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The End of Social Games
Confidential
Flash GAMM Moscow 2013
Stephen Lee, Executive Director, Business Development
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• About 6waves
• Social and Mobile Games
– The Headlines
• Mobile Realities
• The State of Social
• Tips for Developers
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ABOUT 6WAVES
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The Leading Independent Publisher of Social
Games on Facebook
What Do We Do?
• 6waves helps social games to scale quickly and globally, allowing developers to focus on making and maintaining great games
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Global Users Network
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22%
3% 1%
28% 30%
6%
20M MAU - 3M DAU
10%
Global Partners
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Global Offices (Hong Kong | San Francisco | Moscow | Tokyo | Beijing )
THE HEADLINES
SOCIAL AND MOBILE GAMES
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Not too long ago…
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• Social Gaming Explosion
Zynga and other Large Players
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In the Meantime…
• Smartphone Growth
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Mobile Market Is Attractive
• New and exciting hardware / software
• Captive audience
• Lower development costs
• Higher monetization
• Viral growth
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iOS Still Leads the Way
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Android is Gaining Ground
• Growth of Mobile
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Android Growth
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Mobile and Tablet Explosion
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Massive Mobile Hits
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More recently, in Social…
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Rise of Mobile Companies
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Mobile Investment & Growth
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MOBILE VS. SOCIAL
QUICK SURVEY
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More Mobile Startups
• GDC Survey of over 2,500 Game Developers
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• 53% independent
– almost all within the last two years
• 38% developed for mobile on previous project
• 58% planning mobile for next project
– 90% iOS
– 75% interested in Android
– 15% Windows Phone
Where will your next game be?
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MOBILE REALITIES
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Mobile Discovery Issue
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• How will my game get discovered?
Costly User Acquisition
• Must maximize both Virality and Retention to ensure ROI
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Competitive Landscape
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Top 25 developers account for half of all iOS revenue.
Source: Canalys
Why Go Mobile? Seems to be:
• High-potential
• Shorter dev cycle
• Higher monetization
• Viral
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But actually…
• Highly competitive
• Shorter life cycle
• Expensive acquisition, not sustainable
• Big companies dominate revenue
THE STATE OF SOCIAL
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Mobile Has Changed Social
• Decreased launch DAU/MAU numbers
• Reduced player attention span
• Forced developers to improve user experiences
• Traditional leaders have struggled to adapt
• Is this the end?
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NO
Desktop Games Are Thriving
• Record number of people playing games
• Increased Game Installs by 75% year over year
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Facebook Revenues
• Payments to Developers
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Zynga Other Developers Overall Games
- 37%
+ 60%
+ 12%
Competitive Landscape
• Level playing field – anyone can succeed
• Developers are experienced and well-armed
• Proven channels for developers to grow games
• Platform continues to improve
– No preferential terms
– Deprecating FB Credits
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Plenty of Room for Facebook Hits
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Facebook On Mobile
• Improved Acquisition, Discovery, and Virality
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Social Graph Vital to Monetize Mobile
• Facebook Penetration in top Grossing 100 apps
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81/100 70/100
iOS Android Source: Facebook earnings call Q1 2013
The Importance of Being Social
• Even if you’re 100% set on developing for mobile, it doesn’t make sense to rely only on mobile
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• Social is a proven way to improve the stats of your games and increase your odds of success
Candy Crush Saga
• The Social and Mobile “Sweet Spot”
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TIPS FOR DEVELOPERS
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Tip #1: Think Global
• Think about genres, languages, themes
• Know your intended audience
• Target areas of opportunity
– Avoid “Red Oceans”
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New and Emerging Markets
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Tencent
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Huge Market Gaming Network
Top Games on Tencent are netting over $3M USD
Over 560 Million on Tencent alone Tencent Revenue Distribution
Yabage
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Gaming Culture High Monetization
Tip #2: Think Cross-Platform
• Maximize user touchpoints as easily as you can
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Tip #3: Spread Your Bets
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• Increase probability of payout
Tip #4: Strength In Numbers
Consider Partnerships
• Especially if you’re working on multiple platforms
• Especially in hard to crack markets
– Additional revenue with minimal effort and risk
• Look for:
– Established players
– Proven platforms
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Tencent
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Marketing Regulatory Issue
Licenses are require to operate Online Games in China.
Yabage
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Localization Developer Support
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