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F2P the Wrong Way: Age of Empires Online. GDC 2013. [email protected]. Overview. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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OverviewIn this session, we will discuss the story of Age of Empires Online, an MMORTS that launched as an okay game but with a bad F2P business model. We’ll identify the problems with the initial model, detail the proper fixes, and then show how we applied them to a live game.
Business model and design changes Population growth strategies Results of all the above
The BeginningAge of Empires Online (AOEO) launched in August 2011.
TimelineDaily Active Users
Daily Reven
ue August 2011 ~100
k~$85
k October 2011 ~25k ~$9k December 2011
~15k ~$3k
Why?
The BeginningAge of Empires Online (AOEO) launched in August 2011.
AOEO launched with: Insufficient Content and Missing Features
Causing Daily Active Users decline Poor Business Model
Causing Revenues decline
And therefore acquired: Small Poorly Monetized Player Base
The BeginningInsufficient Content and Missing Features
Only two civilizations and one booster Perceived as much less content than previous Age titles Significant changes in design intent not understood by franchise fans
No skirmish mode Very popular low time commitment mode Does not depend on new content to drive repeat play
Level and gear-based PVP Hated by competitive PVP core gamers who prefer pure skill-based matches Small in number, but loud influencers
Slow Leveling Curve Annoyed players Forced repeat of already limited content
NO SOFT LAUNCH FOR
BRANDED GAME
The BeginningPoor Business Model
High Price Point $20 per civ, $10 per booster Required expensive minimum commitment
Capped Spending Opportunity Max spend at launch: $50 ($75 with limited vanity items) Revenue of F2P games dependent on players who spend more than others
Biggest Problem
The BeginningIn Summary:
We built the core of a good game. But didn’t finish it before launch. And built a business model predicated only on the sale of very
expensive, slow to create content, set at a high price.
All these things were fixable, but needed time. The game is live. All our fixes have to be done in the public eye.
Fixes beginDecember
2011
The Fixes
Problem Fix ResultsLimited ContentNo SkirmishGear-based PVPGrindy GameplayHigh Price PointLimited SpendingSmall Player Base
The Fixes
Problem Fix ResultsLimited ContentNo SkirmishGear-based PVPGrindy GameplayHigh Price Point Lower Price
PointRevenue same; half price, twice sales
Limited SpendingSmall Player Base
Easy
Probably a mistake
The Fixes
Problem Fix ResultsLimited Content
Two New Civs Sales and DAU spike
No Skirmish Skirmish Mode Released free, positive reviewsGear-based PVP
New PVP Mode Released free, positive reviews
Grindy Gameplay
XP Overhaul Released free, positive reviews
High Price Point Lower Price Point
Revenue same; half price, twice sales
Limited SpendingSmall Player Base
Steam Launch Tripled DAU, revenue spike
Community Overhaul
Doubled base and engagement
Easy Medium
The Fixes
Problem Fix ResultsLimited Content
Two New Civs Sales and DAU spike
No Skirmish Skirmish Mode Released free, positive reviewsGear-based PVP
New PVP Mode Released free, positive reviews
Grindy Gameplay
XP Overhaul Released free, positive reviews
High Price Point Lower Price Point
Revenue same; half price, twice sales
Limited Spending
ECON OVERHAUL JUNE 2012
Small Player Base
Steam Launch Tripled DAU, revenue spike
Community Overhaul
Doubled base and engagement
Easy
Medium
Hard
Biggest opportunity
The FixesThe business model had to fundamentally change.
DAU is driven by major expensive content releases We cannot create civs fast enough to sustain the business
Small but dedicated player base Increasing monetization WITHOUT alienation
Economy Overhaul inSummer Update:
June 14 2012
Monetization ChangesBefore June 2012:
Limited PDLC Purchasable through G4WL or Steam Sharply limited amounts
Item Price
# Total
Premium Civ
$10 3 $30
Pro Civ $10 1 $10Boosters $5 2 $10City Vanity $5 5 $25
$75 Max
On Steam for $16 or $30
Monetization ChangesAfter June 2012:
UNLIMITED purchases
Item Price # Cost CeilingCivs $10 4 $40 $40Boosters $5 2 $10 $10City Vanity varies 50 ~ $.40 ea ~ $20 per civUnit Vanity varies 39 ~ $.30 ea $1-$100 per civCity Consumables
varies 6 ~ $.50 ea Unlimited
Mission Consumables
varies 6 ~ $1.50 ea UnlimitedNo
Max
NEW
Monetization ChangesThis was a much bigger change than just adding more items into the store.
We moved the game onto an Internal Currency Model, where players purchase content with Empire Points. Empire Points are earned through normal play, or can be bought to speed progressions.
This converted AOEO into a true free-to-play game, where players choose whether to spend time or money on content.
Monetization ChangesTrue Free-to-Play model gave us many wins.
