An overview of current mobile game marketing trends. What Scoreloop SDK provides and how social features will dramatically change the way mobile games are discovered.

1. Short-Term Hype is
No Guarantee for
Long-Term Returns
skangas@blackberry.com
Sonja Ängeslevä
May 2013

2. “Blaming the app stores for poor discoverability is a little like
blaming Google for not putting your site on the first page of results.
Getting found is the responsibility of the publisher, and is as much a
part of the entrepreneurial game as building a great product.”
Chris DeVore, co-founder of Founders’ Co-op (2012)

3. Mobile game marketing
! Strategy matters AKA how to make get discovered
! Analyze top 100 games (Learn from other developers)
! Choose right communication channels (Hint: 40 year old
women do not typically read game reviews)
! Be accessible (Learn from the customers)
! Choose the right market (Is your app 1 our of 100k or 700k?)
! What about marketing?
! On the market place (Name of the game)
! Outside the market (Community)
! In game (Cross promotion)

4. How to get discovered?
Geographical visibility
Before release
• Create
a buzz
First weeks
• Be prepared – several
once time only
opportunities
Marketing mix
• What to do?
• What if it doesn’t
work?
Visibility
improvements
• Press releases, user acquisition
or blogging?
Social
discoverability
• How to reach gamers who do
not read about games or ever
follow app category trends?
ASO
• Optimize metadata to
get discovered in search
Device distribution
Per market
Choose application
market categories
wisely
Ranking & Rating
Size of the app
Social alignment
Price

5. 7
9
9
10
12
12
14
14
25
26
35
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Blog
Mainstream Media
Social Media
Advertisements
Ranking Page
Traditional Game Website
From other apps
Website focused on Mobile apps
Featured Apps Page
Facebook
Friends/Family
%
Major Discover Source
Sample: 15-64 year olds mobile gamers, US
Source: EEDAR 2012

6. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Mobile phone gamers
Avid mobile phone
gamers
Game recommendation (%)
Source: PopCap 2012

7. Solution Example services Estimated CPI cost
Targeted ads Facebook $3-4
Analytics and
monitoring tools
GrowMobile, Fiksu $1-2
Key word tools AppAnnie,
AppTrace, Distimo,
Flurry
$0-15 (monthly
subscription)
Recommendation Hooked, AppJoy
Ad networks AppGratis, Admob,
Mobclix
$1-2
Incentivized
downloads
Sponsorpay,
TrialPay, TapJoy
$0.25-0.5
Cross promotion Chartboost,
PlayHaven
$1.5-2.5
Video ads Adcolony,
EveryPlay, Vungle
$ 2-3
Other marketing GetJar, operators’
market places, non-
native markets
Partial source:
Jussi Laakkonen
/ Applifier 2013

8. Monthly ARPU – US gamers
0.92 0.79 1.11
1.71 1.54
10.4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Full mobile
game app
In-game
items for a
mobile app
Social
network
game
In-game
items for a
F2P online
game
Premium
membership
for a F2P
online game
Retail home
console
games
Monthly ARPU $
Source: BusinessWire 2013
Based on: Interpret study

9. Social discoverability –
clustered long tail
- Game developer needs to think marketing
across the full whole lifecycle of a product
- Scoreloop provides ways to lengthen the
lifecycle of a mobile game by turning it into a
social experience
- Marketing = clustered long tail
- Large dark red: core focus, planned
marketing activities
- Mid size yellow: social marketing
- Smaller dots: Phenomena and activities
driven by the fan base / community
Time

10. Scoreloop =
social discoverability
Scoreloop SDK
! Leaderboards
! Achievements
! Challenges
! Gaming data storage (cloud)
! Default UI
! Free and flexible
! We want game developers to be creative
! We know how to turn your game into
a unique social experience

11. Summary
! Focusing on featuring and short-term hype is not enough
! Marketing is more than press releases or blog posts
! Understand the market, understand the users and use the right
channels
! Just do it and adjust to improve
! Prepare a step by step process – adjust it across the lifecycle of the app
! There is no single tool that will help you if other parts fail: think, try
out and choose
! Identify the main reasons for your fans to brag, mention, rate or write
a review of the game

12. Learn more
! Quick start guide
http://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/
bb10/com.qnx.doc.scoreloop.lib_ref/topic/coresocial-quick-
guide.html
! Scoreloop SDK – social features
http://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/
bb10/com.qnx.doc.scoreloop.lib_ref/topic/overview.html
! BlackBerry game development
http://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/
bb10/game_development.html
! Scoreloop samples, GitHub
https://github.com/blackberry/Scoreloop-Samples

13. Thanks!
! Sonja Ängeslevä
! Twitter @souplala
! skangas@blackberry.com