R2 Games F2P Monetization Presentation and Clicker Heroes Case Study: Best Practices, Stats and Common Mistakes to Avoid (David P. Chiu, Game Connection Europe 2015)
A F2P Monetization Presentation and Clicker Heroes Case Study given by David P. Chiu at Game Connection Europe 2015. This presentation includes best practices, stats and learnings for F2P mobile and browser games targeted at a midcore gamer audience.
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Gam...David Piao Chiu
Tokyo Game Show 2013 JETRO presentation:
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Games: Comparative Stats for Asian & Western Games
Presentation on F2P game monetization for browser and mobile games for midcore and hardcore players with stats, best practices and common mistakes to avoid
DavidPChiu Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-...David Piao Chiu
Presentation from the Brazil Independent Games (BIG) Festival 2014 on Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Games with a Comparative Analysis of Asian & Western F2P Games
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Gam...David Piao Chiu
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Games: Comparative Stats for 2D & 3D Games and Asian & Western Games (MIGS 2013 Presentation)
How to Succeed in the West: Stats, Best Practices and Common Mistakes for F2P...David Piao Chiu
As a platform for free-to-play browser games for core gamers, Kongregate has a unique perspective and a wealth of data on what types of mechanics and characteristics of F2P games are most effective at maximizing player retention, monetization and satisfaction. David will begin by looking at the retention and monetization metrics of free-to-play games by Asian & Western developers. He will then share the best practices and game mechanics that Asian developers can learn from their Western counterparts, highlight common mistakes that Asian developers make in bringing their games to a Western audience, and cover specific DO’s and DON’Ts regarding game themes, gameplay mechanics, community management/customer support and pricing with specific examples. Asian developers will walk away with a better understanding of the Western market, how to avoid costly mistakes and how to maximize success in Western markets.
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Gam...David Piao Chiu
Presentation from Digital Taipei 2013 on Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Games with a Comparative Analysis of Asian & Western F2P Games
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Gam...David Piao Chiu
Tokyo Game Show 2013 JETRO presentation:
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Games: Comparative Stats for Asian & Western Games
Presentation on F2P game monetization for browser and mobile games for midcore and hardcore players with stats, best practices and common mistakes to avoid
DavidPChiu Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-...David Piao Chiu
Presentation from the Brazil Independent Games (BIG) Festival 2014 on Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Games with a Comparative Analysis of Asian & Western F2P Games
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Gam...David Piao Chiu
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Games: Comparative Stats for 2D & 3D Games and Asian & Western Games (MIGS 2013 Presentation)
How to Succeed in the West: Stats, Best Practices and Common Mistakes for F2P...David Piao Chiu
As a platform for free-to-play browser games for core gamers, Kongregate has a unique perspective and a wealth of data on what types of mechanics and characteristics of F2P games are most effective at maximizing player retention, monetization and satisfaction. David will begin by looking at the retention and monetization metrics of free-to-play games by Asian & Western developers. He will then share the best practices and game mechanics that Asian developers can learn from their Western counterparts, highlight common mistakes that Asian developers make in bringing their games to a Western audience, and cover specific DO’s and DON’Ts regarding game themes, gameplay mechanics, community management/customer support and pricing with specific examples. Asian developers will walk away with a better understanding of the Western market, how to avoid costly mistakes and how to maximize success in Western markets.
Kongregate - Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Gam...David Piao Chiu
Presentation from Digital Taipei 2013 on Maximizing Player Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Games with a Comparative Analysis of Asian & Western F2P Games
Upsight's Monetization Playbook for Mobile GamesUpsight
As the free-to-play space has become increasingly sophisticated, players’ expectations have evolved as a result. In order to succeed in the new game economy, you need to have the right tools and the right strategic playbook tailored specifically for your game. You have to deliver the right offer, to the right player, at the right time in order to maximize revenue. Upsight is sharing this knowledge with our free Monetization Playbook for Mobile Games. The playbook explains monetization strategies at four crucial game stages and how to take action by leveraging the right tools in order to drive revenue. With 25 pages of tips, best practices, and sample plays, the playbook will help you drive measurable results in no time.
