How Bejeweled Blitz monetizes on iOS and Facebook, and why it has achieved "evergreen" status

1. Mobile Monetization – The Bejeweled Way
Giordano Bruno Contestabile, PopCap Games
June 20th, 2012
Twitter: @giordanobc

2. My job: managing the business…
…even though I suck at it!
 My excuse: half of those people work at PopCap
• But so do I

3. Some quick facts
 Launched in late 2000
 History: Bejeweled, Bejeweled 2,
Bejeweled Twist, Bejeweled Blitz,
Bejeweled 3
 Key platforms: PC/Mac, Facebook,
iPhone, XBox360, DS
 Units: > 55 million
 Installs: > 200 million
 MAUs: > 25 million
 Users: 500 million+

4. One Very Long Minute
History of Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook & iOS
 Bejeweled Blitz launched on Facebook in December 2008
 Blitz mode and FB Connect added to Bejeweled 2 iOS client (April 2010)
 One of the first games to be fully integrated FB and iOS
 3+ years from launch, still consistently popular:
• Facebook: top 10 games by DAU (3M+)
• iPhone: top 10 top grossing games
 Bejeweled Blitz iOS launched as freemium game in December 2011

5. The Power of Free

6. Changeinmetricsfrompremiumtofreemium
Key Metrics Change
Downloads Daily Average Downloads 9X
Daily Active Users Weekly Average 5X
Revenue Daily Average 5X
Freemium Switch: did It Work?
… and still growing (every week hasbeen bigger than previous one)

7. Premium Vs. Freemium: Downloads
Freemium client has 9x as many downloads per day vs. premium
Bejeweled Blitz
Bejeweled

8. Many Play For Free…
 As expected, ARPPU declined when switching from paid to free
• Higher percentage of free players
 ARPPU still higher, but closer, to Facebook

9. …But Enough of Them Pay!
 Increased user base driving much higher revenues

10. Facebook Connect: A High Barrier
Approximately 25% of Blitz iOS
downloads have activated
Facebook Connect, unlocking
full game content
 FB Connect was required to unlock full features
 Launched “Universal Mode” in June 2012
 FB-connected users tend to spend more

11. Mobile vs Web

12. Comparing iOS to Facebook
Key Metrics iOS (FB = 100)
Daily Active Users Weekly Average 33%
ARPU DARPU 196%
Engagement Games played / day 208% (52!)
Retention 7-day retention 200%
Monetization % of paying users 205%

13. Learnings – behavior iOS vs FB
 On most metrics, iOS users are 2x higher than Facebook users
 Contributing factors:
• “Always on, always with me” nature of mobile
• Bejeweled Blitz strongly suited to bite-sized gaming
• Efficient Apple ecosystem, in particular for billing
 We see significant FB / iOS cross-over in user base
• New FB users discovering the game through iOS first

14. Business Model

15. Boosts
 Low-priced in-game effects meant to be used regularly
 Balanced not to grant excessive advantages
• The better player will still score higher on average

16. Rare Gems
 Higher-impact bonuses
 Can be activated every few games, appearing randomly
 Require skill to be fully taken advantage of
 Entertainment value as important as effect

17. Daily Spins
 Slot machine mechanic granting in-game currency
 1 free “daily spin” every day
 Additional “daily spin” can be purchased

18. Key tenets
 “Play forever”: no pay walls or limitations for non-paying users
 Game is fun and balanced also without paying
 Pay to have fun, not because the games forces or punishes you
 Server-side code to tweak economy in real time
 Events really important: busy marketing calendar

19. Our secret? Science!
mF =↑eng + ↑ret + ↑mon
…that I just made up!
More fun = more engagement, retention and monetization
A simple equation…
If players are having fun they will play, stay and pay

20. Freemium is great, but hard
If you can’t crack it...

21. Banners
Display Advertising
Interstitials Video Rich Media
• Ad shading
• In-banner feed
• Expandable units

22. Engagement
Value Added Offer wall
Value Added Banner
EA^2
Reward users for interacting with your brand

23. Sponsorships
Brand Alignment
A series of custom branded rides to
choose from, all with enhanced benefits
and experiences for game players

24. Thanks!
Questions?
@giordanobc