To Self-Publish or Not To Self-Publish? An Indie Survival Guide to Self-Publishing in the Mobile...

TO SELF-PUBLISH OR NOT TO SELF-PUBLISH?

AN INDIE SURVIVAL GUIDE TO SELF-PUBLISHING IN THE MOBILE F2P WORLD

David P. ChiuDC Games Consulting LLC

• 12+ years in games industry

• Intel in Gaming Developer Relations & Business Development, US Gaming Marketing & Campaign Strategy

• Head of Business Development and Developer Relations at Kongregate

• Vice President of R2 Games USA

• Worked on hit games such as Clicker Heroes, Politicats, Game of Thrones Ascent

• Now at DC Games Consulting LLC

WHO AM I?

DC Games Consulting LLC

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE IN MOBILE GAMES


• F2P is the dominant business model

• Usually only 1-2 paid games in the iOS Top 150 Grossing

• Incumbents tend to dominate the charts

MOBILE USER ACQUISITION IS EXPENSIVE


• Makes 3rd party publishing model

challenging

• Revenue sharing makes UA difficult

• Recoupable marketing à developer

receives little revenue

• Minor feature: 10k to 100k+ installs• Medium feature: 100k-300k+ installs • Major feature: 300k to 1M+ installs

***For F2P games, not paid

APP STORE FEATURES ARE INCREDIBLY POWERFUL

# of Apps 3.10M

Approx. # of apps each week ~9k

# of Games 780k

Approx. # of games each week ~3k

Promo slots of new games 16

BUT APP STORE FEATURES ARE HARD TO GET


SELF-PUBLISH VS. PUBLISHER?


• Publishers can help by allowing you to focus on the game development while they handle publishing

• Publishers can provide the following:

• Marketing creatives (icon, screenshots, ads, videos, keywords and do A/B tests)

• User acquisition

• App store relations and featuring

• PR and media outreach

• F2P expertise and analytics

• Customer service and community management

• Functional QA Testing

• Localization and localization QA

• Development funding or royalty advances

• Marketing guarantees

• IP licensing

IS A PUBLISHER RIGHT FOR ME?


Evaluate the publisher:

• Are goals and interests aligned?

• Putting some skin behind the game?

• Potential for long term partnership?

• Track record of success?

• Repeat deals with developers?

• Who will be working on your game?

• 1st party and 3rd party games?

• Audience and portfolio fit?

IS A PUBLISHER RIGHT FOR ME?


Evaluate your game and team:

• Goals for the game and studio?

• Does your team understand F2P?

• Do you have the key talent for a F2P game dev and UA?

• Do you have enough capital for dev and UA?

• Do you plan on doing UA for your game?

SELF-PUBLISH?


SELF-PUBLISHING VS. PUBLISHER

Self-Publishing Publisher

Pros Ø 100% net revenue and control Ø Complements or augments your capabilities/ resources

Cons Ø Need appropriate team/ resources Ø Revenue shareØ More chefs in the kitchen


SELF-PUBLISHING BEST PRACTICES


SOFT LAUNCH


Choose soft launch countries and roll-out schedule

1. Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, etc)• Cheap CPIs ($0.20-$1) à can get large # of installs quickly• Stability and compatibility testing• Not for A/B testing or estimating metrics

2. Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, etc)• Player resemble US/CA/AUS players• Relatively lower CPI• A/B test features• A/B test marketing/ app store creatives

3. Canada, Australia and New Zealand• Resemble US players the most• Expensive CPIs

SOFT LAUNCH CHECKLIST


• A/B test and optimize in-game features and tutorial/ FTUE

• Test in-game analytics and app attribution platforms

• A/B test app store page and marketing creatives

• Icon

• App Name

• Subtitle

• Screenshots

• Video(s)

• Copy

• Keywords

BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING RETENTION


IMPROVING RETENTION

Early retention:

• Daily log-in rewards or monthly check-in calendar

• Quests system

• Mini-game or lucky wheel

• Daily Events/ Challenges

• Daily Limited Time Events

• E.g. Everyday 6-7pm PDT à Double XP Power Hour

IMPROVING RETENTION

Mid and Late Stage Retention:

• Achievements with rewards

• Multiplayer features (PvP, co-op, clans, clan battles, clan

perks, chat)

• Leaderboards (single player, PvP, event-based)

• Limited Time Events

• Seasonal Events

• Features and items specifically geared towards elder players

that are unlocked later on

BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING MONETIZATION


INCREASING MONETIZATION: SHOP UI

• Have all items viewable in one screen without scrolling

• Easier for comparing packages

• Clearly call out bonuses for bigger packages

• Call out Most Popular and Best Deal packages

• Break up into categories or tabs if needed (heroes, armor, consumables, etc)

INCREASING BUYER CONVERSION AND ARPPU

§ Drive buyer conversion and spending with:

1. First time buyer packages

2. Additional bundles after the first purchase

3. Targeted offers based on player behavior

4. Time limited offers

5. Bundles for IAP events/holidays

6. Hard currency daily drips/ subscriptions

7. Purchasables specifically for elder players

§ Perform A/B tests to determine optimal pricing, timing, offers, etc.

MINIMIZE FRICTION à INCREASE CONVERSION AND ARPPU

MONETIZATION: SHOP TUTORIAL

• Seed players with some hard currency at the

beginning

• Lead them to the shop

• Guide them thru a “free” introductory purchase

• Player gets a taste of the benefits of buying (like free

samples at Costco)

1) Hard currency unlocked 2) Show players where they can spend them

Almost a Hero

3) Introduce to shop with free introductory purchase

Almost a Hero

HARD CURRENCY SUBSCRIPTIONS/ DAILY DRIPS

• Encourages daily login• Helps increase retention• Provide one-time

reward at purchase for some instant gratification

GAMIFYING THE BUYING EXPERIENCE

• With a Chinese MMO-style Buyers VIP system• Players earn points for spending within the game• Which can unlock tiers with different rewards or perks• Modelled after airlines, hotel and casino VIP systems

• Risk: may make you look greedy and the game P2W• This is more for games with deep, complex economies

NOTIFICATIONS

• Don’t ask to opt in at app launch

• Ask later in the first or second session of the game and offer an incentive to do so• Free chest every 4 hours• Spin prize wheel every 4 hours

AD MONETIZATION


• Consider adding rewarded video to increase your LTV

• Good for high retaining casual games with low monetization

• Integrate mediation platform and multiple ad networks

• Negotiate superior deal terms

AD MONETIZATION


• Integrate ads into gameplay (core loop or regularly repeating screen)

• Prominent surfacing/ placements

• Offer meaningful rewards

• Incorporate ads into new content or/and limited timed events

• Limit video pre-caching to minimize OTA data usage

• Avoid long ads or ads that require users to pre-qualify

QUESTIONS?


David P. ChiuDC Games Consulting LLC

[email protected]

To Self-Publish or Not To Self-Publish? An Indie Survival Guide to Self-Publishing in the Mobile...

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