TO SELF-PUBLISH OR NOT TO SELF-PUBLISH?

AN INDIE SURVIVAL GUIDE TO SELF-PUBLISHING IN THE MOBILE F2P WORLD

David P. ChiuDC Games Consulting LLC

MIGS 2017

• 12+ years in games industry

• Intel in Gaming Developer Relations & Business Development, US Gaming Marketing & Campaign Strategy

• Head of Business Development and Developer Relations at Kongregate

• Vice President of R2 Games USA

• Worked on hit games such as Clicker Heroes, Politicats, Game of Thrones Ascent

• Now at DC Games Consulting LLC

WHO AM I?

DC Games Consulting LLC

DCGC is a boutique consultancy that specializes in F2P mobile games.

• Relationship management with Apple, Google and other platforms for app store features

• IP Licensing and business development

• Free-to-play expertise best practices for improving retention and monetization

• Ad monetization strategy

• Idle/ clicker game design and best practices

DC Games Consulting LLC

DC GAMES CONSULTING LLC

MOBILE LANDSCAPE

DC Games Consulting LLC

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE IN MOBILE GAMES

DC Games Consulting LLC

• F2P is the dominant business model

• Usually only 1-2 paid games in the iOS Top 150 Grossing

• Incumbents tend to dominate the charts

• Mobile marketplace mature and consolidating

• Much more hit-driven

MOBILE USER ACQUISITION IS EXPENSIVE

DC Games Consulting LLC

• Makes 3rd party publishing model

challenging

• Revenue sharing makes UA difficult

• Recoupable marketing à developer

receives little revenue

• Minor feature: 10k to 100k+ installs• Medium feature: 100k-300k+ installs • Major feature: 300k to 1M+ installs

***For F2P games, not paid

APP STORE FEATURES ARE INCREDIBLY POWERFUL

# of Apps 3.10M

Approx. # of apps each week ~3k-9k

# of Games 780k

Approx. # of games each week ~1k-3k

Promo slots of new games 15-20

APP STORE FEATURES ARE HARD TO GET

DC Games Consulting LLC

SELF-PUBLISH VS. PUBLISHER?

DC Games Consulting LLC

• Publishers can help by allowing you to focus on the game development while they handle publishing

• Publishers can provide the following:

• Marketing creatives (icon, screenshots, ads, videos, keywords and do A/B tests)

• User acquisition

• App store relations and featuring

• PR and media outreach

• F2P expertise and analytics

• Customer service and community management

• Functional QA Testing

• Localization and localization QA

• Development funding or royalty advances

• Marketing guarantees

• IP licensing

IS A PUBLISHER RIGHT FOR ME?

DC Games Consulting LLC

Evaluate the publisher:

• Are goals and interests aligned?

• Putting some skin behind the game?

• Potential for long term partnership?

• Track record of success?

• Repeat deals with developers?

• Who will be working on your game?

• 1st party and 3rd party games?

• Audience and portfolio fit?

IS A PUBLISHER RIGHT FOR ME?

DC Games Consulting LLC

Evaluate your game and team:

• Goals for the game and studio?

• Does your team understand F2P?

• Do you have the key talent for a F2P game dev and UA?

• Do you have enough capital for dev and UA?

• Do you plan on doing UA for your game?

SELF-PUBLISH?

DC Games Consulting LLC

SELF-PUBLISHING VS. PUBLISHER

Self-Publishing Publisher

Pros Ø 100% net revenue and control Ø Complements or augments your capabilities/ resources

Cons Ø Need appropriate team/ resources Ø Revenue shareØ More chefs in the kitchen

DC Games Consulting LLC

SELF-PUBLISHING BEST PRACTICES

DC Games Consulting LLC

SOFT LAUNCH

DC Games Consulting LLC

Choose soft launch countries and roll-out schedule

1. Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, etc)• Cheap CPIs ($0.20-$1) à can get large # of installs quickly• Stability and compatibility testing• Not for A/B testing or estimating metrics

2. Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, etc)• Player resemble US/CA/AUS players• Relatively lower CPI• A/B test features• A/B test marketing/ app store creatives

3. Canada, Australia and New Zealand• Resemble US players the most• Expensive CPIs

SOFT LAUNCH CHECKLIST

DC Games Consulting LLC

• A/B test and optimize in-game features and tutorial/ FTUE

• Test in-game analytics and app attribution platforms

• A/B test marketing creatives

• A/B test app store page:

• Icon

• App Name

• Subtitle

• Video(s)

• Screenshots

• Copy

• App icons and app store pages can have a huge impact on downloads!

BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING RETENTION

DC Games Consulting LLC

IMPROVING RETENTION

Early retention:

• Daily log-in rewards

• Quest system

• Appointment Mechanic

• Daily Events/ Challenges

DAILY REWARDS/ DAILY QUESTS

• Daily (chance for) reward for logging into game

• Increasing rewards each day

• Resets if player misses a day

• Biggest prize is usually hard currency

QUEST SYSTEMS

• Provides player guidance without a boring tutorial

• Nudge them towards desired behaviors

• Reward with hard currency or item(s)

• Typically 3 quests at a time

• Meta – obtain reward for completing X number of quests in a certain time period

• Get players to come back to the game regularly to check-in, engage, watch ads, etc.• Free Chest, Mini-Game, Spin + Retrigger Ad Bonus/Awards

APPOINTMENT MECHANIC

NOTIFICATIONS

• Don’t ask to opt in at app launch

• Ask later in the first or second session of the game

• Tie to appointment mechanic• Offer an incentive to do so

• Free chest every 4 hours• Spin prize wheel every 4 hours

IMPROVING RETENTION

Mid and Late Stage Retention:

• Achievements with rewards

• Multiplayer features (PvP, co-op, clans, clan battles, clan

perks, chat)

• Leaderboards (single player, PvP, event-based)

• Limited Time Events

• Seasonal Events

• Features and items specifically geared towards elder players

that are unlocked later on

LIMITED TIME EVENT

• Weekly, biweekly or monthly events to drive retention and engagement

• Can be tied to seasonal holidays

• Progress can be separate from main game

• Offer increasing rewards for reach event goals

• Or leaderboards with tiered rewards

LIMITED TIME EVENTS IN ADCAP INCREASES IAP AND AD MONETIZATION

Source: Kongregate, AdVenture Capitalist

LEADERBOARDS AND EVENTS

• In addition to Event Loot Boxes, Office Space also has an Event Corp Leaderboard with tiered prizes• Drives engagement, competition and purchasing

BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING MONETIZATION

DC Games Consulting LLC

SHOP UI

• Have all hard currency packages visible in one screen

• Easier for comparing packages

• Clearly call out bonuses for bigger packages

• Call out Most Popular and Best Deal packages

SHOP UI

• Midcore/hardcore games have more complex economies

• Breakdown shop into separate screens

• Separate screens for each currency, bundles, consumables, etc.

MINIMIZE FRICTION à INCREASE CONVERSION AND ARPPU

MONETIZATION: SHOP TUTORIAL

• Seed players with some hard currency at the

beginning

• Lead them to the shop

• Guide them thru a “free” introductory purchase

• Player gets a taste of the benefits of buying (like free

samples at Costco)

1) Hard currency unlocked 2) Show players where they can spend them

Almost a Hero

3) Introduce to shop with free introductory purchase

Almost a Hero

INCREASING BUYER CONVERSION AND ARPPU

§ Drive buyer conversion and spending with:

1. First time buyer packages

2. Additional bundles after the first purchase

3. Targeted offers based on player behavior

4. Time limited offers

5. Bundles for events/holidays

6. Hard currency daily drips/ subscriptions

A/B TEST!

§ During soft launch, conduct A/B tests to determine:

§ Shop UI

§ Optimal pricing tiers

§ First Time Buyer Packages and Time Limited/ Event Bundles

§ When to introduce

§ Placement

§ Price

§ What’s in the bundle

§ Expiration

INCREASE BUYER CONVERSION WITH FIRST TIME BUYER BUNDLES

• Encourage player to make first purchase with a very attractive offer

Item or bonus for first purchaseOne-time first time buyer bundle

MONETIZATION: EVENT SPECIFIC BUNDLES/SALES

HARD CURRENCY SUBSCRIPTIONS/ DAILY DRIPS

• IAP provides daily drip of hard currency over time

• Provide one-time reward at purchase for some instant gratification

• Encourages daily login• Can help increase

retention

GAMIFYING THE BUYING EXPERIENCE

• With a Chinese MMO-style Buyers VIP system• Players earn points for spending within the game• Which can unlock tiers with different rewards or perks• Modelled after airlines, hotel and casino VIP systems

• Risk: may make you look greedy and the game P2W• This is more for games with deep, complex economies

AD MONETIZATION

DC Games Consulting LLC

• Ads offer an opportunity to monetize the ~95% of players that will never buy

• Add rewarded video to increase your LTV

• Not disruptive and player choose to engage for rewards

• Good for high retaining casual games with low monetization

• Rewarded videos can generate 50-70%+ for some Top 200 Grossing games (esp. idle clickers)

• Integrate mediation platform and multiple ad networks

• Negotiate superior deal terms

AD MONETIZATION

DC Games Consulting LLC

• Integrate ads into gameplay (core loop or regularly repeating screen)

• Prominent surfacing/ placements

• Offer meaningful rewards

• Incorporate ads into new content or/and limited timed events

• Limit video pre-caching to minimize OTA data usage

• Avoid long ads or ads that require users to pre-qualify

QUESTIONS?

DC Games Consulting LLC

David P. ChiuDC Games Consulting LLC

david.p.chiu@gmail.com