IMGA CEO Summit 2017 - GameRefinery

2. Who are we? GameRefinery • Founded 4 years ago • Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland • ~20 staff • International client base, independents, developers, publishers, investors • Growing 30% MoM in Q2,3,4 2017 Some of our clients © 2017 GameRefinery Oy – All rights reserved

3. We help improve revenue by analyzing features Market Insights Game Analyzer • Realtime data dashboard showing feature trends, feature level analyses of your key competitors and other interesting games (~1600+) • Multiple markets (West/Asia) • Software to optimize the feature set and revenue of your mobile • Game • Concept • Design © 2017 GameRefinery Oy – All rights reserved

4. Differences in genre popularity – China, U.S. and Japan Action RPGs are extremely popular – there are constantly dozens of these games in the Chinese iOS top grossing 200 Several hardcore RPG games with “single character meta” in top 10 Not so many casual/midcore games in the highest iOS top grossing positions Hardcore RPGs triumph Casual / midcore games of different types triumph Action RPGs are less popular overall -> only 1-2% of games in top grossing 200 are Action RPGs or games of similar nature Lots of variety in game types among top 10 (and lower) top grossing positions Lots of casual/midcore games in the highest iOS top grossing positions (e.g. casino, match3, word, midcore RPGs etc.) RPGs and other games with character collection / upgrading meta are the “kings of the hill” High focus on collaboration social features instead of PvP Story elements and visual novel hybrid mechanics much more popular among top games than in the west RPGs with character collection meta triumph © 2017 GameRefinery Oy – All rights reserved

5. Top Grossing Position Density map for the mobile games in the US Dec 2017 1 100 Density map for the mobile games in ChinaDec 2017 Emphasis in gameplay ThinkReact • When looking at what kind of skills the top performing games emphasize, there is a clear difference between U.S. and China • 54% of top grossing 100 games in China emphasize “reaction based” skills (aiming, steering, reaction), whereas in the U.S. the number is only 21% Differences in emphasis in gameplay – China vs. U.S. Emphasis in gameplay ThinkReact © 2017 GameRefinery Oy – All rights reserved

6. • Social and competition related features are trending heavily and top games across all regions are taking advantage of their power. • However, there are differences between these three great markets when it comes to utilization rate of social and competitive features • Especially competition and PvP- related features are more common in Chinese top games than they are in U.S. & Europe and Japan. Differences in social feature popularity Feature popularity in top grossing 100 games per region © 2017 GameRefinery Oy – All rights reserved

7. Popular Chinese features not yet common in the West • Pay a fixed amount to get rewards & benefits in the game for a period of time (usually 30 days) • Players pay to get long term bonuses that help speed up game progression and beat other players Monthly Subscription Possibility to purchase missed experience/resources Possibility to increase random roll odds with money of US games utilize 15%Only of US games utilize 3%Only of all US games utilize 4%Only • Pay hard currency / real money to increase you chances of getting better outcomes for creating/upgrading items and characters • Players pay to avoid loss of resources and to minimize non- profitable grinding • Pay hard currency / real money to get experience / resources you lost because you didn’t have the time to play • Players pay to get experience and resources so they don’t have to spend as much time playing “Pay to win” is normal in China – in the West it can decrease retention if too aggressive © 2017 GameRefinery Oy – All rights reserved

8. Importance ofvisual theme in China, Japan and the West Having a specific visual theme is not as crucial for success in the West as it is in China and Japan • Significant share of top games are based on either of the two Chinese folklores: 1) “Journey to the West” 2) “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” • “Chinese fantasy” and “Chinese manga” styles are really popular among all games China US & Europe • Huge variety of visual themes and background stories shared with top games (fantasy, scifi, historic, modern etc.) • Visual theme doesn’t play as big role when it comes to success – you can be successful with any visual style (realistic, cartoon, manga/anime etc.) Japan • Significant share of top games have a “hybrid” world that matches fantasy or sci-fi elements with modern era. This resembles the Japanese anime/manga scene, where hybrid world is almost a norm. • Manga/Anime style is, as one might expect, much more popular than in the West © 2017 GameRefinery Oy – All rights reserved

IMGA CEO Summit 2017 - GameRefinery

Kay Gruenwoldt

IMGA CEO Summit 2017 - GameRefinery