Building Games for the Long Term: Pragmatic F2P Guild Design (GDC Europe 2013)Kongregate
Every Kongregate talk they're always saying "guilds, guilds, guilds". Sure, but does that even work for my type of game? And what should a guild design for my game look like?
In this design-focused talk, guilds will be deconstructed into their kernel and then built back up feature-by-feature with an eye on implications for retention, monetization, and engagement. Examples from the industry will be used to look at best practices and missed opportunities while it explores traditional and experimental guild elements. It will also walk through the exercise designing a guild system for a popular casual game, challenging the audience to step outside the boundaries of traditional genres when thinking about guilds in games.
Best Practices for Maximizing Revenue in Free-to-Play Games - Josh Burns from...Betable
Josh Burns, Associate Director of Product at 6waves, presented at our SF Game Monetization event on May 9th, 2012. Check out the SF Game Monetization meetup: http://www.meetup.com/SFGameMonetization/
In this presentation, Josh shares his learnings from working on hit Facebook games such as Kingdoms of Camelot and Ravenwood Faire.
Idle Games: The Mechanics and Monetization of Self-Playing GamesKongregate
Idle (or incremental) games is one of the newest genres of video games. At first glance this may be perplexing to "core" gamers, but there are a lot of interesting systems at play that keep the games fun and entertaining, and can even make them into a viable free-to-play business.
Killer Design Patterns for F2P Mobile/Tablet GamesHenric Suuronen
Presentation on Design Patterns for Mobile and Tablet games presented in July 2013 at ChinaJoy in Shanghai by Henric Suuronen, President & Co-Founder at Nonstop Games
How to Succeed in the F2P Market: Stats, Best Practices and Common Mistakes |...Jessica Tams
Delivered at Casual Connect Asia 2016
Free-to-play games dominate the PC browser and mobile markets. But with ever-increasing UA costs and fierce competition from existing and new games, how can you compete in this crowded space? It is necessary to have a solid understanding of F2P to know what drives strong long term retention and monetization. This session will share real-world stats, best practices and common mistakes to avoid in order to maximize your chances of success.
Idle Clicker Games Presentation (Casual Connect USA 2017)David Piao Chiu
Idle Clicker Games: Why are they so popular and how can I get in on the action?
Idle clicker games are a young genre that has seen explosive growth in the last few years thanks to the popularity of games such as Clicker Heroes and AdVenture Capitalist. This session will explore the evolution of the idle genre from simple indie projects to games with major licensed IPs and celebrities (Chuck Norris, WWE, Crazy Taxi, He-Man, etc.). We will also share best practices for improving retention and monetization (both IAP and ads).
Anthony Pecorella's talk at GDC Europe covering the math and design of idle games. This talk goes into details about formulas and progression systems as well as tools available for balancing these systems. Bonus sections include a quick look at stupidly-large numbers and a summary of some recent notable additions to the idle game genre.
You can try the spreadsheet models out at http://kon.gg/idle-math-spreadsheets.
Endless Frontier - Mobile Idle Inflation RPG game
*Average global ARPDAU is $0.58, which is 10 times higher than that of average RPG and that of Clash of Clan - the Global #1 Game.
*Global Retention Rate - 1d/7d/15d/30d : 55%/32%/25%/22%
Josh Larson’s Talk at White Nights Prague '18Kongregate
During a special Valentine’s Day session at White Nights Prague ‘18, Josh presented “Mining the Web for Cross-Platform Gems." The talk explored how Kongregate has used its web platform to discover games that have potential for cross-platform success on mobile, PC and console. By looking at hits like AdVenture Capitalist, Realm Grinder and Bit Heroes, the presentation extracts the characteristics and KPIs for cross-platform potential.
All the Families: The Making of Animation Throwdown (GDC 2018)Kongregate
Ever wonder what it would be like to create a AAA game with a skeleton crew, split between two developers, one publisher, one IP owner, and five individual IPs? Join two producers from Kongregate (Peter Eykemans and Katrina Wolfe) to hear how "Animation Throwdown" was created in an unusual way, and how they turned an incredible production problem into a major success.
