MIGS 2017 - To Self-Publish Or Not To Self-Publish?

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

MOBILE LANDSCAPE


COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE IN MOBILE GAMES


• 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


• 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


SELF-PUBLISH VS. PUBLISHER?


• 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?


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?


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?


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


SELF-PUBLISHING BEST PRACTICES


SOFT LAUNCH


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


• 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


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


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


• 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


• 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?


David P. ChiuDC Games Consulting LLC

[email protected]

MIGS 2017 - To Self-Publish Or Not To Self-Publish?

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