the art and science of game tuning and revenue - sean clark, big fish games
TRANSCRIPT
Sean Clark, VP & EP, Triton Studios, Big Fish Games
The Art & Science of Game Tuning and Revenue
Mobile Game Summit, Madrid, 2017
Who am I?
Introduction (Hello!)
o 27 Years making games
o Programmer, Designer, Producer, Studio Manager, Executive Producer
o LucasArts Entertainment
o Electronic Arts
o Playdom
o Big Fish Games
o Desktop, Web, Console, Social, Handheld, Mobile
o Many genres
Mobile-focused F2P publisher
Big Fish Games
o Distributed over 2.5 billion games since its founding in 2002, focusing first on premium
o Transitioned to mobile free-to-play games:
o Gummy Drop!
o Dungeon Boss
o Big Fish Casino
o Fairway Solitaire
o Cooking Craze
o Currently looking to partner with developers on mid-core and casual free-to-play content!
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Big Fish has been in Mobile Free-to-Play since 2012
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o Step 1: Give the game away for free…
How to Make Money in F2P
o Step 1: Give the game away for free…
o Step 2:
How to Make Money in F2P
o Step 1: Give the game away for free…
o Step 2:
o Step 3: Profit!
How to Make Money in F2P
Categories of Revenue
Multiple Potential Revenue Sources
IAP
Consumable
Non-Consumable
Subscription
Advertisements
Static
Video
Rewarded Ads
Interstitials
Offer Wall
Other
Rewarded Surveys
Incent Loops
Misc.
Who pays for what?
Sources of Cash
Player
IAP
Advertiser
Ads
Other
Misc.
Who pays for what?
Sources of Cash
Player
IAP
Non-Player
Ads
Surveys
Misc.
Categories Compared
Sources of Cash
IAPLow Conversion
High Value Proposition
Increased Commitment
Good Implementation: Hard
AdsHigher Conversion –
Lower Barrier to Entry
Low to Very Low Value Proposition
Increased Engagement
Good Implementation: Easy
Development Investment
o Ads are “easy”
o Drop in placements
Implementation Compared
Development Investment
o Ads are “easy”
o Drop in placements
o IAPs are “hard”
o Depends on good game design and a
strong economy model
Implementation Compared
A few of the considerations…
o Game Balance
o Difficulty, tuning, flow, etc.
o Economy Balance
o Sources, sinks, cost, value, etc.
o How to create aspirational goals that a
typical player would spend money to
achieve?
o What is a good value proposition that would
encourage typical players to spend?
Game Design Is Hard
A few of the considerations…
o Game Balance
o Difficulty, tuning, flow, etc.
o Economy Balance
o Sources, sinks, cost, value, etc.
o How to create aspirational goals that a
typical player would spend money to
achieve?
o What is a good value proposition that would
encourage typical players to spend?
o What is a “typical” player?
Game Design Is Hard
One word:
Leverage
So Why Bother with IAP?
Every $1 in IAP purchases =
~300 Static Ads
Or
~55 Rewarded Videos
IAPs Are The Bigger Lever
Every $1 in IAP purchases =
~300 Static Ads
Or
~55 Rewarded Videos
IAPs Are The Bigger Lever
A single purchase of the $4.99
IAP makes as much money as
1386 Static Ad Impressions
Or
277 Video Views (1 Hour)
It Gets Even More Ridiculous
A single purchase of the $99.99 IAP
would require
~30,000 Static Ad Impressions
or
~5,600 Video Views
(> 15 hours of video)
to yield the same revenue.
IAPs Are The Bigger Lever
A few of the considerations…
o Game Balance
o Difficulty, tuning, flow, etc.
o Economy Balance
o Sources, sinks, cost, value, etc.
o How to create aspirational goals that a
typical player would like to achieve?
o What is a good value proposition that would
encourage typical players to spend?
o What is a “typical” player?
Game Design Is Hard
In Which A Bug Fix Breaks A Game
o A “mature” game
o In market > 2 years
o Very stable, predictable
Case Study
In Which A Bug Fix Breaks A Game
o A “mature” game
o In market > 2 years
o Very stable, predictable
o Game in growth mode
o Revenue, DAU, MAU, ARPDAU all
increasing at a steady rate
o Highly investable game (UA)
Case Study
In Which A Bug Fix Breaks A Game
o A “mature” game
o In market > 2 years
o Very stable, predictable
o Game in growth mode
o Revenue, DAU, MAU, ARPDAU all
increasing at a steady rate
o Highly investable game (UA)
o Suddenly…
Case Study
In Which A Bug Fix Breaks A Game
Case Study
Gross Bookings
In Which A Bug Fix Breaks A Game
Case Study
Gross Bookings
What happened?(obvious question)
Not so obvious answer…
Case Study
Deep in the data, a smoking gun…
Related to a client release…
Found in the data…
Verified with a code diff…
A minor logic bug that was related to the core game mechanic had
been fixed.
But the game had been tuned with the bug in the logic.
Moral of story
o A small design adjustment can have a
profound impact on the game’s economy,
player experience
o Small changes to the game design can have
very high impact on KPIs
o Could be the difference between
investable vs un-investable, growth vs
decline, hit vs also-ran
o Design and tuning matter
o As does world class data collection,
analysis, and cross-team collaboration
Case Study
IAP Revenue IAP 10% Lift RV Revenue
IAP Revenue Vs Rewarded VideoA "typical" real world model
Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5 Tier 6 RV
Real Example From A Real Game
Revenue Components
Real Example with Modest 10% Lift in IAP
Revenue Components
IAP Revenue IAP 10% Lift RV Revenue
IAP Revenue Vs Rewarded VideoA "typical" real world model
Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5 Tier 6 RV
It’s Additive!
Revenue Components
IAP Revenue IAP 10% Lift RV Revenue
IAP Revenue Vs Rewarded VideoA "typical" real world model
Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5 Tier 6 RV
+ = !
When Done Right
o While there is more leverage with IAP, good
implementations of Ad sources can be
accretive.
o Done well, it is a meaningful piece of the
puzzle
o Poorly implemented Ad Units can hurt
revenue
Best of Both Worlds
o IAPs are highest leverage, but require most
expertise
o An unhealthy game will not be saved by Ad
Revenue
o A healthy game can benefit from well
designed Ad Units
o Every game is unique and there is no “ideal”
recipe…
Summary
Path To Success
A Great Publisher-Developer Relationship
o High level of collaboration between Developer and
Publisher
o Balanced use of insightful data, instinct,
experience, and user testing/research
o Publishing with Big Fish is not a transaction
o We don’t evaluate a developer on a specific game
– we ask ourselves whether we can make a hit
game together
o If the answer is yes…
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How you can work with Big Fish?o Be a world-class developer
o Have Mid-Core or Casual content
o Be passionate about games
o Be willing to collaborate
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