for your game, please go ahead and sign up for a free account – or reach out to us over email or Discord with any questions. We do all the things we’ve talked about here, and then some. Check us out.

10 Rules to Consider When Preparing Your Mobile Game for Localization

Alexander Murauski — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 15:07:58 +0000

Editor’s note: This article has been contributed by Alconost, a global provider of localization services for apps, games and other software into 70+ languages. Alconost also makes advertising and educational videos and images, teasers, explainers, and trailers for Google Play and the App Store.

We’ve written this article as a tribute to numerous questions from our clients:
What’s wrong with my game? Why isn’t localization enough? How can we fix it?

Cutting corners when bootstrapping a new game is a widely-used strategy. And it might even be an efficient one, as long as you aren’t planning to grow incrementally.

However, shortly after the long-awaited local release is in the bag, most game developers start thinking about how to attract more international gamers. And sooner or later, after taking a crack at promoting their game in more countries, they come up with several ideas for localization.

Just so we’re clear, localizing a game means adapting it to the selected locale (country or region) by translating the user interface into the target language and making adjustments for cultural, religious, and political factors.

At this point, we’d like to stress that localization entails interpreting the interface, but not changing its elements

For instance, if a game that needs to be translated into German contains jokes about an English folk character, localization handles this by replacing the jokes with other ones that are popular in Germany. However, if there isn’t enough space in the user interface to accommodate the larger size of the German text, this issue can sometimes require more effort than just localization.

Another example illustrating the scope of localization would be the translation of numbers. For example, some locales such as en-US (American English) require numbers to be written in words rather than numerals in certain cases. Other localization locales might require matching numbers with the plural\singular forms of nouns. For example, in Russian, there are more options than just “one” and “more than one,” while in Japanese and Chinese there are no plural forms at all. However, if numbers and texts are hardcoded in static images within the game, just translating the text isn’t going to cut it.

These two cases are just the tip of the iceberg — there are countless non-localization issues that can rear their ugly heads during the localization phase. Some people call them pseudo-localization or internationalization errors — big words referring to something that could have been predicted and avoided but can require serious work on the part of the developers to fix.

This is why we at Alconost have decided to draw up a list of rules for developers to follow from the very beginning of the design process in order to make localization as painless as possible. Just follow these essential guidelines to get your game ready for localization with no extra effort.

1. Pre-select localization languages in advance

In our previous article dedicated to app localization workflow, we started our action list with #1: “Evaluate your potential.” And yes, we’re going to repeat ourselves here.

You might object that it’s impossible to foresee all potential locales for a game before it actually goes live. Well, this is somewhat true: first, you test the audience with a non-localized version, and then you scale up with localization. However, it doesn’t always work this way.

To start with, your game might contain so many cultural and regional taboos that it would be a no-go for the selected locale without localization, even with the most enticing narrative.

So what is the best way to predict promising locales before you start?

Analyze the competitors’ localizations. Usually, if a rival game has found fertile ground in a certain market, you also have a great chance for a success story.
Evaluate localizations by genre. For example, if you’re an indie developer contemplating the release of a retro-style roguelike, you might have a good idea of your potential locales by looking at a success story in the genre — say, Streets of Rogue, which has been localized into seven languages plus English. Another approach is to look at the question from a regional perspective. If video games are an integral part of Japanese culture, Japan might be a target market to consider from the very early days of development.
Study the most wanted languages for game localization. At this point, you might want to take a look at our previous research published in the article “Best Languages for Game Localization.”

However, your localization plans notwithstanding, our “Rule #0” is to make English the source language if at all possible. And we recommend developing with two locales in mind from day one.

The two “default” locales should probably be English and your native language (if that isn’t English). This approach has several undeniable benefits: first, you’ll be able to translate your game later on into new languages using English as the source material, which helps ensure consistency. Second, having two languages from day one will automatically guide you through all the pitfalls of preparing for localization. Then you’ll see little difference when you have 20 languages.

2. Adjust the interface for potential languages

When building interface elements, it’s generally a good idea to plan for at least 30% extra space (or even more, if possible) for other languages. This is especially valid for short strings (menu items, UI, etc.).

However, we have an even better idea. If you’ve taken Rule #1 into account and have a preliminary long list of locales, there’s another helpful option: design your interface for the worst-case language.

For example, the German version is going to be an average of 30% longer than the English one, and the Russian version will be approximately 10% longer. The same is usually true for the Arabic version. On the other hand, traditional Chinese characters generally take up 30% less space than English texts.

When it comes to bytes, one Latin letter equals one byte, but Cyrillic and Arabic characters are twice as big, which also needs to be accounted for when planning data storage.

3. Don’t build text strings into the code

Transforming the text for localization will result in these hard-coded strings being lost. Remember this localization rule: every localizable string should be editable without touching a line of code.

Actually, all the engineering tasks that need to be performed in order to begin the localization process are attributed to the internationalization process or i18n for short.

Another important tip is to avoid building pieces of text out of smaller single words. A good example of this kind of blunder has been spotted by a Google programmer contributing to StackExchange:

String currency = Locale::getCurrencyString() + money.toString(); // creates $123

The above example showcases this problem — other languages might place the currency mark after the number.

Instead, format strings can be used that need to be localized themselves. For example:

String format = Locale::get(“currency format”); // returns “${0}” in English String currency = String::Format(format, money.toString());

The latter approach allows localizers to rearrange words within the actual format string.

4. Remember that time, dates, units of measurement, and numbers also need to be localized

As a followup to the last rule, we just want to explicitly state that numerical information also needs to be extractable from the code for localization and therefore must not be hard-coded.

You also need to be ready to redesign your numbers in the interface. For example, a clock ticking down the game’s timeline should probably be localized. The underlying motivation for this is that Western countries are mostly monochronic, which means they’re used to having time represented as a stretching timeline, whereas Asian countries prefer to have time represented as a circle.

Not to mention that the formats for dates and units of measurement differ across almost all languages.

So our recommendation is to prepare yourself and consider every detail when it comes to localization.

5. Use placeholders and formatters and make them accessible

Using placeholders sometimes seems like a good alternative to just hard-coding text when it comes to localization and text editing. However, it can be a double-edged sword if you don’t provide access to placeholders.

This issue is connected to word and phrase order that might be absolutely different in another language. So our recommendation here is: make your placeholders part of the phrase so they can be inserted in context. Here’s a little example of what’s “good” and what’s “bad”:

No: “Mommy ate ” + %num + ” apples.”
Yes: “Mommy ate %num apples.”

A short description of placeholders can also be very helpful. This makes it possible to avoid confusion when a placeholder is considered to be wrongly related or unrelated to the previous piece of text.

6. Avoid text in images

If you use images in your game, be ready to localize them too, especially if they’re enriched with text. This means redesigning the whole image from scratch.

Redesigning images and creative assets is sometimes a good idea so you can meet standards for colors and characters in your target locale. However, it’s a waste of time and effort if you’re just doing it to insert translated text.

7. Try to use the right encoding and fonts

Encoding issues are inevitable if you need certain “spécîål” characters that don’t fit into your string class. If your target language has an encoding mismatch after localization, it could take a great deal of time and effort to remove those awful �� characters.

The same problem applies to fonts. In particular, certain fancy fonts for games don’t contain glyphs for all languages. As a result, it might be necessary to choose different fonts for different languages. We recommend keeping this in mind when choosing a font; otherwise, you risk ending up with a bunch of boxes (□□□) instead of subtitled text.

Our recommendation is to use Unicode over ASCII whenever possible. UTF-8 is the most common and space-efficient encoding. So make sure your input files are encoded correctly.

We won’t get into more detail about this right now. An exhaustive tutorial on encoding can be found in the previous article on hunting for “mojibakes.”

8. Play with pseudo-translation if you’re ready for localization

Finally, once you’ve got all the technical aspects outlined above ready, try doing a test run. There are a number of great pseudo-localization tools available across the Web that can imitate your interface as if it were in a foreign language, including adapting text length and checking encoding and hard-coded strings.

These tools basically run a script that mimics the target language and produces a build, which then must be QA tested within the regular process as a non-localized build.

This pre-test is definitely not a panacea, but it helps a lot. And it can also be a lot of fun for developers to do a mockup with a camouflaged interface.

9. Start building your glossary early

A glossary is a collection of in-game terms and concepts that must be preserved consistently throughout the entire game. It mostly contains items, character names, artifacts, and statuses.

Maintaining consistency with the glossary across the entire game is essential. Just imagine if a certain in-game item is translated as “potion” in one place and “elixir” in another — you’ve unintentionally created an extra logic puzzle for your players.

10. Be ready to provide context

No less important than providing a glossary is ensuring that the localization team has all the context they need. In our experience, context can be established by enabling communication between translators, localization project managers, and game developers.

We realize that it’s extremely difficult for the entire development team to be available 24/7. However, during the localization phase, our best advice is to designate a representative to be your contact person – incorrect or insufficient context can really hurt the ultimate results of the localization process.

Besides, the platform for localization workflow is primarily selected based on the client’s preferences, so this communication can be conducted as conveniently and efficiently as possible.

And if the work is done well, it pays off in the end.

We hope you find this simple list of recommendations helpful for designing your games. We’re wishing you great success stories and captivated players!

Battle Passes: The Latest Hot Trend in Mobile Gaming

Erno Kiiski — Tue, 24 Dec 2019 00:02:16 +0000

Editor’s Note: This is an extended version of an article on the same topic that we published int Pocketgamer.biz, and was originally written by Erno Kiiski, Chief Game Analysts at GameRefinery – US. In his job, he’s played and analyzed hundreds of titles on a feature level, giving him a strong sense of the current western mobile game market. So, without further ado, we’ll let him take the lead.

A bit over a year ago, GameRefinery wrote a post about Battle Pass systems. Back then, this monetization mechanic was still brand-new with Fortnite, the first mobile title to popularize it among players. Even though other genres slowly started adopting the Battle Pass as well, it was mostly left to Battle Royale games. Now the mobile gaming market looks quite different, and you could argue that Battle Pass is here to stay – not only in Battle Royale but across the market.

In this blog post, our friends at GameRefinery focus on trend and popularity data for Battle Passes and look at a couple of the most interesting implementations they’ve seen so far.

The data and examples shown here are gathered from the GameRefinery service, which you can access here. If you’re interested in researching over 200 in-game features, their popularity, and implementations or checking out feature deconstructions of hundreds of games, you might want to pay a visit!

Let’s kick things off with a simple yet powerful graph:

Battle Pass popularity in iOS US top grossing

What this hockey stick figure depicts is the Battle Pass system’s popularity among US iOS games and its strong upward trend during this year. At the beginning of the year, only a couple percent of the top-grossing 100 games had the feature implemented, but at the time of writing, 21% of US iOS top 100 grossing games already have a Battle Pass system up and running. During the last few months alone, the market has seen tons of different Battle Pass implementations – especially among the top 100 grossing titles.

US iOS top grossing 100 games with Battle Pass

As discussed earlier, Battle Pass used to be a “one-genre only” feature, but as the picture above shows, there are plenty of different genres utilizing Battle Pass already.