A high-speed run through some of the most important and interesting patterns and advice that we've discovered about our games on Kongregate. This talk was given by Anthony Pecorella at Casual Connect Kyiv.
With free-to-play games, you need to plan your live operations strategy as carefully as you plan your game. Learn how to use in-game events and promotions to drive retention and monetization of your game.
SF Game Dev Meetup (Oct 2019): To Self-Publish Or Not To Self-Publish, David ...David Piao Chiu
To self-publish or not to self-publish, that is the question. The mobile F2P space is more competitive than ever. Millions of existing apps already in the app stores, thousands of new games launching each week and the costs of user acquisition keeps increasing. Should developers partner with a publisher or launch the game on their own?
This presentation will explore the case of self-publishing versus working with a publisher. We will explore the pros and cons for each one, questions the developer should be asking themselves and their potential publishing partner. Moreover, it will cover best practices for self-publishing, common mistakes to avoid to maximize your success. This will include best practices for improving retention, IAP monetization, ad monetization and virality.
Upsight's Monetization Playbook for Mobile GamesUpsight
As the free-to-play space has become increasingly sophisticated, players’ expectations have evolved as a result. In order to succeed in the new game economy, you need to have the right tools and the right strategic playbook tailored specifically for your game. You have to deliver the right offer, to the right player, at the right time in order to maximize revenue. Upsight is sharing this knowledge with our free Monetization Playbook for Mobile Games. The playbook explains monetization strategies at four crucial game stages and how to take action by leveraging the right tools in order to drive revenue. With 25 pages of tips, best practices, and sample plays, the playbook will help you drive measurable results in no time.
Building Games for the Long Term: Pragmatic F2P Guild Design (GDC Europe 2013)Kongregate
Every Kongregate talk they're always saying "guilds, guilds, guilds". Sure, but does that even work for my type of game? And what should a guild design for my game look like?
In this design-focused talk, guilds will be deconstructed into their kernel and then built back up feature-by-feature with an eye on implications for retention, monetization, and engagement. Examples from the industry will be used to look at best practices and missed opportunities while it explores traditional and experimental guild elements. It will also walk through the exercise designing a guild system for a popular casual game, challenging the audience to step outside the boundaries of traditional genres when thinking about guilds in games.
Best Practices for Maximizing Revenue in Free-to-Play Games - Josh Burns from...Betable
Josh Burns, Associate Director of Product at 6waves, presented at our SF Game Monetization event on May 9th, 2012. Check out the SF Game Monetization meetup: http://www.meetup.com/SFGameMonetization/
In this presentation, Josh shares his learnings from working on hit Facebook games such as Kingdoms of Camelot and Ravenwood Faire.
Idle Games: The Mechanics and Monetization of Self-Playing GamesKongregate
Idle (or incremental) games is one of the newest genres of video games. At first glance this may be perplexing to "core" gamers, but there are a lot of interesting systems at play that keep the games fun and entertaining, and can even make them into a viable free-to-play business.
Killer Design Patterns for F2P Mobile/Tablet GamesHenric Suuronen
Presentation on Design Patterns for Mobile and Tablet games presented in July 2013 at ChinaJoy in Shanghai by Henric Suuronen, President & Co-Founder at Nonstop Games
How to Succeed in the F2P Market: Stats, Best Practices and Common Mistakes |...Jessica Tams
Delivered at Casual Connect Asia 2016
Free-to-play games dominate the PC browser and mobile markets. But with ever-increasing UA costs and fierce competition from existing and new games, how can you compete in this crowded space? It is necessary to have a solid understanding of F2P to know what drives strong long term retention and monetization. This session will share real-world stats, best practices and common mistakes to avoid in order to maximize your chances of success.
Idle Clicker Games Presentation (Casual Connect USA 2017)David Piao Chiu
Idle Clicker Games: Why are they so popular and how can I get in on the action?
Idle clicker games are a young genre that has seen explosive growth in the last few years thanks to the popularity of games such as Clicker Heroes and AdVenture Capitalist. This session will explore the evolution of the idle genre from simple indie projects to games with major licensed IPs and celebrities (Chuck Norris, WWE, Crazy Taxi, He-Man, etc.). We will also share best practices for improving retention and monetization (both IAP and ads).
