Playing for Keeps

10 Trends in Game Design & Monetization

Simon NewsteadGame Designer, CEO

About Frenzoo● Hong Kong studio● 3D lifestyle games● 30 million downloads● Profitable & growing

1/ Money for nothing...● Rise of idle tap games● Remind you of anything? ● Low barrier “gameplay” & light meta strategy

Adventure Capitalist Tap Titans Tap Tap Trillionaire

2/ Won’t you play for me?● Auto-play is increasingly important ● Grinding with less “grind”● Opportunity for monetization & strategy… ● Parallels to classic pc games

Game of Dice Pokemon ComastersSummoners War

3/ Feed the fame monster... ● eSports on mobile is breaking out● Games as spectator sport, as TMZ● How to recreate the Instagram like / reply

engagement model?

Clash Royale Gods of Olympus

4/ The computers take over…● Adaptive pricing is a reality● Challenge is in balancing● We’ll see an evolution from none -> manual ->

A/B test -> machine learning / AI

Zynga / Natural Motion GLUZeptolab

5/ I got what you need...● Deeper linking of live-ops & monetization● Content & increasingly gameplay

Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes

6/ Bring it back!● Classic / genres being adapted to mobile● If you don’t someone else will

Supertribes Robocide Lifeline

7/ We need to go… deeper ● Layer gameplay from minutes to multi-years● Community is enabler…

...AND the result

Heroes Charge

Credit - Tony Sala

8/ Gift You Tomorrow!● Subscription models are more accepted● Increasing retention is the key

Clash of KingsMarvel Future Fight

9/ Give them what they want ● Earlier and faster player input● Save time and increase monetization

10/ Life beyond RPG? ● New lifestyle genre

○ Make friends, entertain, flirt, tell stories, compete, gossip, help, console, trick, honor, express self, create...

Thanks!

It’s a great time for mobile games!

simon@frenzoo.comiteratingfun.com