The Future is OperationsWhy Mobile Games Need Backends

James Gwertzman, CEO

“The single greatest predictor of success and of sustainable competitive advantage in this business is live game operations.”

-- Owen Mahoney, CEO Nexon

Live games can be very stickyTOP 10

80%

TOP 100

56%

70% 52%

40% 55%

% of iOS and Android Games in the Top 10 and Top 100 that have been there for the last 12 months

Source: AppAnnie

Build game

Launch

The old days…

Build game

Build backend

Launch

Build tools for ops team

Segment & target customers

Deploy servers

Business intelligence

Offers & Promotions

Update content

Host in-game events

Customer service

Nowadays…

Business intelligence

User Acquisition

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Promise & peril of live game operations

• Launched 3/2/12• Shot to top 10• Servers crashed• Offline for 168 days• $27M lost revenue

• Re-launched 8/17/12• Top-grossing game for nearly 3 years

LTD revenue: $150M+

Source: AppAnnie, NPD, ThinkGaming

Updated more than 45 times

Rank history for top grossing games, iOS in United States

“We’re a technology company. We’re not really a game company.”

-- Gabe Leydon, Machine Zone

Bloomberg Business, March 2015

Jan-04 May-05 Oct-06 Feb-08 Jul-09 Nov-10 Apr-12 Aug-13 Dec-14 May-160

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New Features Added in Unity Releases

Unity 1.0Unity 2.0

Unity 3.0 Unity 4.0

Unity 5.0

Changing field of backend services

Multiplayer

Analytics

Marketing

Commerce

Cloud logic

Attribution

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Live ops tools and dashboards(mission control for the whole team)

Back-end services(cross-platform, one-stop shop)

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Integration with other partners(building out the full ecosystem)

All-in-one platform to build, launch, and grow

and more ...

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Complete set of backend services

• Player Accounts– Authentication– Profile Management– Account Linking

• Data Storage– Per player– Per title– Per character (under one player)– Files / CDN delivery

• Commerce– Catalog Management– Virtual Currencies– Player Inventory– In-game Purchasing– Receipt validation (Apple/Google/Amazon)– Marketing and Promotion

• In-game Marketing– Push Notifications– In-game Messaging

• Product Management– Analytics and Reporting– Customer Segmentation– Customer Support Tools– Abuse Reporting and Banning

• Social– Friends Lists– Player Chat– Leaderboards– Game forum integration– Trading / gifting

• Multiplayer– Photon integration (real-time / turn-based)– Matchmaking– Custom game server hosting– Server monitoring

• Game logic– Server-hosted JavaScript

The last API you’ll have to integrate into your game…

All-in-one platform benefits

15Better Faster Cheaper

Developers

• Best-in-class technology• Proven solution• Fully documented• Back-end engineering talent• Continual improvements• Baked-in best practices• Learn from other games

• Available immediately• Less testing needed• No need to hire a new team

• No up-front engineering cost• Volume of scale• Amortized costs

Publishers

• Share tools across games• Share players across games• Less risk

• Training for new developers• Share lessons across games

• All funding goes to game• No tech support costs

15PlayFab confidential

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Trusted by hundreds of developers

• More than 500 game studios using the PlayFab SDK• 16 titles now live (w/ more than 10 million total registered players)• Integrate at any point of your game’s life cycle

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Built-in business intelligence

PlayFab automatically captures the most important player events, as well as any custom events games generate.

Data can also be analyzed by 3rd-party BI tools such as Tableau or direct SQL queries.

All the data needed to increase engagement, retention, monetization

Or exported via Segment.com to hundreds of other 3rd-party services.

Advanced analytics provides segments, cohort analysis, correlation, behaviors, and many other key monetization features.

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Cloud ScriptPlayFab’s Cloud Script lets developers run server-based code without a dedicated game server.• Easy upload of JavaScript custom logic

(C# coming soon)• Separate game logic from the client,

allowing easy updates• Make changes to your game without re-

certifying• Server authentication protects against

client-side cheating

Applications include:• Granting player rewards• Validating player actions• Resolving interactions

between players• Managing asynchronous

game turns

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Multiplayer• Tight integration w/ Photon– Write logic hooks in cloud script

• Or host your own game servers– Manage and monitor servers and

builds within the Game Manager– A combination of monthly leases and

flexible auto-scaled virtual servers gives low-cost reliability

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Easy adoption by any game developer

Full set of support resources makes it easy for any developer to quickly start using the PlayFab platform.

Getting Started Guides SDKs for popular tools

Full documentation

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Full-time developer relations team

Questions?

Stop by our boothor visit www.playfab.com

@playfabnetworkjames@playfab.com