R2 Games F2P Monetization Presentation and Clicker Heroes Case Study: Best Practices, Stats and Common Mistakes to Avoid (David P. Chiu, Game Connection Europe 2015)
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David P. Chiu discusses the success factors and monetization strategies of free-to-play (f2p) games, focusing on the experiences of R2 Games and its popular title, Wartune. Key themes include the importance of long-term player retention, optimizing in-game purchases, and effectively localizing content for various markets. The document also highlights the competitive landscape of mobile gaming and emphasizes the need for a strong understanding of f2p dynamics for successful game development.
R2 Games F2P Monetization Presentation and Clicker Heroes Case Study: Best Practices, Stats and Common Mistakes to Avoid (David P. Chiu, Game Connection Europe 2015)
- 1. Stats, Best Practices and Common Mistakes for F2P Core Gamers David P. Chiu Vice President
- 2. Who Am I? • 5+ years at Intel in Gaming Developer Relations & Business Development, Gaming Consumer Marketing and Campaign Strategy • Former Senior Director of Business Development and Developer Relations at Kongregate heading BD worldwide for Kong web and mobile • Worked with hundreds of developers on F2P games • Currently Vice President of R2 Games USA
- 3. Reality Squared Games • R2Games is a leading international publisher of free-to- play browser and mobile games for core gamers • Games includes hits like Wartune, League of Angels, Blade Hunter, Dragon Pals and Monkey King Online. • R2Games.com is a leading platform for F2P games serving 40M+ users in 8 different languages worldwide • #1 publisher on Kongregate.com, Kabam.com and many other platforms
- 4. Reality Squared Games • One of the fastest growing online game companies • May 2010 – Reality Squared is founded • Sept 2011 – 1st exclusive game Crystal Saga launches in NAR, USD$1M in 1st quarter • Aug 2012 – R2 publishes Wartune in NAR, breaking $1.5M in its first quarter and $7M in its 2nd quarter • 300+ employees with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Seoul and the San Francisco Bay Area • CEO Jared Psigoda named 2014 Forbes China 30 Under 30
- 6. • Asian F2P games have much higher ARPPUs versus Western F2P games • What can a Western developer learn from the Asian F2P games to improve their monetization? • Remember that F2P was born in Korea • And perfected in China (and quickly became the dominant biz model due to piracy) Last talk at GC: Asian F2P vs Western F2P
- 7. • I can now tell you that the giant bubble on the top right is a Chinese MMO game called Wartune, published on Kongregate.com by R2Games • 25+ months since Wartune launch and still going strong • ARPPU has increased to $533 (11/6/2014) • Why is Wartune so successful? Graph From Last Talk R2Games
- 8. Source: Kongregate Long Term Retention Matters
- 9. • The more someone plays a game, they more likely they are to convert from a player to a buyer. • Becomes a hobby and most committed fans can choose to spend • Real world example: You can watch baseball for free on TV but hardcore fans choose to spend money on tickets Long Term Retention Matters Wartune Lifetime % Buyers by Monthly Cohort
- 10. • The more someone plays a game, the more they spend • More time = More transactions Long Term Retention Matters Wartune Lifetime ARPPU by Monthly Cohort
- 11. • Therefore, user LTV increases with time Long Term Retention Matters Wartune ARPU or User LTV by Monthly Cohort
- 12. Majority of Spending Comes From Most Committed Players (Wartune)
- 13. Best Practices from Wartune and Asian F2P Design for Increasing Retention
- 14. • MMORPG with turn-based battles, city-building and isometric-perspective exploration • Top grossing game in China before making it to the West Wartune Quick Intro
- 15. • Solo and team PvE • Solo and team PvP • Asynch raids • Guild battles • World boss raids • Farming • Fishing • City Building • Weapon/Gear • Synthesizing & Upgrading • Astral Collecting and • Combining • Etc. Pace the introduction of new features/gameplay modes to not overwhelm players with a long and intimidating tutorial. Keep Players Busy! More things to do = more players staying
- 16. • Simple Daily Tasks to earn rewards • Scheduled Limited Time Events • Daily Quests Keep Players Busy! More things to do = more players staying
- 17. • Daily play bonuses are good to get users coming back regularly • But improve on the typical 5-7 day daily bonuses • Wartune players get a stamp for every day of the month they play the game • Rewards for playing 2 days up to 26 days • Incentivizes longer term play • Doesn’t “punish” players for missing a day Keep Them Coming Back
- 18. Keep Players Busy! Mini games with additional free plays each day to earn rewards
- 19. • The foundations of a F2P game are a strong RPG elements and a sense of progress over time • Building up account, leveling up, adding/improves skills and stats, etc • Deep RPG mechanics and multiplayer matter: • 25x ARPU for Multiplayer RPG vs Single Player non-RPG! Data From Last GC Talk Type % 50+ Plays % Buyers ARPPU ARPU Multiplayer RPG 2.6% 0.75% $69 $0.51 Multiplayer Non-RPG 1.0% 0.45% $9 $0.05 Single-player RPG 1.8% 1.29% $12 $0.10 Single-Player Non-RPG 0.2% 0.53% $4 $0.02
- 20. • Motivate players to get to the next milestone • Leveling up unlocks features, content, rewards • Positive reinforcement for progressing Aim for the Stars
- 21. • Character level provides a sense of progress • But also give players ways to measure their strength à Wartune’s Battle Rating Aim for the Stars
- 22. • And tap into their sense of competition • Leaderboards for everything Aim for the Stars • Lifetime, daily gain and weekly gain • So players can compete in many ways
- 23. Best Practices from Wartune and Asian F2P Design for Increasing Monetization
- 24. Depth of Spend • The longer someone plays your game the more likely they are to buy and the less price sensitive they become • Give committed players the ability to spend at $1,000+ if they want • Have lots of items that are appealing and useful to all players from beginners to elder players who have played for months or years • Unlock new items to buy as players level up • But must also create reasons to want the elder items • Don’t create a situation where spending is capped by availability or utility.