There’s naturally more than one way to implement a Battle Pass, and some ways work better than others. It’s not an easy task to create a system that comes with appealing enough content while not cannibalizing your other monetization features. Or one that has just the right price points and solid progression curve for maximum retention. But if you manage to find the proper balance between all these elements, the result can be something extremely powerful, and your game’s monetization capabilities leap to new heights.

Here are some examples of how various titles that have implemented their Battle Pass recently; how the progression is built, what rewards are offered, and how much it costs to get your hands on these passes.

Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans implemented its Battle Pass system back in April this year. By doing so, this king of Build & Battle games became one of the first to join the Battle Pass trend outside the Battle Royale genre.

Price

$4.99

Season length

1 month

Progression

CoC built its Battle Pass progression around completing challenges. Players clear daily challenges and weekly “active challenges,” which players can complete at any point during the season with six new active challenges available every week. Completing these challenges reward players with challenge points that measure the progression of that Battle Pass season.

Rewards

Players can get their hands on wide variety of rewards, including heaps of gold, magic items (consumable boosts), special seasonal skins for hero characters, special Perks (which e.g. increase building speed for during that season) and a Season Bank, which is filled by loot earned from multiplayer matches that can be claimed after the season ends.

Is it worth it?

CoC’s Battle Pass had a huge impact on the game’s performance and no wonder: It brings a nice amount of value for the $4.99 price point. The progression system incentivizes players to come back on a daily basis to complete the challenges and engage with the game. Although the amount of exclusive rewards gained through CoC’s Battle Pass is relatively limited (in comparison to e.g. Fortnite), it still gives a decent extra value and doesn’t seem to cannibalize the game’s “normal” economy. Even though the price point is relatively low, it’s worth keeping in mind that the Battle Pass’ engaging and retaining nature helps increasing monetization of Clash of Clans indirectly through retention boost and the game’s other sinks.

Clash Royale

Supercell saw the excellent results of implementing a Battle Pass in Clash of Clans, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise when a Battle Pass system popped up in another Supercell hit game – Clash Royale.

Price

$4.99

Season length

1 month

Progression

When you purchase the premium layer of Clash Royale’s Battle Pass, you instantly get unlimited entries to Special Challenges (events) and the possibility to queue your chest openings. The progression curve is actually really simple: as players earn crowns from winning matches, they also progress the Battle Pass further and unlock more rewards tier after tier.

Rewards

Chests with cards, gold, trade tokens, event specific emotes/tower skins, and “bonus bank.”

The Clash Royale Battle Pass only has 35 tiers, and once you’ve completed them all, every 10 crowns ads gold to the “Bonus Bank,” which players can claim after the season ends (similarly to Clash of Clans’ Season Bank).

Is it worth it?

Just like Clash of Clans, Clash Royale’s Battle Pass brings a lot of value for the relatively cheap $4.99 price point. However, I would argue that Clash Royale’s Battle Pass progression is not as engaging, because it is tied simply to winning matches and earning crowns. In other words, you don’t get to “interact directly” with the Battle Pass, but just come and claim the unlocked rewards every now and then. There are no daily/weekly quests that would push players to return to the game and engage retention. Apex Legends used a similar simplified progression structure during its first Battle Pass, but Respawn changed it quickly for a more engaging, quest-heavy approach for Season 2. It remains to be seen whether or not Supercell ends up doing the same.

Idle Miner Tycoon

As mentioned earlier, the Battle Pass started off as very genre-specific mechanic, but has recently swept across all sorts of games – both midcore and casual alike! One good example is Kolibri Games’ popular idle game Idle Miner Tycoon.

Price

$9.99

Season length

1 month

Progression

Idle Miner Tycoon’s Battle Pass is closely tied to the game’s ongoing event loop. In IMT, there are always live events running within “event mines” – special locations separate from the main game progression. Players earn Battle Pass season points from progressing in these event mines, a model that essentially ties event and Battle Pass progression together. During a single Battle Pass season there are multiple different events to participate in.

Rewards

Idle Miner Tycoon’s Battle Pass rewards players with different sorts of items that boost their income along with research points that players can use to buy permanent boosts from the research tree. In addition, there are a couple of basic chests with character shards and some event specific avatar icons for players to acquire through the Battle Pass.

Is it worth it?

Who would’ve thought a year ago that we have Idler games with a Battle Pass? I think it’s always exciting to see developers experimenting on how to implement a feature or mechanic across different genres. Personally though, I feel that Idle Miner Tycoon’s Battle Pass implementation feels more like a tacked on “extra reward layer” for the existing event system than its own comprehensive monetization mechanic.

Since the Battle Pass progression is earned simply by participating in events, it doesn’t feel as captivating and engaging as in some other games. It’s true that the Battle Pass gives players more reasons to participate in the said events, but the rewards earned are not as compelling- especially with this high of a price point. Moreover, the avatar icons and booster items don’t evoke a very strong “feeling of missing out” – one the biggest selling points, especially for cosmetic-driven Battle Passes.

Gardenscapes

Playrix has been one of the most successful publishers during recent years. One major driver behind their triumph is undeniably the way Playrix has approached the casual Match3 market on a feature level. For starters, they were in the forefront of popularizing the narrative/decoration meta layers in casual Match3 games – a bold move that was able to shake King’s saga games’ long-lasting dominance over the genre.

Now Playrix is once again pioneering a new feature in the genre, as it’s among the first developers in the West to bring the Battle Pass to casual Match3!

Price

$4.99

Season length

1 month

Progression

Gardenscapes’ Battle Pass feature is called Golden Ticket and its mechanics are rather straightforward: Players complete levels to earn “Season Points” and a specific amount of these points is needed to gain a threshold reward and progress onto the next reward level. The required number of points for each level-up increases the further you advance in the Season.

Rewards

Once the premium layer (i.e. Golden Ticket) is purchased, you don’t only unlock the higher tier rewards, but also receive immediate extra benefits straight away: your maximum amount of lives is increased, your profile icon turns golden and you start getting free boosters for the start of every level.

As you collect Season Points and reach reward thresholds you usually receive boosters and currency as rewards. However, a major selling point for Gardenscapes’ Battle Pass is that Golden Ticket holders gain access to exclusive season-bound characters. The first season’s unique reward is a pet cat which you can earn to your garden and it’s very likely we’ll continue seeing similar cute collectibles in the upcoming seasons as well.

Is it worth it?

Casual Match3 is another of those genres that sure isn’t the first one to pop in mind when talking about Battle Passes, but here we are. Gardenscapes’ Battle Pass is a nice addition to the game, as it brings an extra progression layer for players without overcomplicating the straightforward gameplay loops of a casual game. Even though the rewards it gives access to are not anything groundbreaking, it still manages to maintain a certain level of exclusiveness and is very likely to appeal to its core audience.

Mario Kart Tour

Mario Kart had its own version of Battle Pass implemented straight from launch. As Nintendo is well known for doing things its own way, it might not be surprising that Mario Kart’s brings a new twist to the mix with the “Gold Pass” feature.

Price

$4.99 / month. Recurring subscription

Progression

Similarly to any Battle Pass, the Gold Pass unlocks the so-called “premium” reward track for players. Players acquire 1-5 stars per race based on their performance on tracks, and once enough stars are acquired, the next races and reward thresholds are unlocked.

One interesting difference from the norm, however, is that the Gold Pass uses a continuing monthly-based subscription, whereas with other Battle Passes you pay a single transaction for every season you want access to premium content. Therefore, it is kind of a mix between a Battle Pass and a recurring monthly subscription.

Another major difference to your normal Battle Pass stems from Nintendo’s decision to open the fastest racing mode only for Gold Pass subscribers. This makes Mario Kart Tour one of the only games to put an entire game mode behind a Battle Pass paywall, a move that has riled up some in the community.

Rewards

200cc game mode, premium currency, experience tickets, special badges for your player profile, kart/glider/character cards.

Is it worth it?

As Mario Kart had the Gold Pass right from the get go, it’s clear that the Battle Pass model is a big part of Nintendo’s monetization strategy for the game. It was quite a bold move to block the 200cc races behind a paywall, and it understandably caused a minor uproar. However, one might argue that it’s just a slightly faster playing mode – not something you absolutely have to have to enjoy the game.

I think the bigger problem lies with current premium content, which strikes me as rather plain and uninteresting. The only exclusive rewards you get with the Gold Pass are golden profile badges – not the most special and sought after vanity item type I’d say. The most interesting merchandise is safely stored in gachas, which are available to everyone – not just Gold Pass owners.

I expect that Nintendo will tweak the balance between Mario Kart Tour’s gacha economy and the Gold Pass based on the games’ performance after the big initial start. Maybe we’ll see some more appealing Gold Pass rewards in the upcoming seasons, as having more exclusive prizes would definitely make the $4.99 purchase more appealing. Things will get really interesting when the multiplayer modes are finally launched, and we’ll get to see how it affects the Gold Pass and its mechanics!

Summary

It’s no easy task to get all the bits and pieces of Battle Pass systems just right, but there is a clear trend that the market is trying hard to find ways to fit the feature across different genres. Some of these implementations have worked better than others, but overall it seems that a growing number of games have started eyeing the possibility of jumping aboard the Battle Pass train. One of the biggest upsides of doing so is naturally the highly engaging nature of the system. When done right, Battle Pass systems can have a tremendously positive effect on your game’s retention and monetization – both directly and indirectly.

As an addition to Battle Pass systems, auto-renewable subscription models have also started appearing within mobile games in growing numbers. When combined with the fact that there are constant legal investigations and regulations hovering around loot boxes/gachas, it might just be that subscription-based models are the next dominators of mobile game monetization. This is still early speculation, but the strong trend of subscription-based models is indisputable, and it seems that at least Battle Passes are here to stay.

If you want to dig deeper into the games presented here or for example, research all the different Battle Pass implementations of dozens of titles, you can sign up to GameRefinery’s service here.

Fancy some more reading? Check out some of GameRefinery’s other articles:

Customizing Your Game for the Chinese Audience

Arttu Anttonen — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 10:36:14 +0000

Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Arttu Anttonen, Game Analyst. Aside from turning Chinese games inside out, Arttu has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market in the East.

Everyone working with mobile games in the West already knows Archero. The successful shoot-em-up style ARPG-esque roguelike-ish action game, where players clear sequences of short levels of enemies with their archer hero while avoiding getting shot themselves. And, since many Western game developers struggle with the age-old dilemma of how to make their game more appealing to the Chinese audience, you could be asking yourself: “What would Chinese Archero look like?”

Baozou Daxia has been grossing steadily since launch (source: GameRefinery service).

Well, a textbook example of how to do it emerged in early September, although made by a Chinese developer, Dream of Dragon Games (大梦龙途). Their game Baozou Daxia (暴走大侠), which directly translates into “Berserk Swordsman,” immediately jumped to the Chinese IOS top 50 grossing after launch. This all happened while Archero itself has not yet monetized in China via IAPs despite holding top ranks on iOS downloads. The core gameplay of Baozou Daxia is almost a carbon copy of Archero, but with the visual theme changed into a Wuxia/Chinese fantasy theme.

