How to build a classic. MegaZebra at MGF London 2014

1. How to build a Classic
The Mahjong Trails Story

2. “This session is shark-free”

3. The Facts…so far
• 5 Billion Game Sessions
• 30 Million Users
• 3 Million MAU

4. Memory Lane
Top Games Nov. 2010
FarmVille
CaféWorld
Happy Aquarium
FishVille
Texas Hold’Em
MafiaWars
Pet Society
PetVille
ZooWorld
Mahjong Trails
Nov. 2013
- 89%
closed down
- 95%
closed down
- 10%
- 97%
- 94%
closed down
- 85%
+ 130%

5. DAU Development
700.000
600.000
500.000
400.000
300.000
200.000
100.000
0
7/9/2010
7/9/2011
7/9/2012
7/9/2013

6. The Rise (I)
• We already had the first Mahjong on
Facebook
• Launched Mahjong Trails with state-of-theart social mechanisms around the proven
core

7. The Rise (II)
• First of our games with in-game
monetization
• Great KPIs and nice growth, without
marketing

8. The First Peak
• Competitors joined the party and also
launched Mahjong games on Facebook
• Among them: King, Arkadium, Social Point,
IsCool, Telaxo, Qublix and Ganymede

9. Going got Tough
• Users bombarded with similar game play,
hence less likely to pay, when hitting
“obstacles”
• Started marketing, but CPIs rose quickly

10. The Fall
• We shifted resources and focus to new
games
• Users where hitting the end of the game and
had no more content to play (game was built
around a world-trip, which had a finite end)
• Social mechanisms changed in the market

11. The End

12. …or not…

13. The Relaunch
• Shifted resources back to the game
• Completely re-worked the social
mechanisms to make them state-of-the-art
again

14. The Relaunch
• Eliminated the finite nature of the game, by
switching from continents as areas to cities
• Re-balanced the game to fit endless journey

15. The Result
• Record DAU
• Record DARPU
• Extremely profitable game
• Having outlived most of the competition

16. Up Next?
• More content on a regular basis, with great
tools
• Constantly improving mechanisms
• Going truly cross-platform this year

17. Goal
• become a category leader on mobile, too
• whatever platforms the future holds, we’ll
be there

18. The other Path
• Build great core game-mechanics
• Stay lean and smart
• Don’t give up too early
• Decide if you are in it for a quick-flip or the
long haul
• Gaming is a hit-driven business, not hit&run

19. “You don’t have to win the sprint,
winning the marathon will give you a
gold medal, too”