Anthony Pecorella's talk at GDC Europe covering the math and design of idle games. This talk goes into details about formulas and progression systems as well as tools available for balancing these systems. Bonus sections include a quick look at stupidly-large numbers and a summary of some recent notable additions to the idle game genre.
You can try the spreadsheet models out at http://kon.gg/idle-math-spreadsheets.
Endless Frontier - Mobile Idle Inflation RPG game
*Average global ARPDAU is $0.58, which is 10 times higher than that of average RPG and that of Clash of Clan - the Global #1 Game.
*Global Retention Rate - 1d/7d/15d/30d : 55%/32%/25%/22%
Josh Larson’s Talk at White Nights Prague '18Kongregate
During a special Valentine’s Day session at White Nights Prague ‘18, Josh presented “Mining the Web for Cross-Platform Gems." The talk explored how Kongregate has used its web platform to discover games that have potential for cross-platform success on mobile, PC and console. By looking at hits like AdVenture Capitalist, Realm Grinder and Bit Heroes, the presentation extracts the characteristics and KPIs for cross-platform potential.
All the Families: The Making of Animation Throwdown (GDC 2018)Kongregate
Ever wonder what it would be like to create a AAA game with a skeleton crew, split between two developers, one publisher, one IP owner, and five individual IPs? Join two producers from Kongregate (Peter Eykemans and Katrina Wolfe) to hear how "Animation Throwdown" was created in an unusual way, and how they turned an incredible production problem into a major success.
A high-speed run through some of the most important and interesting patterns and advice that we've discovered about our games on Kongregate. This talk was given by Anthony Pecorella at Casual Connect Kyiv.
With free-to-play games, you need to plan your live operations strategy as carefully as you plan your game. Learn how to use in-game events and promotions to drive retention and monetization of your game.
Similar to R2 Games F2P Monetization Presentation and Clicker Heroes Case Study: Best Practices, Stats and Common Mistakes to Avoid (David P. Chiu, Game Connection Europe 2015)
SF Game Dev Meetup (Oct 2019): To Self-Publish Or Not To Self-Publish, David ...David Piao Chiu
To self-publish or not to self-publish, that is the question. The mobile F2P space is more competitive than ever. Millions of existing apps already in the app stores, thousands of new games launching each week and the costs of user acquisition keeps increasing. Should developers partner with a publisher or launch the game on their own?
This presentation will explore the case of self-publishing versus working with a publisher. We will explore the pros and cons for each one, questions the developer should be asking themselves and their potential publishing partner. Moreover, it will cover best practices for self-publishing, common mistakes to avoid to maximize your success. This will include best practices for improving retention, IAP monetization, ad monetization and virality.
Moving from boxed title Game Development to F2P | Ralf C. AdamRalf C. Adam
This lecture was held at the Game Developer's Conference GDC Europe in Cologne in 2010. Target Audience: Studios working in the traditional games industry, thinking about switching to development of online F2P titles.
Product Management For Free-to-Play Games w/ AC&A's Senior PMProduct School
The presentation covered the principles of product management for free-to-play games. Games have taken a live product mentality in the last few years, and PM's need to be able to combine design, data, and marketing to drive important KPI's.
Bullet points:
- What the important revenue and retention KPIs for games are
- How to decide what new features to add to gaming products
- What a successful A/B testing looks like in the gaming space
- Ad supported games
- Case studies: examples of successful feature releases in the gaming industry
Work at Play's Franchise Hub Model for GamesDavid Gratton
Work at Play's Franchise Hub Model for video games.
A Franchise Hub will:
1. Increase frequency of game play.
2. Entice gamers to spend more money.
3. Give you greater understanding of your gamer and their motivations.
4. Empower advocates for your game.
5. Encourage new gamers to try your game.
This model was developed by our team over many years working with some of the biggest brands in video games. We have used it with great success in guiding the concept, design, and development of franchise hubs and companion apps.
Work at Play's Franchise Hub Model for Video GamesWork at Play
Work at Play's Franchise Hub Model for video games.