There are some big differences on the feature level, however, and it just happens that many of them can be identified as “typical Chinese features,” that GameRefinery has introduced in previous blog posts (if you haven’t already, make sure to check out their “What to know about Match3s & RPGs in China” posts).

Baozou Daxia utilizes a Chinese style visual theme.

Baozou Daxia utilizes character collection elements from Chinese RPGs

Using GameRefinery’s Compare Games tool, you can immediately see that despite the similarity in the core gameplay, there are significant feature differences between Baozou Daxia and Archero. Apart from the more apparent Chinese fantasy visual theme, there are many other “typically Chinese” features in Baozou Daxia that cater specifically to the tastes of Chinese gamers. Most characteristically, the game has a slightly deeper character development meta than Archero (although there is only one playable character unlike in Archero).

Baozou Daxia also has a character collection system (with more gachas!), where players collect hero cards into an album, triggering permanent stat boosts in the process. The collectible hero cards are currently not used in the core game, and it remains to be seen if they will be used in one of the foreshadowed to-be-released game modes.

Baozou Daxia has implemented a character collection system that grants permanent boosts.

There’s also another permanent boost system called “the school” in Baozou Daxia, which at first glance looks like a typical guild system, but when you look closer you notice you’re the only real player in the “guild.” This boost system consists of NPC-like menus in which you find different ways to consume activity points in exchange for various permanent boosts. Typical for Chinese RPGs, players can also increase their relationship level with some of these NPCs and eventually even become “companions” with some of them to receive further buffs.

In Baozou Daxia, the player can develop their relationships with female NPCs.

Baozou Daxia implements many features facilitating easy in-game progression

As Chinese mobile gamers generally like stress-free, easy gameplay, it comes as no surprise that Baozou Daxia includes an auto-loot system. This allows players to reap extra experience points by spending some energy points and premium currency to auto-loot levels that they have already passed. This way, players can easily develop their character and make core gameplay on new levels a bit easier.

There is an auto-loot system in Baozou Daxia, which utilizes a special auto-loot pass consumable boost.

Another system in Baozou Daxia, that is commonly found in Chinese RPGs, is located in the “guild-like” permanent boost system (the “school”) of the game: the so-called “school tasks,” which are automated tasks that take a fixed period of time, in this case, eight hours each. This type of tasks are often found in Chinese character-collector games where players can send some of their characters to execute “adventure tasks” or “go travelling.” Characters are then gone for various lengths of time to acquire rewards such as XP, equipment, soft currency, etc. In addition to providing an easy method for acquiring rewards, this system also works as an incentive for players to log into the game several times a day to select to activate new tasks after the previous ones are complete.

“School tasks” are one type of appointment mechanic in Baozou Daxia.

In Archero, there is a late-game reward system called “time reward,” which grants players free soft currency and experience points based on how much time has passed. This mechanic is somewhat similar to an offline time reward system often seen in Chinese RPGs, except that in this case, the system does not discriminate between online and offline time. Players can collect rewards each hour or wait until the rewards cap after three days. This way, the same system serves active players who want to collect the rewards quickly (although they have to wait at least an hour), as well as less regular players, who will have to come back at least every three days to reap the full benefits of the system.

This system exists in Baozou Daxia as well; however, it is accessible already early in the game, making it yet another system that facilitates easy progress.

Baozou Daxia has “time reward” unlocked from the start, which is both a ‘multiple session per day’ and a ‘periodical’ re-engagement feature.

Baozou Daxia seals the deal with a more diverse feature set

All in all, Baozou Daxia has made exactly the right tweaks on the feature level to make it more localized for the Chinese market: with a deeper metagame, several more ways to ease in-game progress, and a character collection layer with gachas, social features etc. All these features are time-tested, sure-fire ways to make your game competitive on the Chinese market, but they are just the tip of the iceberg.

Interested in looking at the complete list of almost 40 feature differences between Baozou Daxia and Archero or just learning more about GameRefinery’s offerings? Make sure to sign-up to their service here.

And if you enjoyed reading this post, here are a few more you should definitely check out:

How Esports Can Help Your Mobile Game Make Money

Brian Mahoney — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 08:48:44 +0000

This post was originally written by Brian Mahoney, Director of Game Design at Skillz. You can read it here.

Picture this – your mobile game is doing well. You have really high player engagement, and your retention is looking strong. All in all, your game is bringing in a steady stream of money, so you’re happy.

However, you start to see a drop in your acquisition strategy. And on top of that, you need to keep making iterations and changes to your game to avoid losing your most highly-engaged players (the ones who expect more and more content). So, what do you do?

This scenario is all too familiar amongst some of the mid-to-larger sized gaming studios. One of the biggest challenges developers face today (which I’m sure all of you can agree with) is competing in a market where players have an abundance of games to play. So for this reason, we’re going to take a look at some design tips for mobile game monetization, and what the benefits are when launching a competitive version of your game.

So, why should you create a competitive version of your game?

You’ve heard the phrase ‘content is king’, right? Although this is true for the most part, and you should always maintain and release new content for your game, this can be a time-consuming process that some studios just can’t keep up with. And if you can’t keep up with your players’ needs, they’ll just go somewhere that can.

So by making a competitive version of your game, you’ll be adding a whole new level and meaning to your title. Players won’t just play your game to mindlessly complete the next level. They’ll play for the psychological thrill of beating someone else.

This is also a really quick win. You may be thinking ‘yeah that’s great, but I don’t have time to make a completely new game for esports’. Well, the reality is, you don’t have to. Most of the top competitive mobile games actually have a short gameplay time. So all you really need to do is pull out a section or mechanic from your main game, and use this as the basis for your esports title. We have a dedicated platform for this, which you can look into here.

This way, you won’t be going back to the drawing board, but instead will be creating a second version from an existing game. Once the esport version is live, you can continue working on the primary game, but also have a stream of revenue from your competitive version. Win-win.

Here’s how you can create a competitive version of your game, without harming your current game’s performance

Before making a competitive version of your current title, you’ll want to take these things into consideration.

Make sure it’s short and sweet

Find that part of your game that can be turned into quick matches. The ideal length of a competitive mobile game is between 2 – 4 minutes. Any longer, then you’ll be at risk of players dropping out, which can affect your game’s monetization.

Have enough DAU if you want it to be real-time matches…

Having one player compete against another in real-time is a brilliant monetization strategy, as this means your players get that psychological reward of competing against a real-life person.

That being said, there is nothing more disruptive to a multiplayer experience than waiting to be matched against another player of equal skill level. So, in order for your competitive game to be successful, you’ll need to drive a large amount of DAU during the initial launch.

…or start with an individual gameplay approach

If you don’t have the DAU to start with, then you could consider this approach. Have each player compete individually, and have the player with the highest score win. This checks all of the boxes in a way, as players can quickly compete in a match, and then receive a notification when their opponent beats their score.

This basically means:

Players can compete in match-after-match without needing to wait for an opponent, and
you’ll also increase your retention rates, as players will need to come back into the app to check their score.

If you’re still not sure about which type of gameplay to focus on, then we recommend you start with this approach, so you can drive up sufficient DAU, and then add a real-time element.

Show your players how they can do better

Intuitive scoring is a key element for helping players get more skillful in your game. When a player finishes a match, we recommend showing the final score along with the formula for how the score was calculated. Knowing what exactly they need to do to get better will entice them to try again.

Make sure it’s fair

A crucial requirement for any skill-based competitive game is to make the game fair. To keep a level playing field, all players need to have the exact same starting conditions in the match.

Also, the game should be set up in such a way that players can’t win just by memorizing a sequence or answers. This can sometimes be difficult to do, so here at Skillz we do thorough fairness checks for every game. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this part.

How to avoid player cannibalization

This can be tricky, but try to avoid promoting your game to your non-competitive players. Instead, focus on cross-promoting to the ones that are highly competitive and engaged, and you should see this audience continue to play your original version, but also your new competitive game.

Here’s why they’ll play both:

Your main game – These players are already bought into the original version of the game. They’re already invested in its progression system, and will likely want to continue exploring the content.
Your competitive version – These players have access to an evergreen piece of content that is consistently challenging. Also, there’s an added excitement at the idea of cashing in prizes and winning tournaments. This can really help keep your retention high.

What can you do now?

Competitive gaming is on the rise, so if you really want to stay in the game (excuse the pun), then we strongly recommend going down this route. We have a ton more information on how this works, what you need, and how to get started, which you can find here. Equally, feel free to get in contact with us if you have any questions and want to learn more about competitive mobile gaming.

PvP Modes in Casual Games – Disney, Harry Potter, Board Kings & Love Nikki

Wilhelm Voutilainen — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 16:08:47 +0000

Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Wilhelm Voutilainen, Senior Game Analyst at GameRefinery. As a Senior Analyst, Wilhelm knows the ins and outs of game feature data in western markets, specifically on PvP games.

PvP is often the key feature that defines mid-core games. For example, in shooters, RPGs, and strategy games, one of the most addictive elements is built around the possibility to show off who has the best aim, most cunning strategies, and strongest characters. But when you think about casual games, PvP is probably not the first feature that comes to mind. Considering this traditional view, could PvP be effectively implemented into lighter games such as casual Match3s, adventure, and customization games?

In this blog post, our friends at GameRefinery take a closer look at PvP-mode examples in casual games of various types to shed more light on how you can use PvP-modes as an extremely efficient tool in casual games to boost your user engagement and retention.

To start things off, let’s take a look at the casual game market and pick out games that utilize either an asynchronous or synchronous PvP-mode (or modes).

For those of you who are not 100% familiar with the terminology:

In Asynchronous PvP players don’t play against one another simultaneously. Either they’re matched against an AI opponent that controls the opposing player’s character, or they’re matched against another player but they’re not playing at the same time.
In Synchronous PvP players are matched in real time against other players, and both play the game at the same time.

One easy way to find casual games with PVP is to use GameRefinery’s Market Explorer tool, which dissects the market based on your genre and feature interests. As a result, they found a handful of successful US top 200 grossing Casual Games with either asynchronous or synchronous PvP.

Let’s take a closer look at how four of these casual games in the US top grossing 200 have implemented their PvP modes. And to give you a broader view on the matter, they’ve picked casual games from several different subgenres.

Disney Emoji Blitz

Fast-paced Match3 game Disney Emoji Blitz is all about matching emojis to score as many points as possible during a limited time. The game’s meta revolves around collecting and leveling Disney themed emoji characters, each with their unique skills. Recurring events play a significant role in this game, as the game is continuously cycling between a variety of events with different mechanics and special event character rewards.

Food Fight Face-Off is one of these recurring events and quite interestingly packs a nice touch of synchronous PvP mechanics.

