Lessons In Virtual Currency: Josh Larson, President & COO Mochi Media, Inc.

July 20-22 2010
Casual Connect Seattle 2010
Creating Successful Games:Lessons in Virtual Currency
Josh Larson
President & COO, Mochi Media

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Who is Mochi Media?
Company’s mission is to build a ubiquitous game monetization and distribution platform
World’s largest browser-based game network:
#1 in comScore for online games
150,000,000 monthly active unique users
40,000 publisher websites
20,000 unique games
4,000 active developers

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Our Virtual Goods Dataset
Launched Mochi Coins in July 2009
Since then, over 170 Coins games launched
Early successes:
Top games grossing $X00,000s in revenue with dev cycles of 3 months or less
Attracting tens of millions of game plays
Typical games to date are single-player and browser-based
Nearly all are ads-enabled as well
Over 650 non-free items for sale across a variety of transaction types (items, levels) and genres

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Lessons from launching a virtual currency
Listen to your customers
Got it right: 30+ feedback sessions with developers / publishers; company-wide customer interaction
Got it wrong: Didn’t prioritize consumables for launch
Utilize beta period
Got it right: Ensured product stability and produced data for all stakeholders at formal launch
Got it wrong: Thought retro-fitting games with transactions would produce results
Support top payment categories
Got it right: Incremental revenue gained from mobile and offers, achieving roughly ~10% gains
Got it wrong: A lot of options, challenge is finding point of diminishing returns with limited engineering & BD resources

TOP FIVE tips
Lessons from Mochi Coins Virtual Economy for Developers:
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#1: Pick the right virtual goods
Accelerators
Additional Levels / Modes
Aesthetics
Consumables
Full Unlock
Item Unlock
Powerup

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Accelerators
Items that help player progress thru game, providing shortcut or multiplier effect.

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Additional Levels / Modes
Additional gameplay offered to your fans thru purchase of extra levels or stages (not unlockable thru normal gameplay).

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Aesthetics
Items for pure fun / appearance value.

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Consumables
Items for purchase that deplete with use (e.g. cash, health, etc.).

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Full Unlock
Part of the game is free, full game or all items/levels unlocked by purchase.

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Item Unlock
Items that help player progress thru the game (and are obtainable thru another way).

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Powerups
Items that make gameplay easier or more interesting.

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#1: Pick the right virtual goods (cont’d) -
Items that enhance/ease gameplay are majority of revenue
Source: Mochi Coins economy, July 2009 – June 2010.

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#2: Price accordingly and offer real value
Cheap / free items can incent adoption; packages can drive higher price & revenue
Bundles represent 8% of revenue
Source: Mochi Coins economy, July 2009 – June 2010.

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#3: Show off the goods
Location, Location, Location
Readily-accessible store, and items/levels visible from outset and in-game will get things seen

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#3: Show off the goods (cont’d)
Detailed descriptions, and even video, can highlight the benefits of your virtual goods

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#4: Evolve your game and develop IP
Thru Live Updates, can push new items, levels, maps and other features
Change Pricing, Items, Analyze, Iterate, Rinse, Repeat
New Content
Distribution
Site Locked

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#4: Evolve your game and develop IP (cont’d)
Leverage assets of traditional retail launches for sequels:
Trailer
Email Outreach
Cross-Promo from other games
Bloons TD4 Email Blast
Shadez 2 Trailer

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#4: Evolve your game and develop IP (cont’d)
Bloons on Real Housewives of New Jersey!!

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#5: Tap into social motivations
Feed users’ competitive nature with high scores / leaderboards, which can motivate purchase
Social Leaderboards
Scores from Facebook Friends
Sharing your Scores & Achievements

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#5: Tap into social motivations (cont’d)
Gifting expands your player base, and highlights items

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RECAP: LESSONS LEARNED
Lessons from Launching a Virtual Currency:
#1: Listen to your customers
#2: Utilize a beta period
#3: Support top payment categories
Top Five Tips for Developers:
#1: Pick the right virtual goods
#2: Price accordingly and offer real value
#3: Show off the goods
#4: Evolve your game and develop IP
#5: Tap into social motivations

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Other resources
Mochi Wiki: http://wiki.mochimedia.com/
Mr. Shen: alexander@mochimedia.com
Josh Larson: josh@mochimedia.com

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QUESTIONS?

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Lessons In Virtual Currency: Josh Larson, President & COO Mochi Media, Inc.

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Lessons In Virtual Currency: Josh Larson, President & COO Mochi Media, Inc. — Presentation Transcript