Game Design & Business Models: Exploring the Future of Online Games by Neil HARRIS

1. Game Design & Business
Models
Neil Harris
neil@heroengine.com

2. HEROENGINE 3D ONLINE GAMES
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3. MY LIFE IN ONLINE GAMES
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4. LESSON I WISHED MY FATHER HAD TAUGHT ME
NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR
BUSINESS MODEL!
THEY ARE FICKLE AND WILL LEAVE
YOU BROKE AND BROKEN HEARTED.
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5. BUSINESS MODELS I HAVE LOVED
❤ Pay-by-the-minute
❤ Monthly subscriptions
❤ Buy the box, pay no more
❤ Microtransactions
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6. BUSINESS MODEL IMPACTS
GAME DESIGN
AUDIENCE SIZE
DEMOGRAPHICS
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7. ISSUES FOR GAME DESIGNERS
TIME VS MONEY
REVENUE VS FAIRNESS
ADVANCEMENT SPEED VS
CONTENT PRODUCTION
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8. BUY THE BOX AND PLAY FOR FREE
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9. ONE-TIME PURCHASE ADVANTAGES
LOWEST SERVER COST
FITS STRENGTHS OF
PUBLISHERS
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10. ONE-TIME PURCHASE DRAWBACKS
• No Recurring Revenue:
Frequent Expansions & DLC
• Heavy Focus on PvP = VERY
Hard Core
• P2P = Instanced =
Hacking/Cheating
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11. WHY I LOVED PAY-BY-THE-MINUTE
More Fun = More Time
More Time= More Money
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12. PAY BY THE MINUTE
$60
ARPU!
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13. BAD GAME MECHANICS TO MAKE MONEY
Increase Travel Distances
Slow Healing
Training Separate from Combat
Punish Players
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14. #1 DESIGN CHEAT IN ONLINE GAMES
BY SLOWING PLAYER PROGRESS
DESIGNERS WORK LESS HARD
TIME BECOMES LESS FUN
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15. DISADVANTAGE OF BY-THE-MINUTE
HIGHEST ARPU BUT
SMALLEST AUDIENCE
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16. ANNUAL REVENUE POTENTIAL
• BY THE MINUTE
– High ARPU, Audience 1,000-50,000
• SUBSCRIPTION
– ~$15 ARPU, Audience 50,000-millions
• FREE-TO-PLAY MICROTRANS
– <$1 ARPU, Audience potential tens of
millions
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17. BUSINESS MODEL IMPACT:
SUBSCRIPTIONS
• ARPU HAS A FLOOR AND A CEILING
• No chance to benefit from “whales”
• Low value for light users
• HAPPIEST USERS = LOTS OF TIME
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18. PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTIONS
GEMSTONE INCREASED ARPU TO
$27
– PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION AT
$40/MONTH (35% of audience)
– SPECIAL EVENT TICKETS (up to
$100 each)
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19. SUBSCRIPTION GAME DESIGN ISSUES
SLOW DOWN PLAYERS = GRIND
HUGE WORLD = HUGE EXPANSIONS = HUGE
COST
PvP END-GAME (LESS CONTENT REQUIRED)
WoW IS SPEEDING UP ADVANCEMENT TO
BROADEN AUDIENCE
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20. FREE TO PLAY + MICRO TRANSACTIONS
• Huge Audience!
– More Casual
– Needs Low Hurdle
• Balance Paid Goods with Fairness
– Annoyances + Cures
– Speed or Convenience
– Vanity Items
– New Areas / Content
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21. MAXIMIZE REVENUE & FUN IN FREE-TO-PLAY
A MODEST PROPOSAL
WHAT IF…?
YOU COULD DIVIDE YOUR PLAYERS INTO
SEGMENTS
AND OFFER EACH GROUP ONLY THOSE
ITEMS THAT THEY VALUE MOST HIGHLY?
CONJOINT ANALYSIS
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22. CONJOINT SURVEY EXAMPLE
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23. CONJOINT METHODOLOGY
• CHOOSE ATTRIBUTES
–Damage, XP, Specials, Speed…
• DEFINE ITEMS AS
COMBINATION OF ATTRIBUTES
–Sword, 5 DPS, Fire Spell, etc
–Attributes can include
appearance
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24. SEGMENT PLAYER AUDIENCE
PER BARTLE:
– ACHIEVERS
– EXPLORERS
– SOCIALIZERS
– KILLERS
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25. MATCH ATTRIBUTE VALUES TO SEGMENTS
BEAUTY DAMAGE SPEED TOTAL
VALUE
ACHIEVERS $4 $3 $2 $9
EXPLORERS $2 $4 $5 $11
SOCIALIZERS $5 $2 $1 $8
KILLERS $1 $5 $4 $10
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26. HEROENGINE 3D ONLINE GAMES
neil@heroengine.com
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27. Game Design & Business
Models
Neil Harris
neil@heroengine.com