In the Food Fight Face-Off event, players fight each other in brief, minute long, PvP matches where the goal is to collect more items than your opponent. You receive items by dropping them down to the bottom of the board. There are also items on the board which let you “attack” the opponent, for example by covering the screen with visual obstructions. Playing these matches rewards players with stars, which in turn give players rewards as they progress through the event’s reward track.

All in all, Food Fight Face-Off is an excellent way for players to challenge their friends and find out who’s the ultimate blitzer. As matches are synchronous in nature, beating your friends in real time is even more satisfying!

Board Kings

Board Kings is a truly unique take on the board game genre. The base idea is very simple: you throw dice to move on the board and collect coins, and coins are then used to construct buildings on your board. What makes the game interesting is its PvP aspect, that turns this peaceful looking game into a full-on stealing and invading experience.

Here’s how it works in practice. By landing on a “Train tile,” you are taken to another player’s board and get to take one lap around the board. If you then manage to land on special tiles like the “Occupy tile” or “Steal tile,” you get temporary ownership of that player’s building or get to steal their coins. Players can protect their boards by setting up “Cops” on tiles. These helpful little fellas prevent a visiting player from making further rolls unless they use some premium currency or return to their home board. To sum up, Board Kings encourages rivalry and fun casual competitive play with this asynchronous PvP aspect.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is a pretty traditional adventure game where you complete straightforward tasks to progress in the game’s story. While adventuring, you develop your character (light RPG elements) and occasionally fight turn-based battles against AI opponents.

Even though the game is rather casual and has a heavy emphasis on a single player story, there is also an asynchronous PvP mode called “Duelling Club,” which makes use of the same simplified turn-based battle mechanics familiar from the single player mode.

The battle mechanics are super straightforward: you choose from 3 different styles of attacks (basically rock-paper-scissors) – if you have the stronger attack, you get to use a spell against the opponent. The match will go on until either of the dueler’s health reaches zero.

Love Nikki-Dress UP Queen

Love Nikki has a heavy emphasis on visual customization of the player’s character, but it also offers a lot of midcore RPG-like elements to beef up the game’s complexity. The game’s main idea, in a nutshell, is to win beauty contests and pass levels similarly to any traditional turn-based RPG. But instead of physical battles, the “combat” in Love Nikki takes the form of a fashion contest, in which players choose their outfit and “fight” against the opponent by posing.

As an addition to the single player mode, there’s an asynchronous PvP mode called “Stylist’s Arena.” These arena matches are just like the single player beauty contests, but here the characters use their skills automatically. To increase the sense of competition, winners climb up the ladder in the Stylist’s Arena league.

To spice up the PvP aspects even further, Love Nikki is running co-op PvP events that allow you to team up with your buddies to triumph over other players in 2v2 fashion shows. The great thing about the co-op is that it emphasizes the feeling of playing together as a team and further pumps up the satisfaction you get from winning.

To Sum Up

As these well performing casual games illustrate, it’s definitely possible to successfully implement PvP-modes to “lighter” games, such as Match3s, customization, and adventure games. However, it’s essential to keep the PvP elements also casual and simplified to avoid alienating your game’s core audience. If you look at the example titles discussed here, all of them have made sure that the PvP matches are speedy to get into and quick to complete, not requiring too much concentration and investment from players.

More implementation examples of not just PvP modes but also many other features such as guilds, limited time events and even upgrading types of characters and items can be found in GameRefinery’s Implementation Examples tool. Check it out here.

If you enjoyed reading this post, here are a few more you should definitely check out:

Could A Subscription Model Work For Your Mobile Game?

Sarah Impey — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 12:39:12 +0000

These days, subscriptions are everywhere. Music, films, TV, food delivery – you can even learn a new language with a subscription. Publishers have been predicting that Netflix-style subscription gaming will take off for a good few years now (this 2014 article shows that people were talking about it five years ago – a lifetime in the world of tech).

But mobile gaming is actually pretty far behind in this area, as most developers are still making most of their money from ads or in-app purchases. Recent announcements from Apple and Google of new subscription-based gaming services (Apple Arcade and Google Stadia) could be about to change that though – Vodafone have also announced a partnership with game streaming platform Hatch to bring cloud-based mobile gaming to their 5G service. So in this post, we’re looking at the pros and cons of ditching the ads in favor of subscription-based gaming.

Ads, ads and more ads

At the moment only 14% of mobile publishers see subscriptions as an effective way to make money from their content. Yes, ads and in-app purchases can be a bit annoying for users, but most of us are okay with that if it means we don’t have to pay for the game. And they pretty much guarantee income for developers – banner ads usually bring in around US$2 to 3 CPM (i.e. per 1,000 visitors), while full-size ads between levels can net around $10 CPM.

Interactive ad example from our blog on Hyper-Casual Games 101: How To Get The Most Out Of Your Players.

You can also offer incentives for users to download other developers’ games or give people the option to remove ads entirely for a small fee (among other things – we’ve already blogged about 42 ways to make money from your mobile game). But could a subscription service get you more bang for your buck?

Subscription-based games – the good stuff

Let’s not beat around the bush. As long as the price is right and the content’s good quality, subscription-based apps can be incredibly profitable. Revenue’s steady and predictable. And you’ll quickly build a loyal customer base.

Players get a good deal as well – premium gameplay without having to buy pricey consoles, watch irritating ads or get constant nudges for extra in-app purchases.

The not-so-good stuff

You’ll really need to maintain the game

Everybody likes getting things for free. And most of us are willing to put up with a few ads to get a decent game for nothing. So for a subscription service to work, it’s vital that you keep the quality of up for the life of the product, which obviously costs money.

You’ll miss out from ads

You’ll also miss out on revenue from in-app ads and seasonal spikes (people tend to spend more on apps during holidays). That means you’ll need to check you can make enough from subscriptions to cover any shortfall.

And don’t forget the dreaded Apple/Google cut

If you didn’t know already, they take a percentage of everything that’s sold through their stores, including subscriptions. That means you’ll lose up to 30% every time someone buys one. Take Spotify as an example. You can’t buy a subscription through the app store – you have to get it from their website. This is because if they did sell them on the app store they’d have to up their prices from £9.99 to £12.99 to make up the shortfall (and probably send a lot of customers to Apple Music by doing that, which is still only £9.99).

So if you’re selling a subscription product, you’ll either need to hike up your price to take this into account (which obviously isn’t ideal), or sell it from your own website – which could make it harder for people to find your game. One way to get round this is to offer a free, ‘lite’ version of your product on the app store. That way people can more easily find and play it, and then (hopefully) fall in love with it and head to your website to buy a subscription.

Could a subscription strategy work for you?

Obviously there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this – it depends on your product. But there are a couple of dealbreakers. For subscriptions to work, you need to keep adding content. This could be new items or levels, or even new games from your portfolio. But whatever it is, it’s got to be worth the weekly or monthly fee (and no cheating with sneaking in ads). So if you don’t think you can keep that up, then subscription probably isn’t for you.

You’ll also need to check your games’ retention and average session length metrics. If you only produce hyper-casual games (pick-up-and-play lightweight games that don’t take long to produce), a subscription-only service isn’t likely to appeal to your audience. So you’ll be better off sticking to in-app ads or purchases. If you’re regularly producing new hyper-casual games, that could work as a subscription, as long as you have enough of them to make people want to come back.

Your final consideration should be whether you still want to offer a free version of your product, which is usually the norm. That being said, you’ll need to find a nice balance here – showing too many ads and limiting gameplay too much may mean losing a lot of loyal customers (take a look at this Reddit thread to see the reactions of some players to ‘Tomb of the Mask’ going to pretty much a subscription-only setup – warning, contains some NSFW language).

Lastly, you still can have in-app purchases in subscription games, to appeal to your whale audience (but perhaps back off from the ads…). Finding a balance may be tricky, and can take some time, so if you do go down this route, it’s important to listen to your players.

A lifetime commitment

You could also offer a lifetime subscription, where customers pay a one-off fee for access to your product for a set amount of time. The word ‘lifetime’ is possibly a bit misleading here – while you could use it to refer to the lifetime of the product, obviously it’s up to you to decide how long you’re going to offer it to people.

Some of the benefits of offering a lifetime subscription include:

cash up front – you won’t have to wait for people to pay each week or month. This also keeps the accounting much simpler
happy customers – as long as you get your price right, people should feel like they’re getting a better deal than if they were paying every week or month.

Of course, there are drawbacks:

you’ll only be getting a single up-front payment from your customers. So you need to make sure you’ll have enough cash to keep your product going for as long as you’ve said you will,
there’s no guarantee of future revenue,
and you must make sure you define what ‘lifetime’ means in your terms of service. You’ll also need to include info on what happens if your product becomes obsolete or you go bust. You’ll probably want to pay someone with legal smarts to do this for you – otherwise you could open yourself up to all sorts of problems.

Your best bet is to have a look at companies offering similar products to yours and see how they’re doing it (and if it’s working!).

The last word

As long as you can regularly create good quality new content, a subscription model could work for you. But this doesn’t come cheap, which is one of the reasons why mobile gaming seems reluctant to jump on the subscription bandwagon.

With two big new players on the scene this could be about to change – but whether subscription services will complement the gaming industry’s current business model or eventually replace it remains to be seen.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to check out these:

Appointment Mechanics – How to Keep Your Players in Game

Kalle Heikkinen — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 10:19:02 +0000

Editor’s Note: this post was originally published by Kalle Heikkinen, Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery. With over 400 games analyzed under his belt, Kalle has a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the mobile game market.

We all know how important and challenging it’s to not only create and expand your player base but also to retain it. Some games re-engage their players by facilitating communal systems, such as guilds to enforce social commitments to the game. Others use exclusive limited-time events and content to instigate FOMO among players. Then there are games that rely on publishing more and more content, levels, and story to give their players a reason to come back.

Our good friends at GameRefinery offer data and actionable insights on all of the ways mentioned above to boost retention. But in this blog post, they focus on yet another set of tools that can help you to create compelling incentives for players to revisit your game: appointment mechanics.

There are many things to consider when building an appointment loop, including:

Time interval: does the mechanic refresh on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis?
Level of involvement: do you hand in rewards directly (a gift) or do you require tasks to be completed?
Progression: is there a progression element included, e.g. a daily reward login calendar?
Randomness level: Can players expect to know what they get as rewards, or is there a gacha (loot-box) mechanic involved?

First, they look at what the data tells us about the popularity of these appointment mechanic components in different game categories. To be more specific, they take a high-level look at top 200 grossing games (US market, iOS) in Casual, Mid-Core, Sports & Racing, and Casino and identify similarities and differences between these categories, as well as which features appear to differentiate the best performing games from the rest. If you’re interested in finding out more on how they categorize games at GameRefinery, please make sure to check out this blog post on the topic.

They also go over some examples of how different kinds of games have implemented appointment mechanics.

So without further a due, let’s get into the topic!

