Day1 1345 lovell_26_minutes

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26 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR

GAME

IN 26 MINUTES!

Nicholas Lovell

GAMESbrief

14th November 2011

Nicholas Lovell, GAMESbrief • Author, How to Publish a Game,

GAMESbrief Unplugged

• Director, GAMESbrief

• Clients include Atari, Channel 4,

Channelflip, Firefly, IPC, nDreams,

Rebellion and Square Enix

• @nicholaslovell / @gamesbrief

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AN ADMISSION

I should be promoting this:

26 IDEAS

1 Feed the funnel

oTo build a successful games

business, you must feed the

funnel

oPotential customers arrive

at the top. In the middle,

you convert them to

payers.

oAt the bottom, they

become long-term, high-

spending customers.

2 ARM yourself

oA successful online game

must Acquire users, Retain

them (usually overlooked!),

and Monetise them.

oAll three aspects must be in

harmony.

oYou need all three to build

a successful long-term

business.

3 Make it free AND expensive

oGiving your content away for free is a marketing

opportunity.

oYou have to find your revenue opportunity.

oDraw customers along the curve by offering them

things they truly value.

PRICE

Demand

Revenue opportunity

Marketing opportunity

4 You’re making TV

oA film director can open his

movie slowly. Punters have

paid $10 and are unlikely to

leave in the first 10 minutes.

oA TV director has, maybe,

10 seconds to grab me or –

zap! – I’m gone.

oMake TV, not film!

5 Tutorials don’t have to suck

oFrom the moment I start

playing your game, my

departure is only a click

away.

oSomeone who has spent

$40 will put up with a dull

tutorial. Free games don’t

have that luxury!

oIf your tutorial sucks, I’m out

of here. Make it fun, lively

and rewarding!

6 Acquisition lasts longer than you think

o The Acquisition process doesn’t end when I click

“install”!

o20 million people every month take a look at Cityville –

and never return!

oYou haven’t got a customer until they spend 20

minutes playing. Make sure those first 20 minutes are

your best stuff!

7 How hard can it be?

oYou want people to

share updates with their

friends, so give them a

good reason.

oPlayers won’t share a

level-up, but they’ll share

something that made

them laugh.

oFrontierville made its

status updates smutty.

They got a 20% uplift in

sharing.

8 Avoid the leaky bucket

oAcquiring customers is both

hard and expensive.

oOnce you get them, focus

on retention to keep them.

oDon’t worry about getting

new customers until you

can satisfy the ones you’ve

got!

9 Acquisition is fractal

oThink of ARM across your ecosystem, not just for a single game.

oOne game might be great at viral acquisition, but rubbish at retention.

oScotland’s T-Enterprise acquires customers by launching satirical games based on current affairs.

10 Time is of the essence

oTime is the main asset in

most connected games,

not currency

oTimed events mean players

make an appointment to

return to the game.

oMake this into the core of

your retention strategy.

11 Open those loops

oHumans hate leaving

started tasks unfinished.

oEnsure players always have

multiple tasks underway.

oHarvesting, missions, quests,

collections, training – the

possibilities are endless.

12 Keep the loops open

oAt all times, give your

players lots to do.

oShort term tasks keep

players engaged moment

by moment.

oLonger term tasks drive

retention, bringing players

back to the game several

times a day or over weeks.

00d:00h:03m

00d:00h:30m

00d:03h:00m

03d:00h:00m

13 You’ve started so you’ll finish

oAt all times, give your players lots to do.

oShort term tasks keep players engaged moment by

moment.

oLonger term tasks drive retention, bringing players

back to the game several times a day or over weeks.

14 The player will see you now

oLet me decide when I want to come back to your game.

oOffer a range of timed actions. Can I come back in 2 hours, or am I away for a weekend, and need a 3-day action?

oFarmville’s crops allow me to promise to come back at a time of my own choosing.

15 Spare the rod

oIf the game TOLD me to come back and I didn’t, a punishment feels unfair.

oIf I promised to return and didn’t, a punishment feels harsh but fair.

oPunish for broken promises, not for failing to follow orders. (Your game shouldn’t be giving me orders anyway!)

16 The rule of 0-1-100

oEveryone can play for free

– that’s $0.

oMake it really, really easy to

spend $1.

oMake it possible for

someone who really loves

your game to spend $100

per month.

17 Free means free

oIt’s okay for people to play

the game for free. It should

be fun to play, for free,

forever.

oA demo or trial is a totally

different emotional

experience to a game

that’s free forever.

oYou aren’t giving

freeloaders your game

demo. You’re giving them

your game!

18 Free means free

oIf you want me to buy

prestige items, I need to

know that others will see

them!

oIf you’re sitting at home on

your own, do you wear

your finest clothes – or slob

out in jeans and T-shirt?

oFew people would buy a

Ferrari if nobody was there

to look at it!

19 Make it a no-brainer

oThe first dollar I spend is the

most valuable to you – it

creates a buying

behaviour.

oTiny Tower lifts are a cheap

“no-brainer” first purchase.

oStronghold Kingdoms gives

me ongoing bonuses in

return for spending ANY

money in the game.

20 Get to $100 the slow way

oIt’s easier for most people

to spend $1 a hundred

times than to spend $100

once.

oCreate cheap items that

players get into the habit of

buying regularly.

oRegular spenders of small

amounts can be whales

too!

21 Consumables for fun and profit

oThe ideal consumable item

doesn’t affect gameplay

massively, can be sold over

and over, and costs

nothing to make

oTower Bux. Pocket Frogs

potions. Stronghold

Kingdoms trading cards.

Farmville unwithers.

oFind something the

consumer wants –

repeatedly!

22 High rollers want to spend. Let ‘em

oHow to get to $100 a month? One way is to sell

something very expensive.

oGlu Mobile’s Gun Bros offers a gun for $500.

oBigpoint Dark Orbit has a hugely expensive

spaceship; EVE Online charges $70 for a monocle.

23 Be generous

oBe happy to give things to

your players for free.

oTheir goodwill and

affection is your strongest

asset.

oGive away your best game

content and embrace the

freeloaders.

24 To the power of ten

25 Add friction

oGame design is about

taking friction out.

oFreemium design is about

adding friction.

oGOOD freemium design is

about finding a balance –

just enough friction to

encourage some players to

pay, without ruining it for

the rest of us.

Thank you

nicholas@gamesbrief.com

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