Good press story, positive coverage (PC Gamer from 65 to 90)
Great community reaction, sparking additional word-of-mouth A larger player base overall
Using internal currency gave us a significant win as well.
Vastly simplified store operations One set of currency offers per store All other store changes handled in-game Allows agility at the team level without Live/Steam
dependencies
Initial ResultsSummer Update went live on June 14, 2012.
After the first month:
Initial Sales
3/31/2012
4/3/2012
4/6/2012
4/9/2012
4/12/2012
4/15/2012
4/18/2012
4/21/2012
4/24/2012
4/27/2012
4/30/2012
5/3/2012
5/6/2012
5/9/2012
5/12/2012
5/15/2012
5/18/2012
5/21/2012
5/24/2012
5/27/2012
5/30/2012
6/2/2012
6/5/2012
6/8/2012
6/11/2012
6/14/2012
6/17/2012
6/20/2012
6/23/2012
6/26/2012
6/29/2012
7/2/2012
7/5/2012
7/8/2012
7/11/2012
7/14/2012
$0.00
$5,000.00
$10,000.00
$15,000.00
$20,000.00
$25,000.00
$30,000.00
$35,000.00
STEA
M S
ALES
First 5 weeks of new model = Previous 15 weeks of old model
Same player baseTRIPLE REVENUE
Internal Economy
6/14/2012
6/25/2012
7/6/2
012
7/17/2
012
7/28/2012
8/8/2
012
8/19/2012
8/30/2
012
9/10/2
012
9/21/2
012
10/2/2012
10/13/2
012
10/24/2
012
11/4/2
012
11/15/2
012
11/26/2
012
12/7/2
012
12/18/2
012
12/29/2
012
1/9/2013
1/20/2
013
1/31/2013
2/11/2013
2/22/2
013
3/5/2013
3/16/2
0130
1000000
2000000
3000000
4000000
5000000
6000000
EP BoughtEP EarnedEP Spent
55% bought ratio --- 3% surplus
Internal Economy
38% of EP purchases to categories that did not exist before
Category EP Spent Percent
Civilizations 49612500 45%
Booster (Features) 17768250 16%
Consumable 23319455 21%
Vanity Gear 10075919 9%
Warehouse 6264225 6%
Vanity Blueprint 2290594 2%
Grand Total 109330943
NEW
Design ChangesDesign changes were occurring along the way as well.
We did not design to monetize. We designed to ENGAGE. Engaged players spend more time with the game. They then spend more money naturally.
We did not design to force players to do things. We provided additional rewards to promote behavior that increased engagement.
Alliances to promote end-game engagements Milestones to promote multiple civilization purchase PVP focus features to promote PVP play Feature-level conveniences to reduce annoyances
Empire Vault But base given free
Overview Business model and design changes Population growth strategies Results of the above
Population
GROWTH
Two complementary strategies to population management.
Requires:• Marketing Spend• PR Traction• Discoverability
Requires:• Content Releases• Polish and QoL• Engagement
MAINTENANCE
Launch = HIGH Launch = Very Low
After = ZERO Therefore…
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar2011 2012 2013
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
Daily Active Users
Population
13% MAU rise on econ shift, but did not stay
CommunityIn a Game as a Service, Community is as important as Operations. Without Community management, players do not come to or stay with the game.
AOEO Community Management has taken an innovative approach to increasing engagement, as well as focusing on outreach to make up for the lack of marketing commitment.
CommunityWhy is all this important?
A highly engaged community is much more monetizable. Since we have limited access to new customers (poor discoverability) and cannot communicate well with our current customers (GFWL policies), we must engage them with community tactics.
This has a proven effect on revenue and DAU.
CommunityForums are an incredibly important tool for the AOEO Community. Due to GFWL privacy issues, we cannot directly email our customers.
We generate key information in blogs and aggressively drive traffic back to the forums. Approximately 10% of the user base regularly uses the forums, which is 5-10% higher than industry standards.Facebook traffic was initially a result of people interested in AOEO. Now we use Facebook to drive people to AOEO.
After the FixSo we fixed the business model, revamped the design, and kept string community involvement.
So what happened next?
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar2011 2012 2013
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
Daily Active Users
Population
New civ released. No effect on population. Sales, but no player spike.
The Most Important SlideNew content didn’t move the needle. Not anymore.
Existing players wanted deeper features and more expensive content, and the same content wouldn't bring new people.
BUSINESS MODEL PRODUCTION MODEL ! =
The production model was unsupportable, no matter how good the business model.
The content was too expensive to create.
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar2011 2012 2013
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
Daily Active Users
Population
Population steady state.
Overview Business model and design changes Population growth strategies Results of the above
Final WordWe have known for a while that disastrous technical launches were recoverable (sometimes). We’ve also seen several games change business models entirely, with mixed results.
Age of Empires Online proved that it is possible to pivot within a business model fluidly and while keeping the game open and alive.
Keeping the players engaged is the key to any successful game as a service.
You cannot be afraid to change if the outcome is better for the players.