Appointment Mechanics Category Comparison: Casual, Mid-Core, Sports & Racing and Casino

Popularity in Top 200 Grossing (US iOS Market)

Popularity Outside Top 200 Grossing (US iOS Market)

Data on appointment mechanics among Casual, Mid-Core, Sports & Racing and Casino games in the US

From here we can make a couple of interesting observations:

Daily gift systems are common in all of the categories and differentiating the best performers from the rest.
Having a task/quest layer in the appointment mechanic is quite a popular choice among Mid-Core and Sports & Racing games, but not so much in Casual and Casino games.
Casino games with their chip handouts stand out when it comes to rewarding players multiple times a day.
Having a time interval of more than a day (=e.g. 48h gacha or weekly quest system) is practically non-existent among Casual and Casino games but somewhat prevalent within Mid-Core.
Online time rewards – a rather popular feature in China – is rarely used in any of the categories.

Implementation Snapshots

Let’s then take a quick look at some exciting ways to implement an appointment mechanic with also a couple of new feature inspirations from Asian markets.

Daily reward with a progression twist: Dragon City Mobile’s login calendar

Adding different kinds of progression elements to your daily reward system is a great way to boost retention. Dragon City Mobile has a login calendar that gives players better rewards based on the number of consecutive days they have managed to log in.

Worth noting:

The streak rewards system facilitates another set of shorter-term goals.
The “recover” function allows players to reclaim a reward from a previous day they missed by watching a short ad. By the way, this type of feature is something that can also be monetized by switching ads to an in-game currency purchase…

Periodical Rewards: Weekly Quests in Rules of Survival

NetEase’s Battle Royale Rules of Survival has a weekly (as well as a monthly) quest system that gives players rewards once they meet certain activity point thresholds. The more tasks a player completes, the more activity points they get, which results in better rewards. The tasks, rewards, and collected activity points refresh each week.

Online time Rewards

A common sight in Chinese RPGs, online time rewards are all about giving out rewards based on how long a player keeps the application open and stays in the game. Therefore, it’s not enough to open the game a few times a day and collect rewards; instead, players need to keep the game open.

Online time rewards give a much much stronger incentive to keep on playing than systems that only require a “reward pick-up.”

You can often see a visible timer somewhere in the main menu or an easily accessible location so that players can check how long they need to continue playing before unlocking the next reward threshold. The mechanic and rewards are usually refreshed daily.

Online time rewards in Raid: Shadow Legends

All in all, online time rewards are an excellent way to increase your players’ session lengths.

Offline time rewards

Rewarding your players for not interacting with your game can be counter-intuitive, but the idea here is to reward players when they come back to the game, based on the time they spent offline. For example, in many Chinese MMOs players can receive offline experience based on the time they were off. Often, games have a time cap on the amount of XP you can gain from a single session to ensure that players check-in regularly. Here developers pull on the same strings as in games with a building/resource gathering-meta, where the stone quarries and lumber mills frequently call for players to clean up their stockpiles.

Here’s MU Miracle’s (奇迹最强者) offline XP system

To Wrap it up

Finally, here’s a short recap of this posts main points:

Appointment mechanics are a great way to make players want to keep coming back to your game.
They are relatively easy to implement across all genres from MOBAs to endless runners.
When it comes to appointment mechanics in top performing Casual, Mid-Core, Sports & Racing and Casino games in the US, there are clear similarities (daily rewards) and differences (quest layer, periodical rewards, multiple rewards per day).
Inspiration for fresh takes on appointment mechanics can be sought e.g. from China. Watch out for online and offline rewards!

In this blog post, GameRefinery took a high-level look to illustrate some differences that stood out in a single market. However, you can do the same with a more targeted approach by digging deep into sub-genres (e.g. Match3s vs. ARPGs) or compare different markets (e.g. the US vs. Japan) to find answers to questions such as:

A) Which appointment mechanics are most used and most differentiating in MY game genre?
B) What different ways are there to implement these features in MY game?
C) Are my competitors utilizing these features? If so, how have THEY implemented them?

Make sure to sign up to their free layer of the service to find out more!

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Are Loot Boxes The Future Of Mobile Game Monetization?

Harry Lawrence — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 12:00:32 +0000

In November 2017, EA released Star Wars Battlefront II, developed by DICE studio. The company was met with extreme criticism after it seemed to have not learned from its mistakes with its season pass approach in the first instalment. Famously, EA’s response to that criticism led to the most downvoted comment in Reddit’s history.

The reason EA’s response garnered so much negative attention was that it ignored the growing discontent over its use of loot boxes, an increasingly common monetisation strategy in the gaming industry. Though the strategy has been around for over a decade, the success of Blizzard’s Overwatch was a pivotal moment for the loot box model, vastly increasing its visibility and popularity.

It has only been in the past few years that the public dialogue has broadened to include parallels to gambling, and whether or not there is a need for regulation. In the same November, the Belgian Gaming Commission declared that loot boxes constitute a form of gambling (more on that later), an issue it is escalating to the European Commission. In China, Blizzard is now legally required to display the odds of receiving specific rewards alongside loot boxes in an effort to increase transparency.

So, what does the future of game monetisation look like? How do loot boxes fit into that picture? How will this affect the mobile gaming market? In order to answer these questions, we need to know the story so far. We need to understand what loot boxes are, their various forms, their benefits and drawbacks, and how they interact with the law.

[bctt tweet=”What does the future of game monetisation look like? How do loot boxes fit into that picture? How will this affect the mobile gaming market?” username=”GameAnalytics”]

What Are Loot Boxes?

One of the main objectives of MMOs like World of Warcraft is to have a digital representation of yourself that you can improve. There are two main ways of improving your character: gaining experience and upgrading items. But, because most games in this format have an intrinsic limit to the amount of experience you can reach, items have played a larger and larger role over time. Historically, as the desire for items grew, various “loot” systems developed to decide which players receive which items.

According to Vili Lehdonvirta, Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, loot boxes in their current format first appeared in a Chinese MMO called ZT Online around 2006 or 2007. At this time, the Asian market rested considerably on renting games rather than buying, or sometimes simply on outright piracy. Loot boxes were a way for Zhengtu Network, the game company, to ensure a reliable revenue stream. After the company posted an annual profit of 120 million yuan ($15.5 million at the time) in April 2007, other companies began to follow suit, including companies like Zynga, which posted an EBITDA of $56 million in 2017.

TF2 – Spreading joy through supply crates since 2010

Another important landmark in the evolution of loot boxes was Valve’s Team Fortress 2. By now, games that were entirely free due to shifting monetisation onto microtransactions were not at all uncommon. After Valve brought Team Fortress 2 into this free-to-play arena, it introduced supply crates in 2010. Interestingly, this came at around the same time that then-General Manager of EA’s Easy Studio, Ben Cousins, pointed to Zynga as the future of the industry.

Today, loot boxes are redeemable virtual items that can be paid for either by buying them directly, or by investing enough time in a particular game to acquire enough virtual currency to pay for them. On its own, this is difficult to dismantle. But, the distinguishing feature of loot boxes is that their contents are determined by chance. As video games have traditionally focused on skill, a rift has formed between players, who want to reinstate values such as fair play, and developers, who want to make money.

The Difference Between Cosmetic And Power Loot Boxes

As mentioned, Overwatch has been particularly successful, both financially and critically. Yet, it makes use of a loot box system. So, why has Overwatch been successful, yet Battlefront II less so? The answer is that there are two types of loot box, and understanding the difference between them is at the heart of the current discussion.

The reason that the vast majority of players accept the loot box system in Overwatch is that all obtainable items are cosmetic, in that they have no effect on gameplay itself. As a result, there is no incentive to purchase a large number of loot boxes – whether with virtual currency or real – because value can acquired by selling duplicates or from boxes found at random.

“Obi-wan told me enough, he told me you bought loot boxes!” “No… I have a sense of pride and accomplishment”

In Battlefront II, on the other hand, the loot boxes that were designed served a certain function. The original idea was that players could acquire and use Star Cards, a form of virtual currency. Star Cards would provide advantages, such as boosts to various character classes within the game. It followed that, by spending more on loot boxes – which players would have been heavily incentivised to do – they could essentially pay to win, a phrase that has become derogatory for some gamers.

Are Loot Boxes Good Or Bad?

There is a lot to consider when looking at the ethics of loot boxes. It is important to remember that there are several parties involved in monetisation. There are the players, the end user for video games. There are the game developers, who physically make the games. Then there are publishers, who bridge the gap and sell those games. Whether or not loot boxes are ethical depends on whom you ask.

Despite EA making the decision to backpedal on the loot box system in Battlefront II merely hours before the game officially launched, many felt that the company had already shown its true intentions and had crossed a line. In the aftermath, the outcry from players became so large that the issue reached mainstream news. Some politicians picked up on the possibility of the relationship between loot boxes and gambling, and began to acknowledge it at an issue that could have serious consequences if not placed under the microscope.

Chris Lee, a Democratic member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, called Battlefront II “a Star Wars-themed online casino, designed to lure kids into spending money.” He called for the regulation of loot boxes under Hawaii’s gambling laws, and became an advocate for the case that loot boxes should be treated in the same way as gambling machines (i.e. that they should be usable only by those 21 and over).

Governments across the world are slowly equating loot boxes to gambling, so will the laws begin to reflect that?

At the end of January, Hawaii House Bill 2686 was put forward, which (in brief) is an attempt to ban sales of games that utilise loot boxes to those aged 21 and under. On its surface, this seems like a good idea. But, while there are parallels between loot boxes and gambling, we must entertain the possibility that equating them is an oversimplification. In some states in the US, gambling is illegal to both enable and participate in. This means that in states where this legislation recognises that, game companies and players would be breaking the law by using loot boxes.

Game companies that use microtransactions have actively distanced themselves from the term ‘gambling’, based on the lack of ability for users to convert their virtual items or currency into real-world currency. With the introduction of legislation that equates loot boxes with gambling, however, does it not follow that virtual earnings must be considered to have real-world value? This raises some tough questions. What happens if players discover a method of creating items themselves? Do those items have value? Would game companies be breaking the law by removing them? How could a game server possibly be shut down? Would every player need to be reimbursed individually?

On the other hand, it is indisputable that some loot box systems exist that use psychological research to exploit at least some players into parting with cash when we know that games can be made without it. But, it is clear why this trend has emerged: competition. As Newzoo’s quarterly marketing reports show, mobile gaming is on the rise, and traditional AAA game companies have faced a declining market share. The incentive for publishers to forego ethical concerns in the name of revenue has increased. After all, this is what happened with ZT Online.

Over ten years since ZT Online introduced loot boxes, and now the mechanic is one of the biggest discussion points in gaming.

While cosmetic loot boxes were, for a time, the go-to secret weapon for game companies to overcome competition, there seems to be a consensus that the line should be drawn at loot box systems that hide power within crates. A universal value that underpins gaming as an art form is that of fair play, and so power loot box systems undermine gaming itself. This is why there has been growing hostility from players, and this is why more people than ever are discussing the future of monetisation.

What Does The Future Look Like?