A Franchise Hub will:
1. Increase frequency of game play.
2. Entice gamers to spend more money.
3. Give you greater understanding of your gamer and their motivations.
4. Empower advocates for your game.
5. Encourage new gamers to try your game.
This model was developed by our team over many years working with some of the biggest brands in video games. We have used it with great success in guiding the concept, design, and development of franchise hubs and companion apps.
Idle Clicker Games: Why are They So Popular and How Can I Get in on the Actio...Jessica Tams
Delivered at Casual Connect USA 2017. Idle clicker games are a young genre that has seen explosive growth in the last few years thanks to the popularity of games such as Clicker Heroes and AdVenture Capitalist. This session will explore the evolution of the idle genre from simple indie projects to games with major licensed IPs and celebrities (Chuck Norris, WWE). We will also share best practices for improving retention and monetization (both IAP and ads).
For more information, visit: www.adriancrook.com
There are many reasons to opt for the Free-To-Play monetization model. At the forefront is that Free-to-Play games are generating more money than premium sales at nearly a 10-1 margin.
It is not just the big AAA productions that can succeed. With an average of 15,000,000 Steam Players online at any given time and 90 million console gamers in the US alone, strictly considering a mobile publishing avenue severely limits your audience reach. In addition, plenty of these platforms are doing their best to embrace the F2P evolution in gaming.
A+C has 10 years and over 130 clients worth of freemium experience. From increased monetization to retention and virality, we have delivered for clients such as LEGO, Pokemon, Electronic Arts, Zynga and many more.
This is a presentation we gave at Gameplay Space in Montreal recently, to a room full of indie developers.
Contact us at www.adriancrook.com today.
In "Bejeweled Blitz: One Year in the Life of a Top-Grossing Mobile Game," PopCap's Giordano Bruno Contestabile will discuss how Bejeweled Blitz made the jump from Facebook to iOS, and became one of the platform's most long-lasting success stories. Along the way, he'll explain how other cross-platform social game developers can emulate that success by combining smart game design, data analysis, and more.
Similar to R2 Games F2P Monetization Presentation and Clicker Heroes Case Study: Best Practices, Stats and Common Mistakes to Avoid (David P. Chiu, Game Connection Europe 2015) (20)
One Year in the Life of a Top Grossing Game: Operating and Growing Bejeweled ...
R2 Games F2P Monetization Presentation and Clicker Heroes Case Study: Best Practices, Stats and Common Mistakes to Avoid (David P. Chiu, Game Connection Europe 2015)
1. Stats, Best Practices and
Common Mistakes for F2P Core Gamers
David P. Chiu
Vice President
2. Who Am I?
• 5+ years at Intel in Gaming Developer Relations & Business Development,
Gaming Consumer Marketing and Campaign Strategy
• Former Senior Director of Business Development and Developer Relations
at Kongregate heading BD worldwide for Kong web and mobile
• Worked with hundreds of developers on F2P games
• Currently Vice President of R2 Games USA
3. Reality Squared Games
• R2Games is a leading international publisher of free-to-
play browser and mobile games for core gamers
• Games includes hits like Wartune, League of Angels,
Blade Hunter, Dragon Pals and Monkey King Online.
• R2Games.com is a leading platform for F2P games serving
40M+ users in 8 different languages worldwide
• #1 publisher on Kongregate.com, Kabam.com and many
other platforms
4. Reality Squared Games
• One of the fastest growing online game companies
• May 2010 – Reality Squared is founded
• Sept 2011 – 1st exclusive game Crystal Saga launches in
NAR, USD$1M in 1st quarter
• Aug 2012 – R2 publishes Wartune in NAR, breaking $1.5M in
its first quarter and $7M in its 2nd quarter
• 300+ employees with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai,
Shenzhen, Seoul and the San Francisco Bay Area
• CEO Jared Psigoda named 2014 Forbes China 30 Under 30
6. • Asian F2P games have much higher ARPPUs versus Western F2P games
• What can a Western developer learn from the Asian F2P games to improve their monetization?
