Brendan Vanous
started a topic on Fri, 02 January 2015 at 3:46 PM
Question from a developer:
I?m concerned about how best to monetize my game. In particular, I?m thinking of going to free-to-play (f2p) so that I have an ongoing revenue stream, but I?m concerned about what players respond well or poorly to in those games. What advice can you offer?
Best Answer
Brendan Vanous said on Fri, 02 January 2015 at 3:50 PM
There are a number of books and articles available on developing free to play games, and you?ll find many excellent talks at most of the larger game developer conferences on this topic. Online, sites like Gamasutra and gamesindustry.biz host a great many articles on a range of topics, including monetization.
For example, here?s an article on the specifics of the virtual economy in Clash of Clans (CoC) and the math behind it.
Here?s another, breaking down the monetization strategy of League of Legends (and why you probably shouldn't mirror their model).
For thoughts on what things work well or poorly in f2p games, there are many schools of thought. Depending on your specific game type and gameplay mechanisms, this could vary wildly, so my main recommendations would be:
Have a look at existing f2p games to see what you like and don?t like about them. Also have a look at articles like this one, which talks about games that are proving popular, as that?s a good indicator that they?re doing some things right.
Online forums, like Reddit, have some excellent and lively discussions about what people like and don?t like about games ? and about upcoming games. Here?s the thread John Smedley started on Reddit to talk about their upcoming title, and what people would like to see (and not see).
In addition though, there?s one important thing to consider: Should your game be a free-to-play? If you've been making purchased games up to now and you like that model, why are you considering changing? Bear in mind that the average lifetime value (LTV) for players in f2p games is lower, comparatively. A big draw for f2p as a business owner is that since the game has no cost of entry, it?s seen as easier to get people to try it out, so that they can be monetized later. But if you have an existing business model that works, using purchased games, and particularly if you have a loyal user base that sees the value of what you create, being able to sell a game for $19.99 to a smaller number of players may be more profitable to you than shipping a f2p to more users, but for a lower average LTV. For the majority of games, players do not keep coming back month after month ? they tend to play for days or weeks (and rarely months), and then move to the next game. But even if a player came back to your game every single day for a full year, that would still work out to only about $2 in total cost to you, if you?re using the Premium tier (without hosted servers). And that?s without accounting for the first 1000 DAU being free every day.
If you do decide to go with f2p, the main things I would focus on are the same as what Cliff Bleszinski referred to in his Reddit Q&A: Make sure there?s no pay-to-win in your model, and focus on finding what?s fun about your game first.
1 Comment
Brendan Vanous said on Fri, 02 January 2015 at 3:50 PM
There are a number of books and articles available on developing free to play games, and you?ll find many excellent talks at most of the larger game developer conferences on this topic. Online, sites like Gamasutra and gamesindustry.biz host a great many articles on a range of topics, including monetization.
For example, here?s an article on the specifics of the virtual economy in Clash of Clans (CoC) and the math behind it.
Here?s another, breaking down the monetization strategy of League of Legends (and why you probably shouldn't mirror their model).
For thoughts on what things work well or poorly in f2p games, there are many schools of thought. Depending on your specific game type and gameplay mechanisms, this could vary wildly, so my main recommendations would be:
Have a look at existing f2p games to see what you like and don?t like about them. Also have a look at articles like this one, which talks about games that are proving popular, as that?s a good indicator that they?re doing some things right.
Online forums, like Reddit, have some excellent and lively discussions about what people like and don?t like about games ? and about upcoming games. Here?s the thread John Smedley started on Reddit to talk about their upcoming title, and what people would like to see (and not see).
In addition though, there?s one important thing to consider: Should your game be a free-to-play? If you've been making purchased games up to now and you like that model, why are you considering changing? Bear in mind that the average lifetime value (LTV) for players in f2p games is lower, comparatively. A big draw for f2p as a business owner is that since the game has no cost of entry, it?s seen as easier to get people to try it out, so that they can be monetized later. But if you have an existing business model that works, using purchased games, and particularly if you have a loyal user base that sees the value of what you create, being able to sell a game for $19.99 to a smaller number of players may be more profitable to you than shipping a f2p to more users, but for a lower average LTV. For the majority of games, players do not keep coming back month after month ? they tend to play for days or weeks (and rarely months), and then move to the next game. But even if a player came back to your game every single day for a full year, that would still work out to only about $2 in total cost to you, if you?re using the Premium tier (without hosted servers). And that?s without accounting for the first 1000 DAU being free every day.
If you do decide to go with f2p, the main things I would focus on are the same as what Cliff Bleszinski referred to in his Reddit Q&A: Make sure there?s no pay-to-win in your model, and focus on finding what?s fun about your game first.