Regardless of the loot box controversy, the mobile gaming market is booming. In its most recent Global Games Marketing Report, Newzoo revised its mobile gaming revenues forecast for 2017 to $50.4 billion, and to $72.3 billion for its 2020 forecast. In January, the mobile game developer behind WWE Champions Scopely sought a further $125 million of financing, which would raise the company’s value to $795 million. These are huge numbers, and it’s clear that they are only destined to become larger. Just as it depends whom you ask about whether or not loot boxes are ethical, it depends on whom you ask about what the future of monetisation looks like.

Aw man I can’t wait to get – Oh, a duplicate…

One school of thought suggests that loot boxes have a place in the future, but will follow in the footsteps of Overwatch and trend back towards cosmetics. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes this. “You didn’t hear anybody complain about Destiny or Overwatch, which is ongoing and doing $100 million a quarter in microtransactions,” he said. “I think there’ll be a tilt back towards cosmetic stuff. People like to dress their characters in outfits. People will buy them.”

Another possibility for the future of monetisation is a new, as-yet undeveloped model. There was a time without loot boxes, and we may simply be living in the time without the new model. When World of Warcraft was released for the first time, it implemented a subscription model. While the company stopped providing data on subscription numbers, it is clear that the number is somewhere in the millions. The subscription model still has its place in the global market.

[bctt tweet=”Industry analysts agree that loot boxes are here to stay. There is simply too much revenue to be made, especially in the face of such severe market competition. Are they the future of microtransactions in mobile games?” username=”GameAnalytics”]

Speculation aside, there are concrete signs of a change in the tone of the current conversation. In December 2017, Apple changed the conditions that loot boxes games have to meet to appear in the App Store. Loot box games must now, as in China, disclose the probabilities of receiving rewards from loot boxes, so that players can make more informed decisions. In addition, Far Cry 5 – a heavily anticipated game being released at the end of this month – will not feature loot boxes. The AAA game will use microtransactions, but only for cosmetic items.

Just as majority of players feel that loot boxes are a negative trend and that the line should be drawn clearly at cosmetic enhancements, most industry analysts agree that loot boxes are here to stay. There is simply too much revenue to be made, especially in the face of such severe market competition.

Going Multi-National: A Follow-Up Interview with FRVR

Edward Price — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 14:45:01 +0000

Editor’s Note: After our previous interview with FRVR back in 2017, we want to catch back up with founder Chris Benjaminsen to see how the company has grown, what changes have applied to the structure of his company, and what his plans were for FRVR in 2018 and beyond.

So, what have you been up to since we last spoke to you?

[Laughs] That’s a big question – quite a lot! The company is very different from where it was last time – my memory is not perfect, and I can’t pinpoint where we were then. However, to give you an update, we are nine people now. The 9th person just joined the company, we do around 2 million DAU daily, and about 30 million monthly, which I think is not too far off from where we were last time. The big difference is that today it’s based more on sustainable growth than incidental features. We have 12 games live, 5 of those being in our widest distribution.

We publish to many different channels, and not everything is live everywhere; the 9 people who are working for the company are primarily productions support. We also have about 20 external people working on games in some capacity; some are individual developers in the apprentice program, some have started teaming up into small, high-efficiency but highly-competent teams to take advantage of these opportunities that are afforded us.

We have moved the company to Malta, it’s a Maltese company now. The reason behind that is that Brian, our CEO and Co-Founder moved to Malta, so we sort of had move the company there, because you can’t run the headquarters from a different country than where you live, and we have an office here in London and we have an office in Copenhagen.

You can say you’re a multi-national company since last we spoke!

Oh, absolutely! We are a true, 100%, correctly set up multi-national. Our structure is probably more fit for a company of 2,500 than 9. It turns out to run a company like we really want to, you have to have that organisation. We wanted to be able to hire people in other countries and have them work for us remotely, but it turns out not to be the best solution for full-time employees. So, we spent far more effort and way too much money on building the legal framework, even for our internal teams.

But it’s all paying off dividends now, right?

Not yet, but in the future hopefully! It’s a work in progress, but we would have to be a company of 2,500 people before I feel it was worth it.

Do you think you’ll get there someday?

No, I think that’s too large. Maybe, what do I know? The company is growing and we’re doing better this month than we did last month. It could be one day, but the delta from here to there is so incredibly large that I can’t even dream of how the company would look if it ever got that big!

Cave FRVR starts simply, but can easily test your mettle

Maybe one of your employees in that company will decide they want to split off and become as successful as you!

Oh yeah! We’re super happy with that – we know that the reason some people are working for us is because they want to start their own company. So beyond stealing our technology, people are fairly free to quit and do their own thing and straight up compete with us. That also applies to our apprentices; there’s nothing preventing them from coming in and learning everything we know and then scooting off and starting their own competitor. In fact, we kind of encourage it!

A lot of people are working with FRVR to learn and potentially go out and start their own, but we’ve been fortunate enough, at least so far, to demonstrate our value enough that people haven’t done that yet. We feel fairly confident that the reason people are not doing that is because it’s really fun working with us, and what we do is not as easy as it seems.

[bctt tweet=”‘There’s nothing preventing (employees) coming in, learning everything we know and then scooting off and starting their own competitor.’ – Learn more about @FRVR in our new interview with @Benjaminsen.” username=”GameAnalytics”]

When we last spoke, you mentioned that you were only working 24 hours a week and wouldn’t work on anything for an hour unless it was worth $200 over a year. You mentioned earlier that some things have changed, is that one of them?

Yeah, I’m definitely full time on the project now. The $200 an hour rule is still in effect, but I think it’s a higher amount now. An interesting thing that happens when you start judging your work based on value per hour is that you have to actually sit down and calculate what the value of what you’re working on is, and what the risk of the work is.

If you do that on all the projects you’re working on is that you can sort of multiply the risk with the potential value about a year down the line, and you can have a pretty good idea of the total value of the thing you are doing, divided by hours, and now you have the number you want to get to.

The more important thing that happens is that now you have a spreadsheet of all the things you can be doing and what their value is, and you can sort that by the highest value in terms of reward and the number of hours it will take, and just work from the top. So, most of the stuff I do when I go to sit down and look is going to be worth more than $200.

Gold Mahjong FRVR: takes an established game and brings a new formula

You also mentioned that while Reddit helped the first time around, it hasn’t been as useful since. Have you since found a better way to communicate about your new games, or is it more of a “if you build it, they will come” approach?

As the company grows, we become more dependent on the same types of channels that everybody else uses, like getting featured on the app store and making sure our search engine optimisation is good, these sorts of things.

Now, as an individual developer, Reddit and social channels can be do or die, and it’s still something we derive a lot of value from. It’s not a thing where it’s a make or break it situation if Reddit doesn’t like the game anymore, but a goal of ours is to be diversified enough that not being featured is not a dire situation, Reddit not liking it is not a dire situation for us, the game not doing well on Twitter is not dire. The original idea with FRVR, way before I built Hex FRVR, is that such a scenario was always the plan, but then it did super well on all those channels.

If I could have that level of success every time that would be amazing, but that’s unlikely to be true. We’re still doing incredibly well and we’re still able to push the games out there, and everything is pointing in the right direction, but we have never had a sudden growth as big as that.

[bctt tweet=”‘As an individual developer, Reddit and social channels can be do or die’- Learn more about @FRVR in our new interview with @Benjaminsen.” username=”GameAnalytics”]

We’re just stupidly busy! It turns out that in a larger company there’s a lot of work to be done, and there’s not that much that’s super interesting to share at the moment, there’s a lot of grinding. A big thing that happened to us is that we got our ducks in a row and started publishing more games and pushing them out to all channels.

We still strongly believe in Facebook Instant as a viable platform, so we put a fairly large amount of effort into that. We have released three new games – I actually think they all went live this last year. Cave FRVR, Mahjong FRVR and Balloon FRVR are all online on Instant, and it doesn’t look that complex, but we want to do everything with structure; to have a very structured way of how we work.

The kind of company we want to build, if you don’t have a very structured approach with how you do things, things have a tendency to be dropped on the floor and fall apart. A lot of our efforts have gone into making sure our processes are properly defined and smoothly running.

Our goal is not measured in terms of how many games we get out, but the cadence, right? If everyone ran in the same cadence, we could get a game out every month, and eventually we would want to get that down to a game every week, so that’s where a lot of the efforts are. That’s also where we are on the technical side of things, making sure the tools facilitate that level of automation.

“We still strongly believe in Facebook Instant as a viable platform”

We also saw there was an unplanned AMA for one of your titles last year as well, how do you feel this level of communication with the audience helped the game?

If I’ll be honest we’re not a particularly social company, so unplanned AMAs are mostly for fun. They’re fun to do, it’s fun having the developers talk to the users, or to talk to them myself. I like Reddit for the simple fact that it’s a very intelligent community, so the feedback is typically very on-point, and a lot of the value derived from an AMA is very clever people pointing out glaring holes in your strategy or your games. I love Reddit for that. Plus, it also drives traffic. An unplanned AMA is a great opportunity to show off your stuff, right?

[bctt tweet=”Reddit is a very intelligent community (…) a lot of the value derived from an AMA is very clever people pointing out glaring holes in your strategy or your games.” username=”GameAnalytics”]

Were you surprised at some of the questions they asked?

I don’t remember the questions to be quite honest, but I find if you give the opportunity to ask, they will ask anything, right? Sometimes, even completely different questions that have no relation to the subject. If it gets too personal you can answer with a joke, and if it’s inconsequential you can try to answer no matter how silly the question is!

Would you say now that you’ve had so many titles published that brand recognition is a great help, and you can rely a bit more on “if you build it, they will come” ethos?

There is definitely some of that! We know for a fact that people actively search FRVR in the App Store, the only reason we know that is because we see the statistics, so FRVR is definitely becoming a brand. Going forward, cross-promotion is probably going to become more important than just the core brand value, but there’s no doubt in my mind that all the games having the same suffix is definitely a competitive advantage.

I don’t know if you read the blog, but the idea was to have the suffix as a seal of approval, or seal of quality, and I think the FRVR name and brand is definitely leading up to that, but it’s not strong enough that we can claim brand recognition or brand value like Coca Cola would be able to do.

We’re working on it, but we’re not there yet!

So, in a few years, we’ll see FRVR emblazoned on every soda can!

I definitely hope so! There are companies that have been really good at doing things like that, but there are some companies that have had the opportunity but really haven’t captured it. The example I always think back to is King, and the reason for that is FRVR was created at a time when King was trying to trademark the word ‘King’ and the word ‘Saga’.

The main reason I picked FRVR was because it was marketable, and it hadn’t been used in any business connection before this, so it important for me for it to be easily recognisable and belong to us, and also for it to be trademarked so we can take down other people using the name.

If you look at a company like King, people don’t necessarily think of them when they see Candy Crush Saga, which is why they tried to trademark the word ‘Saga’ as well, and they then managed to build this massive valuable brand in Saga which they couldn’t defend; there’s nothing preventing anyone else from using that. So, from a branding angle I think considering that earlier in their production could have produced a better result.

“The idea was to have the [FRVR] suffix as a seal of approval, or seal of quality”

It’s like where Activision have Call of Duty, but if you look up the brands, Call of Duty has millions of followers on its branded pages, but Activision itself has a smaller presence.