• Remember that F2P was born in Korea
• And perfected in China (and quickly became the dominant biz model due to piracy)
Last talk at GC: Asian F2P vs Western F2P
7. • I can now tell you that the giant bubble on the top right
is a Chinese MMO game called Wartune, published on
Kongregate.com by R2Games
• 25+ months since Wartune launch and still going strong
• ARPPU has increased to $533 (11/6/2014)
• Why is Wartune so successful?
Graph From Last Talk
R2Games
9. • The more someone plays a game, they more likely they are to convert from a player to a buyer.
• Becomes a hobby and most committed fans can choose to spend
• Real world example: You can watch baseball for free on TV but hardcore fans choose to spend money on tickets
Long Term Retention Matters
Wartune Lifetime % Buyers by Monthly Cohort
10. • The more someone plays a game, the more they spend
• More time = More transactions
Long Term Retention Matters
Wartune Lifetime ARPPU by Monthly Cohort
11. • Therefore, user LTV increases with time
Long Term Retention Matters
Wartune ARPU or User LTV by Monthly Cohort
14. • MMORPG with turn-based battles, city-building and isometric-perspective exploration
• Top grossing game in China before making it to the West
Wartune Quick Intro
15. • Solo and team PvE
• Solo and team PvP
• Asynch raids
• Guild battles
• World boss raids
• Farming
• Fishing
• City Building
• Weapon/Gear
• Synthesizing & Upgrading
• Astral Collecting and
• Combining
• Etc.
Pace the introduction of new features/gameplay modes to not overwhelm players with a long and intimidating tutorial.
Keep Players Busy!
More things to do = more players staying
16. • Simple Daily Tasks to earn rewards
• Scheduled Limited Time Events
• Daily Quests
Keep Players Busy!
More things to do = more players staying
17. • Daily play bonuses are good to get users coming back regularly
• But improve on the typical 5-7 day daily bonuses
• Wartune players get a stamp for every day of the month they play the game
• Rewards for playing 2 days up to 26 days
• Incentivizes longer term play
• Doesn’t “punish” players for missing a day
Keep Them Coming Back
19. • The foundations of a F2P game are a strong RPG elements and a sense of progress over time
• Building up account, leveling up, adding/improves skills and stats, etc
• Deep RPG mechanics and multiplayer matter:
• 25x ARPU for Multiplayer RPG vs Single Player non-RPG!
Data From Last GC Talk
Type % 50+ Plays % Buyers ARPPU ARPU
Multiplayer RPG 2.6% 0.75% $69 $0.51
Multiplayer Non-RPG 1.0% 0.45% $9 $0.05
Single-player RPG 1.8% 1.29% $12 $0.10
Single-Player Non-RPG 0.2% 0.53% $4 $0.02
20. • Motivate players to get to the next milestone
• Leveling up unlocks features, content, rewards
• Positive reinforcement for progressing
Aim for the Stars
21. • Character level provides a sense of progress
• But also give players ways to measure their strength
à Wartune’s Battle Rating
Aim for the Stars
22. • And tap into their sense of competition
• Leaderboards for everything
Aim for the Stars
• Lifetime, daily gain and weekly gain
• So players can compete in many ways
23. Best Practices from Wartune
and Asian F2P Design for Increasing Monetization
24. Depth of Spend
• The longer someone plays your game the more likely they are to buy and
the less price sensitive they become
• Give committed players the ability to spend at $1,000+ if they want
• Have lots of items that are appealing and useful to all players from
beginners to elder players who have played for months or years
• Unlock new items to buy as players level up
• But must also create reasons to want the elder items
• Don’t create a situation where spending is capped by availability or utility.
25. • Location, location, location – make the store easy to find!
• Show balance of hard currency (Balens)
• Shortcut to buy more (Recharge button)
• Make it easy to find the what you want
o Meaningful categories and item descriptions
o No massive scroll bars
Make the Shopping and Buying Experience as Frictionless as Possible
26. • Bonuses % or/and items for larger hard currency
packages
• Clearly call out bonuses of larger packages!