- 25. • Location, location, location – make the store easy to find! • Show balance of hard currency (Balens) • Shortcut to buy more (Recharge button) • Make it easy to find the what you want o Meaningful categories and item descriptions o No massive scroll bars Make the Shopping and Buying Experience as Frictionless as Possible
- 26. • Bonuses % or/and items for larger hard currency packages • Clearly call out bonuses of larger packages! • Make all packages visible in one page for easy comparisons (no scroll bars) • Hide large packages until after first purchase Buy Currency Screen
- 27. • First time buyer/ Starter packages • Seed players with some paid/hard currency and guide “intro purchase” • Deals/events to get people into the habit of spending regularly • Offer items that enhance the gameplay experience (not just speedups) Make the Shopping Experience Interesting • Intro the right items at the right time • Lvl 1 players should not be shown the lvl 100+ holy sword that’s on sale for $100) • Keep them coming back – keep store fresh by adding new items, unlocking items as players level up and featuring seasonal and time- limited items/ sales
- 28. Create Sense of Urgency
- 29. Other DO’s and DON’T’s
- 30. Timing is Everything: Server Times • F2P: games-as-a-service with players all over the world in different time zones • Don’t let players wondering what time zone the game is in • Specify time zones or set a server time and have it be visible so there is no confusion leading players to miss events/sales • Minimizes confusion and player frustration • Bar on top of all of R2’s games clearly lists: • The server time • The next event’s start time and a countdown to it
- 31. Timing is Everything: Server Time Zones • DON’T do separate servers if your CCUs are too low • DO ensure the CCUs are high enough for competition, and merger servers if needed • DO have at least 2 instances of an event if you do not split servers by time zone • For event-centric games, consider separate servers by time zone Wartune (English) servers • DON’T forget to make adjustments for Daylight Saving Time changes
- 32. • Events drive up player engagement • Schedule events during periods of highest CCU • For core gamers, primetime is in evenings and weekends Timing is Everything: Primetime Monkey King Online PCU by day
- 33. Keeping the Balance • Have a robust matchmaking algorithm • Prevent elder players and big spenders from slaughtering new players • Offer protection time or shields after getting attack
- 34. Why is it Important to Understand F2P?
- 35. The Mobile Landscape • F2P is the dominant business model - iOS Top 50 Grossing Charts has 1 paid game (Minecraft) - iOS Top 100 Grossing Charts has 2 paid games • Players used to downloading free games now • Free games offer minimal barrier to entry and yield much higher download rates
- 36. Mobile F2P vs Paid • Threes was an original puzzle game priced at $1.99 • 2048 was a copy of a clone of a clone of Threes and was free • Threes found moderate success while 2048 became a worldwide phenomenon Creator of Threes:
- 37. Mobile F2P vs Paid • Difficult for paid games to compete with free games • And F2P is complex • Takes time and live servicing a F2P game to really learn • Particularly difficult if you are used to making paid games instead of games-as-a-service
- 38. Mobiel User Acquisition is Expensive • Need solid grasp of F2P to have high monetizing game • Need a lot of capital to do paid UA
- 39. App Store Features are Incredibly Powerful • Minor feature: 10k to 100k+ installs • Medium feature: 100k-500k+ installs • Major feature: 500k to 2M+ installs ***For F2P games, not paid
- 40. Best App Store Features Are Hard to Get # of Apps 1.96M Approx. # of apps each week ~9k # of Games 439k Approx. # of games each week ~3k Promo slots of new games 16
- 41. The Mobile Landscape • Mobile distribution is very challenging • Competition is fierce: o 283k existing games and thousands new games each week • App store features are hard to get • Viral hits are rare (Flappy Bird) • User acquisition is expensive • Can lower CPIs with big IP (also costly)
- 42. Self-Publish? Evaluate your game and team: • What are your goals for the game and studio? • Does your team understand F2P? • Do I have the key talent to do a F2P game? • Do you have enough runway to learn F2P and iterate game in test markets? • Do you have enough capital for paid UA?