Exactly! That’s perfectly valid for them to have a disconnected company name and game brand if they do a lot of different things, which they do. Call of Duty is a big brand that Activision own, if you try and make something with that name without permission and try selling it and you’ll soon get hit with I don’t know how many pieces of nasty lawyer paper.

Meanwhile, you can create ‘Saga’ stuff all day long because it wasn’t considered a core part of the strategy when King built that game. At least, that’s how it looks from the outside, it might have been, and they just tried to trademark it too late.

Coming 2019, Saga FRVR?

I strongly doubt it, but it would be good for SEO and ASO! There’s a lower limit to the level of “cloneliness” and obvious “stealy-ness” that I would feel comfortable doing. I strongly believe mechanics can be improved on and things can be made better. What we try to strive for at FRVR when we are doing ‘tried’ games, games where the core mechanic is well-known and already done, say Solitaire or Mahjong, is that the biggest praise you can have is that if something is clearly inspired by something, but I don’t want anything thinking “this is a clone” of something else. Those two words “clone” and “inspired” are worlds apart in terms of perception.

[bctt tweet=”Those two words ‘clone’ and ‘inspired’ are worlds apart in terms of perception. – @Benjaminsen talks to us about @FRVR” username=”GameAnalytics”]

Speaking of clones, have you found any competitors or people either taking your games or your business model that you’ve noticed, or are you still on the uncopied list?

If you search the app store for Hex, I stopped counting, but there’s more than 2000 clones of that game on there, and I spent a lot of effort just taking the bad ones down. I’m sure if I take a look now, there would be at least 5 or 10 that just stole the HTML5 version of the game and uploaded it to the app store. Initially I tried to take them down, but it’s probably not worth $200 an hour to take them down.

Maybe that’s a task for a soon to be apprentice?

Haha, no! That would be a task for a yet to be hired person dealing with legal. We would never want an apprentice to do something like that, it would be a waste of their time. We want them to make games and nothing else!

At the end of the interview we can put a link so people can send you their CVs for the law department?

I don’t think it will be hard finding someone, my concern is that it will probably not be cheap either!

Well, can you?

Speaking of the apprentices, you said you hired 2 a month, and you have 9 employees across several countries. How has the increase in staff affected the company and how has it benefitted?

There are a lot of things that are different now. There used to be far fewer processes. We have weekly meetings to align management; every Friday we try to do a broadcast video where we talk about what has been happening in the past week, what the overall company priorities are, and why it is we do what we do. There are a lot of people involved in the company now. It’s not necessarily obvious why a lot of the company is being pulled in one direction, and we try to mitigate that by having this one-way communication format. People can also ask questions on Slack.

Slack is a good example of something that has become very important to the company. Internally, we have banned email. We don’t write emails to each other, we only use them for external communication, and the reason for that is I view emails as a To-Do list that other people are able to write stuff on. 90% of the things that are going on could be solved by having a conversation, and the remaining 10% that can’t be solved with Slack shouldn’t be in an email anyway, it should be in a To-Do List. So that’s where people put it – they put it in Asana, which is our issue tracking system.

What else is new? I spend less time participating in the game development itself. I rarely get to touch games, most of my time is spent trying to figure out new opportunities and making sure we get the most value out of the things we have already.

[bctt tweet=”‘Internally we have banned email, we only use them for external communication. Emails are a To-Do list that other people are able to write stuff on.’ – @Benjaminsen, discussing @FRVR” username=”GameAnalytics”]

Do you miss the development side, or are you happy where you are?

I always miss the development. If you like developing, you’re always going to be developing. I still get to, but I just don’t write games. That’s a modification – if I had the time, and I felt that I had the time to code, then I would definitely be building games, and I would very likely be making FRVR games. Like most developers, I have 15 ideas on paper I have never done anything with. Two of those are partially developed games, and I haven’t touched those in months.

Yeah, I’m a good procrastinator, too!

[Laughs] Yeah, I don’t know how other people work, but I find that less than probably 50% of the things I start I ever get done, and that goes for everything I do with a computer. Writing articles, games… if it can’t be done in ten minutes there’s a big chance I’m going to stop in the middle of it.

What are your plans for 2018, and beyond?

2018, in the countries that FRVR is based in it’s going to be more of the same. We’ve spent time getting really good at the technology and the processes, and now we need to take advantage of that and get a whole bunch of new games out, and make sure they become as successful as possible. So that’s what 2018 is about, that’s what we’re working on right now.

As for 2019, 2020, and beyond, it’s going to be more about all the new opportunities that are going to exist. We are basing our future on the fact that game distribution is going to become more fragmented; if you make games currently you have the opportunity to distribute to the App Store and that’s about it. Facebook Messenger games are the glimmer of a new opportunity in the market, where anybody who has a lot of users are able to publish their games.

We want to make sure that, whatever new channel comes up, we are the first to be there, and we are the best on that platform. That’s what’s going to drive FRVR in the mid-term future.

[bctt tweet=”‘We are basing our future on the fact that game distribution is going to become more fragmented’ – @Benjaminsen discussing @FRVR in 2018 and beyond” username=”GameAnalytics”]

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

Download our SDKs to get started

Our SDKs support VR games (in fact, Joy Way is already using us). It’s the same process as installing our normal SDKs, with one extra step. Read our documentation for each to get started: Unity, Unreal, or Android.

Live Ops Strategies For Free To Play Games

Jacqueline Zenn — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 09:46:11 +0000

Launching a new game is an undeniably exciting moment. After putting in the hard work, imagination, and effort that goes into a new title, you get to send it out into the world. But really, the work has barely begun, especially if you’re launching a free to play or F2P game that’s monetized based on ad revenue and/or in-game purchases.

Once a game is launched, you should be optimizing, adjusting, updating, and reporting your progress throughout your game’s lifespan or existence, working to improve player retention as well as increasing downloads, getting lapsed players to return, and increasing the number and length of player sessions. All these activities and events meant to increase player retention and maximize the value of a game’s user base can be referred to as live ops.

[bctt tweet=”What are live game operations and why may they be the secret to your F2P games’ success? @GameAnalytics discusses and provides strategies for your own live ops.” username=”GameAnalytics”]

Defining Live Ops for F2P Games

Live ops are new enhancements to game play that are not necessary for the overall functionality or playability of the game, like cosmetic enhancements, weekend events, a limited time offer, or a paid UA (user acquisition) campaign. Basically, these are changes made to the game after it goes live and ones that occur without changing the fundamental game code or playing experience.

These types of changes are especially important for F2P games since monetization starts after the player already downloads and begins engagement with the game. It all starts with the first time user experience, of course, but it’s extended with a solid live ops program. In fact, live ops might be the secret to success for F2P games.

What Live Ops Are Not

Updates to improve game play, optimize ad delivery, or anything done to keep the game up and running or functioning smoothly. These involve actually changing the source code of the game for things like a new functional item, a new crafting mechanic or a new viral mechanic, or a new tournament mode (to name a few examples). Ad ops or maintenance are somewhat sporadic tasks, while live ops is continuously running throughout the duration of a game’s life cycle.

However, live ops is definitely not a grind constantly churning new updates and other ways to keep users engaged – or at least it shouldn’t be! In fact, the linked article quoting James Hade of Space Ape games goes through a lot of the reasons why a live ops strategy is essential for a game’s success today.

Live Ops Requires The Hacker Mentality

But not in the illegal activity or criminal sense, of course, but in the get it done and make it work in the most efficient and creative way possible sense.

Basically, approach the customer retention problem like a hacker and think about what you can do without bugging the game’s core engineers, using the tools that you can along with insights from business intelligence, outside events, running special offers and promotions, app store or catalogue management, and user acquisition.

Ideally, you’d have a fully integrated live ops toolset to work with and be able to adjust some key game parameters; things like writing SQL or making changes to the database are at the other end of continuum when it comes to live ops, at least.

Why Live Ops Should Be Built Into Your Game’s Design

Live Ops should be built into your F2P game from the very beginning – in fact, it should be part of the game’s design. Everything should be flexible, taking into the account the ability to make small changes and iterations constantly – meaning on a weekly or monthly basis!

Many traditional game designs don’t necessarily support that kind of thing, but live ops are consistently part of the design of new, successful titles. And this is consistent with smaller game developers as well as industry leaders like EA, who seems to be banking on live ops in 2018 and beyond.

Business Intelligence And Live Ops

Business Intelligence and analytics is a key capability in the live ops toolbox. In fact, it might be the key capability that everything else depends on for the success of an F2P game.

But first, let’s define quality business intelligence. Good analytics are baked into the game itself and are part of the foundation of its process and lifestyle, never bolted on or reliant on flashy glamour metrics like DAU or ARPU. Days per month played or revenue per user or the various combinations of these types of metrics might look nice in presentations or spec sheets, but they don’t often translate into useful insights for a live ops team.

Key Metrics To Look At

Rather, the metrics that actually matter for live ops analytics are the ones that provide usable, actionable insights into player behavior. They are heavily tied to player behavior, insight generating, able to show changes over time, can be grouped into cohorts or segments of likeminded users or personas, and be somewhat open-ended in regards to the interpretation of their meaning.

Wheeling, dealing, limousine riding, jet flying…

Live Ops Events And Analytics

In addition, long term historical analytics can be especially useful for a live ops team. Comparing longer monthly or yearly segments versus day over day or even hourly metrics can be useful because it lets you see patterns in the data that can be tied to specific events, whether these occur in-game or in the real world or some combination of both.

The various types of events that you can construct to boost active users and playing time (and therefore revenue generation) range from the relatively simple fun ways to boost engagement like new cosmetics enhancements to the complex like cross-promotions with another game.

New content updates are also another event that can promote playing time, while adding new ways to monetize the game like additional ad products or new items to purchase in-game are also more tactical events that should be reviewed and tracked closely in analytics, both to measure initial success as well as to learn from later.

Building A Live Ops Events Calendar

The foundation of live ops event tracking starts with a calendar that includes actual KPIs as well as the KPIs projected for the future (need some ideas for what to track? We’ve got you covered with this list of mobile app metrics). Next, you can layer on the events that you’ve built already as well as the events and their corresponding mechanics that you’ve planned in the future, and track their progress alongside that of your KPIs.

For instance, tying a special event to user growth or retention rates and comparing the changes can show you how your live ops program is helping you meet your goals (or not, but then you can adjust your content strategies accordingly). This could be as simple as a calendar-driven that’s unlocked during particular holidays or times of the year, or something tied to game play like a reward for an achievement unlocked after the user has completed certain levels – with appropriate storylines or fictions that correspond to the time of the year, of course.

Layering in KPIs with your calendar also helps you craft purposeful and compelling analytics reports, which is always a useful ability.

What Types Of Events Could You Host?