• Make all packages visible in one page for easy
comparisons (no scroll bars)
• Hide large packages until after first purchase
Buy Currency Screen
27. • First time buyer/ Starter packages
• Seed players with some paid/hard currency and guide “intro
purchase”
• Deals/events to get people into the habit of spending regularly
• Offer items that enhance the gameplay experience (not just
speedups)
Make the Shopping Experience Interesting
• Intro the right items at the right time
• Lvl 1 players should not be shown the lvl 100+ holy sword
that’s on sale for $100)
• Keep them coming back – keep store fresh by adding new items,
unlocking items as players level up and featuring seasonal and time-
limited items/ sales
30. Timing is Everything: Server Times
• F2P: games-as-a-service with players all over the world in different time zones
• Don’t let players wondering what time zone the game is in
• Specify time zones or set a server time and have it be visible so there is no confusion leading players to miss events/sales
• Minimizes confusion and player frustration
• Bar on top of all of R2’s games clearly lists:
• The server time
• The next event’s start time and a countdown to it
31. Timing is Everything: Server Time Zones
• DON’T do separate servers if your CCUs are too low
• DO ensure the CCUs are high enough for competition, and merger servers if needed
• DO have at least 2 instances of an event if you do not split servers by time zone
• For event-centric games, consider separate servers by time zone
Wartune (English) servers
• DON’T forget to make adjustments for Daylight Saving
Time changes
32. • Events drive up player engagement
• Schedule events during periods of highest CCU
• For core gamers, primetime is in evenings and weekends
Timing is Everything: Primetime
Monkey King Online PCU by day
33. Keeping the Balance
• Have a robust matchmaking algorithm
• Prevent elder players and big spenders from slaughtering new players
• Offer protection time or shields after getting attack
35. The Mobile Landscape
• F2P is the dominant business model
- iOS Top 50 Grossing Charts has 1 paid game (Minecraft)
- iOS Top 100 Grossing Charts has 2 paid games
• Players used to downloading free games now
• Free games offer minimal barrier to entry and yield
much higher download rates
36. Mobile F2P vs Paid
• Threes was an original puzzle game priced at $1.99
• 2048 was a copy of a clone of a clone of Threes and was free
• Threes found moderate success while 2048 became a
worldwide phenomenon
Creator of Threes:
37. Mobile F2P vs Paid
• Difficult for paid games to compete with free games
• And F2P is complex
• Takes time and live servicing a F2P game to really learn
• Particularly difficult if you are used to making paid games
instead of games-as-a-service
38. Mobiel User Acquisition is Expensive
• Need solid grasp of F2P to have high monetizing game
• Need a lot of capital to do paid UA
39. App Store Features are Incredibly Powerful
• Minor feature: 10k to 100k+ installs
• Medium feature: 100k-500k+ installs
• Major feature: 500k to 2M+ installs
***For F2P games, not paid
40. Best App Store Features Are Hard to Get
# of Apps 1.96M
Approx. # of apps each week ~9k
# of Games 439k
Approx. # of games each week ~3k
Promo slots of new games 16
41. The Mobile Landscape
• Mobile distribution is very challenging
• Competition is fierce:
o 283k existing games and thousands
new games each week
• App store features are hard to get
• Viral hits are rare (Flappy Bird)
• User acquisition is expensive
• Can lower CPIs with big IP (also costly)
42. Self-Publish?
Evaluate your game and team:
• What are your goals for the game and studio?
• Does your team understand F2P?
• Do I have the key talent to do a F2P game?
• Do you have enough runway to learn F2P and iterate game in test markets?
• Do you have enough capital for paid UA?
43. Is a Publisher Right For Me?
• How can a publisher help me?
• Allow you to focus on the game while they handle:
• Marketing (screenshots, ads, videos, ASO, split tests, PR, etc)
• App store relations and featuring
• Analytics
• Customer Service and Community Management
• Functional QA Testing
• Localization and localization QA, etc.
• Royalty advances to help you finish the game (not all publishers do this)
• Or/and provide marketing guarantees (not all publishers do this)
• May help negotiate and secure IP for the game
44. Is a Publisher Right For Me?
Evaluate the publisher:
• Are your goals and interests aligned?
• Are they putting some skin behind the game (advances, marketing,
resources for localization, QA, analytics, etc)?
• Potential for long term partnership (e.g. strategic investments)
• Do they understand F2P and have a track record of success?
• Do they have the right talent at the company?