- 43. Is a Publisher Right For Me? • How can a publisher help me? • Allow you to focus on the game while they handle: • Marketing (screenshots, ads, videos, ASO, split tests, PR, etc) • App store relations and featuring • Analytics • Customer Service and Community Management • Functional QA Testing • Localization and localization QA, etc. • Royalty advances to help you finish the game (not all publishers do this) • Or/and provide marketing guarantees (not all publishers do this) • May help negotiate and secure IP for the game
- 44. Is a Publisher Right For Me? Evaluate the publisher: • Are your goals and interests aligned? • Are they putting some skin behind the game (advances, marketing, resources for localization, QA, analytics, etc)? • Potential for long term partnership (e.g. strategic investments) • Do they understand F2P and have a track record of success? • Do they have the right talent at the company? • Does the publisher have 1st party and 3rd party games? • Does your game fit into their audience and portfolio (casual vs core)?
- 45. CLICKER HEROES The idle RPG that started the subgenre!
- 46. Apple’s 10 Greatest Clickers
- 47. HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED • First game to combine idle and RPG mechanics • Originally developed by developer Playsaurus as a PC browser game and it took the internet by storm! • Ported to Steam and became an instant hit!
- 48. GOING MOBILE • Playsaurus partners with R2 Games for mobile version and all future platforms • The mobile journey begins!
- 49. GOING MOBILE: CHALLENGES • Clicker Heroes originally built as Flash game • Convert to AIR for mobile • PROBLEM: Vector art performs poorly on mobile processors • SOLUTION: Use Dragonbones and covert to bitmaps • PROBLEM: Few 3rd party SDKs support AIR (SDKs for attribution, analytics, push notif, etc) • SOLUTION: Create custom AIR native extensions (ANE) and plug-ins and let the developer focus on actual game development • PROBLEM: Many clones launched on mobile before Clicker Heroes mobile even started development • SOLUTION: Improve the game experience and add new differentiating features • PROBLEM: Many stolen copies on the app store and websites, especially in China • SOLUTION: R2 Legal team in China took down all IP-infringing copies
- 50. GOING MOBILE: NEW MOBILE FEATURES • FTUE • Cloud Saves • Rewarded video ads • Mobile UI
- 51. GOING MOBILE: NEW MOBILE FEATURES • Clans and clan-based battles against Immortals
- 52. GOING MOBILE: LOCALIZATION • Clicker Heroes originally only in English • Added language support for: • French • German • Spanish • Russia • Portuguese • Simplified Chinese • Traditional Chinese
- 53. SOME LOCALIZATION TIPS • Localization helps with app store featuring in non-English speaking countries • Be aware of differences between - Traditional vs Simplified Chinese - Portugal vs Brazil Portuguese - Spain Spanish versus Latin America Spanish • BEWARE of bad translations when outsourced to external vendors versus in-house, especially automated translations • Be sure to do extensive Localization QA to make sure translated text fits into where they are supposed to
- 54. SOME LOCALIZATION TIPS • Examples of bad translations from another game: - Heavy use of machine translation - Incorrect grammar and spelling - Lack of gender concordance - Inappropriate translations
- 55. SOME LOCALIZATION TIPS • It’s not just about translation/localization but also culturalization - Jokes/puns, pop culture references, events/holidays, etc. - Adjust UI - Adjust Economy - Adjust difficulty • Avoid subpar translations/localization. Work with localization experts that are: - Gamers that understand gaming lingo - Native speakers of the target language - Have played the game and translate in the context • Fortunately, R2 has a localization team that handled all that
- 56. Featured by both Apple and Google App Stores Clicker Heroes Global Launch US Apple App Store US Google Play
- 57. Clicker Heroes Global Launch Featured in 122 countries by the Apple App Store! Russia France Germany UK Italy
- 58. Featured in 122 countries by the Apple App Store! Clicker Heroes Global Launch
- 59. iOS Best of August iOS What We’re Playing
- 60. Press Coverage
- 61. Top #1 Adventure Game! Top #1 RPG! Clicker Heroes Global Launch (iOS)
- 62. Clicker Heroes Global Launch (iOS) Top #3 Downloaded Game on US iPhones! Top #10 Downloaded App on US iPhones!
- 63. Clicker Heroes Global Launch (iOS) Top #3 Downloaded Game on US iPhones Top #104 Grossing Game on US iPhones
- 64. Clicker Heroes Global Launch (Google Play) Top #4 Downloaded Game on Google Play (US)
- 65. Clicker Heroes Global Launch (Google Play) Top Downloaded Game and App on Google Play!
- 66. Top #2 Downloaded RPG! Top #34 Grossing RPG! Clicker Heroes Global Launch (Google Play)
- 67. LEARNINGS • Clicker Heroes has pretty crazy high retention #s • Mobile vs web 30-day LTV: 3x • High retention games are ideal for ads • Rewarded video ads are a better UX vs. interstitials • Find a good ad mediation partner with a robust real-time dashboard • Good localization helped get great app store features in other countries D1: 66.7% D7: 42.8% D14: 32.9%