Or what actually goes on the aforementioned calendar? Some great example include:

a gamified version of hide and seek where the users have to find a certain player or character (played by you or a member of your team),
a showcase of player outfits and weapon collections with prizes for the winner based on community votes (perhaps being included in a gallery of winners on the launch for a set period of time,
unlocking a new wardrobe, weaponry, or skill options,
getting extra points or extra treasure as a reward),
or even hosting a guild competition of sorts where guilds compete to complete a task and the winners get some sort of rare item or treasure awarded to all members.

There are plenty of other opportunities to host events in F2P games, of course – only your imagination is the limit. This is where creativity informed by data and analytics really pays off.

Seasonal events are a great way to bring players back into your game with new incentives and rewards

How Do You Monetize These Events?

Creating something special like a limited time event or special map or other useful tool or secret area that can only be accessed if a player is properly equipped (e.g. by purchasing a particular weapon or other necessary item), or perhaps a spender rewards week that results in gifts if a player purchases a particular amount, with gifts escalating based on the amounts spent. In gaming as in all things, big spenders get bigger rewards!

If you need a quick influx of cash, there are other ways to monetize that are a little…craftier. Pardon the pun! But a crafting event with certain catalyst materials on sale or a high value auction event that includes coveted capabilities like the ability to name or design certain elements in a game, or even lottery tickets for rare items can also bring in the value from users.

Building hype outside of the game also helps monetize by bringing in new users who need to gear up and level up, as does releasing rare loot or announcing a new level, world, dungeon, or similar user experience.

Live Ops And The Marketing Department

Speaking of marketing, cross-promoting or otherwise working with your game marketing’s department with exclusive content or special prices and/or items (think starter pack) for early adopters can definitely boost player activity and spend. Or perhaps live ops is the marketing department for smaller publishers, which is actually quite fitting. In which case most of the marketing budget goes towards long-term players, player retention, and possibly rejuvenuating lapsed users.

After all, making it required that certain new levels, areas, buildings, capabilities, etc. are unlocked by installing and running another game might be the ultimate marketing play, but there are also somewhat lower input ways to get players to spend that include simpler things like letting a player see a unique new building or area in the tech tree or map before they unlock it by purchasing a new item, and then by showing how each new building or area adds intriguing new characters.

Other Tactical Live Ops Strategies

Being able to make the most of live ops for F2P games in a tactical and cohesive way comes with understanding certain key insights before you even get started.

For instance, understanding player spend as it corresponds to their level (for instance, most players reach the highest spend rate after level 10) and knowing to set up targeted events that correspond with their spend level; for instance, a certain targeted event will result in multiplied experience points for a given week, which results in increased cohort revenue.

You can also take advantage of player distribution on older games or “empire builders” by creating competition for new players through leveling events that cut building times in half, offer extra points (doubled or tripled. This mitigates the problem of having too many players at higher levels who might not be spending as much by created competition from newer players. You can make things more interesting for players by making sure this type of event runs unpredictably in order to avoid creating expectations.

Live Ops And Promotions

Featured items, bundled items, discounted items, limited time promotions, instant offers, shuffle around object offers, and sending come back offers to lapsed players all tend to be effective promotions.

Basically, think special offers in ecommerce retail or actual brick and mortar stores – in fact, these in-game or live ops promotions are often a version of those concepts but adapted to in-game purchases. There’s also the possible option of creating a game within a game element like shuffle around object offers (think a matching game, shell game, or slot-machine style game of chance as a minor break from regular game play). Send come back offers with special items, discounts, or extra points available to lapsed but returning players can re-spark their enthusiasm as well.

Lapsed User Promotions Might Be The Killer App Of Live Ops

In fact, send back offers that rejuvenate a waning but once robust user base and cause them to boomerang back can be the best promotion a live ops team can execute since that means recapturing a former active user and building user retention rates.

Sending notifications that start with no benefits then escalate to small benefits and go on up from there, based on the days since the user last engaged. Re-engagement is a great way to take advantage of former users and make them into new active users.

The Tech That Makes It All Happen

There are definitely some key building blocks that make all these events and their associated live ops programs and corresponding KPI tracking happen. And so while the details of these activities are unique to each game and its developers, there are certain building blocks like business intelligence, localization, messaging, gifting/awarding, targeting and segmentation, and the ability change game variables that are the main pieces of the puzzle.

Promoting Events Inside And Outside Of The Game

There are nearly as many ways to promote your game events as there are events themselves. Interstitials, app store promotions, social media, on your website and gaming community websites (native and paid ad placements), in-game on the app launcher as a message of the day or on an in-game chat window, or in-game mail or standard email all work to spread the word.

This is where live ops needs to coordinate with any other marketing tactics being utilized.

Targeting Or Segmenting Your Event Audience

Your audience should be able act on all the actions offered by the game in their current location and player status. However, you might not offer the same items, loot, challenges, or other aspects of the player experience in each location, and accordingly being able to target to region is typically part of the live ops strategy.

What’s more, being able to segment various types of players and customize the game play for them is essentially part of live ops. Grouping players by persona, those who have reached different levels of the game, or even those who possess certain items or weapons and giving them a unique experience based on their segment can be what separates an average game from a successful one.

Daily Challenges are also a great way to create regular events that keep people playing without having to implement new updates into the core code

How Business Intelligence And Live Ops Events Challenge Scalability

In addition to all the marketing and business intelligence considerations, it is important to remember that live ops is all about scalability. Normally, game databases are about reads – many many reads – not writing, changing, or updating. However, live ops are all about the writes and performing plenty of them.

For example, using revenue-boosting tactics like localization often requires lots of live or real-time adjustments, since machine translation really isn’t good enough to be considered an option in most cases (yet). All the event messaging, offers, and promotions require rapid fire turnaround at times!

You’ll also likely need to be able to change things like the rates or amounts of extra points gained, update loot drop tables with new items and locations, moderate player energy recharge rates, and alter prices.

What Your Live Ops Tools Should Do For You

Your analytics should give you the tools and data that you need in order to analyze and track player behavior, providing you with the necessary insights to create different types of events that they will find appealing.

What’s more, your business intelligence tools should give you the ability to actually set up those events, along with messaging players, modifying game variables, create limited time offers, and gift items to players – along with anything else you might want to do (within reason, of course). Clearly, analytics are the heart and soul of a proper live ops program – and therefore the game itself.

Why Live Ops Is A Difference Maker For F2P Games

For the average F2P game, player downloads are only the beginning. Which means that live ops are all the more important, since that’s what maximizes player and retention, session length and/or depth, and more.

Why it’s important to keep your initial players happy

Insights Team — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 14:31:55 +0000

In our last data science report on what makes a game successful we looked at the evolution of key game metrics over 90 days after launch, across 400+ games. (If you haven’t read that already, we definitely think you should before going forward with this one.)

One of our findings was that most successful games show a better handling of their initial installs, dubbed the Golden Cohort. We thought it would be an interesting venture to dig a bit deeper into this. And so the queries began.

Methodology

Sample description

We look at players from 208 games that hit 1000 installs during 2014. They represent the games that on a cumulative revenue basis are in between the 50th and the 90th percentile. This ensures we analyse the most successful games in terms of revenue in our network (games that pertain to the percentiles above the 50th), but without including outliers, which might occur due to wrongful implementation of our tool or heavy tests performed by developers (above the 90th percentile).

The data is smoothed to capture the important patterns and leave out irrelevant noise.

To get a picture of the type of games the sample is comprised of, the chart below presents its genre distribution (based on the games’ App Store category submission).

The sample’s genre distribution

Cohort description

To determine where the previously observed difference in performance comes from, we’ve based our analysis on examining two cohorts:

Cohort 1 – made up by the users that installed during the week in which the game launched (or reached 1000 installs) – the Golden Cohort;
Cohort 2 – representing the users acquired in the week 90 days after launch/achieving 1000 installs.

The following results are based on median calculations per cohort, in order to observe the evolution during the first 12 weeks of different metrics, for each of the two cohorts.

Metrics

The table below details the metrics we have considered and analysed.

The metrics

Results

We started by looking at cumulative revenue across the two cohorts of players. As Cohort 1 has 30% more players, the difference in numbers shown by the chart below isn’t surprising.

Cumulative revenue for the Golden Cohort as opposed to Cohort 2

What’s interesting here is the steep curve of Cohort 1. In this case, the “look” of the chart says more than the numbers themselves. See how cumulative revenue increases faster for Cohort 1?

So, where does this difference reside?

Conversion and retention seemed to be the obvious choice of metrics to check. In the chart below conversion seems to show only a slight difference, but its effect on revenue depends on the cohort size. Therefore, this small difference can become significant.

A small difference can go a long way

Let’s make a rough calculation: for 100K DAU, an approximately 0.4% difference in conversion means 400 more monetizers per day. If these were to spend 10$ each, after 30 days, that would mean an increase in revenue of 120000$ for the Golden Cohort.

Retention follows almost the same pattern for both cohorts

While conversion starts slightly higher for the Golden Cohort before it falls into the same values as Cohort 2, retention follows almost the same pattern for both cohorts.

As conversion and retention didn’t seem to fully answer our question, we drilled deeper. Average revenue per paying user seemed to hold the answer:

Average Revenue per Paying User

ARPPU not only starts higher, but maintains better over time. Take a look at what we predict the ARPPU will look like for these two cohorts after the first 12 weeks:

6 weeks ARPPU prediction

For Cohort 2 ARPPU starts decaying immediately after week 4, while the Golden Cohort’s ARPPU will maintain almost at the same level throughout time, both before and after week 12.

So, your Golden Cohort spenders spend more than your later adopters. But how?

Taking a look at the average number of transactions per DAU clearly shows that the Golden Cohort purchases more frequently than later adopters.

The average number of transactions per daily active users

Not only that, but the Golden Cohort seems to also pay more per transaction.

Average revenue split by number of transactions

Our sample shows a difference of 4$ in average revenue per transaction between the two cohorts in the beginning, difference that “normalizes” to around 1.5$ towards the end of the first 12 weeks.

Conclusion

Starting from the cumulative revenue chart, we’ve investigated where the difference between the Golden Cohort and a later one comes from.

The results have shown that your Golden Cohort players will:

spend more in terms of frequency of transactions;
be prone to spending on the more expensive items in the store.

These points are the major differences in behaviour that we were able to identify between the two cohorts.

The question as to why they pay more remains unanswered. Though we looked at other metrics that might unravel this – such as session length, sessions frequency, etc. – the results were inconclusive, as those metrics can be very tightly linked to the game’s genre. May it be that this behaviour is typical to what Everett Rogers refers to as early adopters? What does your experience tell you?

Our journey brought us to another realisation. As little as the conversion and retention charts told us for the question at hand, we still think the two graphs are beautiful for what they convey beyond the numbers. Let’s look at them again:

Conversion and retention show only slight differences between the 2 cohorts

See how the patterns for these metrics fall in line for both cohorts, leaving close to no difference between the Golden Cohort and a later later one? We think this stands for how important game design is. And find it thrilling, if not poetic, to have the numbers reflect how important creativity, gut feeling, that-certain-something, or whatever you want to call it is. After all, games are not numbers. As important as numbers and analysis are, they are only a resort for improving what games are all about: rich, fun player experiences.