• Does the publisher have 1st party and 3rd party games?
• Does your game fit into their audience and portfolio (casual vs core)?
47. HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED
• First game to combine idle and RPG mechanics
• Originally developed by developer Playsaurus as a PC browser game and it took
the internet by storm!
• Ported to Steam and became an instant hit!
48. GOING MOBILE
• Playsaurus partners with R2 Games for mobile version and all future platforms
• The mobile journey begins!
49. GOING MOBILE: CHALLENGES
• Clicker Heroes originally built as Flash game
• Convert to AIR for mobile
• PROBLEM: Vector art performs poorly on mobile processors
• SOLUTION: Use Dragonbones and covert to bitmaps
• PROBLEM: Few 3rd party SDKs support AIR (SDKs for attribution, analytics, push notif, etc)
• SOLUTION: Create custom AIR native extensions (ANE) and plug-ins and let the
developer focus on actual game development
• PROBLEM: Many clones launched on mobile before Clicker Heroes mobile even
started development
• SOLUTION: Improve the game experience and add new differentiating features
• PROBLEM: Many stolen copies on the app store and websites, especially in China
• SOLUTION: R2 Legal team in China took down all IP-infringing copies
50. GOING MOBILE: NEW MOBILE FEATURES
• FTUE
• Cloud Saves
• Rewarded video ads
• Mobile UI
51. GOING MOBILE: NEW MOBILE FEATURES
• Clans and clan-based battles against Immortals
52. GOING MOBILE: LOCALIZATION
• Clicker Heroes originally only in English
• Added language support for:
• French
• German
• Spanish
• Russia
• Portuguese
• Simplified Chinese
• Traditional Chinese
53. SOME LOCALIZATION TIPS
• Localization helps with app store featuring in non-English speaking countries
• Be aware of differences between
- Traditional vs Simplified Chinese
- Portugal vs Brazil Portuguese
- Spain Spanish versus Latin America Spanish
• BEWARE of bad translations when outsourced to external vendors versus in-house,
especially automated translations
• Be sure to do extensive Localization QA to make sure translated text fits into where
they are supposed to
54. SOME LOCALIZATION TIPS
• Examples of bad translations from another game:
- Heavy use of machine translation
- Incorrect grammar and spelling
- Lack of gender concordance
- Inappropriate translations
55. SOME LOCALIZATION TIPS
• It’s not just about translation/localization but also culturalization
- Jokes/puns, pop culture references, events/holidays, etc.
- Adjust UI
- Adjust Economy
- Adjust difficulty
• Avoid subpar translations/localization. Work with localization experts that are:
- Gamers that understand gaming lingo
- Native speakers of the target language
- Have played the game and translate in the context
• Fortunately, R2 has a localization team that handled all that
56. Featured by both Apple and Google App Stores
Clicker Heroes Global Launch
US Apple App Store
US Google Play
57. Clicker Heroes Global Launch
Featured in 122
countries by the Apple
App Store!
Russia France
Germany
UK Italy
61. Top #1 Adventure Game!
Top #1 RPG!
Clicker Heroes Global Launch (iOS)
62. Clicker Heroes Global Launch (iOS)
Top #3 Downloaded Game on US iPhones!
Top #10 Downloaded App on US iPhones!
63. Clicker Heroes Global Launch (iOS)
Top #3 Downloaded Game on US iPhones
Top #104 Grossing Game on US iPhones
64. Clicker Heroes Global Launch (Google Play)
Top #4 Downloaded Game on Google Play (US)
65. Clicker Heroes Global Launch (Google Play)
Top Downloaded Game and App on Google Play!
66. Top #2 Downloaded RPG!
Top #34 Grossing RPG!
Clicker Heroes Global Launch (Google Play)
67. LEARNINGS
• Clicker Heroes has pretty crazy high retention #s
• Mobile vs web 30-day LTV: 3x
• High retention games are ideal for ads
• Rewarded video ads are a better UX vs. interstitials
• Find a good ad mediation partner with a robust real-time dashboard
• Good localization helped get great app store features in other countries
D1: 66.7%
D7: 42.8%
D14: 32.9%