10 Years of Social Gaming Without any Marketing Spending | Stan Iwan

Fishing for Whales in the GulfStanislaw IwanVice President

GameDesire Ltd.

About me - experience

• GamingVP of Gamedesire Limited – social casino and casual games developer (6 years)

• MediaHead of Entertainment channels in Onet.pl – biggest horizontal portal in Poland(10 years)

• ScienceSociology - M.A. - Jagiellonian University in Krakow

About us - GameDesire

• GameDesire Ltd. – est. 2004 (previously known as Ganymede)

• The leading social casino and casual games developer in Poland

• Key products:• Poker Live Pro• Pool Live Pro• Snooker Live Pro• GameDesire.com

• Key markets:• Poland• Brasil• USA

GameDesire – distribution platforms

• MobilePool Live Pro, Poker Live Pro, Snooker Live Pro, Bingo, Slots

• SocialFacebook, VK, others

• WebGameDesire.com, Poker4chips.com, 20+ white label partners

Gamedesire.com - website

Why Gamedesire.com?

• 12 years on market • Lots of valuable data• Traffic organic, SEO, PPC• Global reach• Customers from different

countries/ cultures

GameDesire – main markets

Diverse Gamedesire audience:

• Poland – 30 %• Brasil – 20 %• USA – 10 %• Western Europe – 10 %• Eastern Europe – 5 %• Turkey – 5 %• Other – 20 %

GULF customers

Players coming from:

• Saudi Arabia• Kuwait• United Arab Emirates• Qatar

Gulf users - sources of traffic

Organic• Arabic version of Gamedesire.com – 10 years on the

market

SEO• Most Arabic search space still unclaimed

• Most cost effective way to bring new traffic

• Search behavior in the Middle East varies greatly compared to search behavior in other regions of the world

Gulf users - sources of traffic

Pay Per Click advertising

• Still one of the most untapped marketing channels in the Middle East

• Number of Internet users in the region growing rapidly

• Low cost and effective way to reach Arab customers

• Requires trustful local partner with a thorough knowledge

Saudi Arabia has an average CPC 60 percent less than the US average.Kuwait has an average CPC 64 percent less than the US average.Qatar has an average CPC 81 percent less than the US average

Different markets – different cultures

People from around the world differ from each other in variety of ways...

• People differ based on looks• People differ based on interests• People differ based on behaviors

People differ based on CULTURE!

Cultural differences

" Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster."

Prof. Geert Hofstede Emeritus Professor, Maastricht University

Developing intercultural intelligence

Frameworks for analyzing cultural differences:

• Richard D. Lewis• Geert Hofstede • Fons Trompenars• Edward Hall

Result: developing „inter-cultural toolbox”


Richard D. Lewis – 3 types of culture


Multi-active culture:

• People are talkative

• Great importance to feelings

• Relationship and people oriented

• Multitasking

• Speak and listen at the same time

• Frequent interruptions

• Uncomfortable with silence

• Dialogue-oriented


Edward T. Hall

• Low-context cultures where the essential of the communication is the message:

“I mean what I say !” Example: Nordic countries, Germany

• High-context cultures where the essential of the communication is in the situation, in the relationship between the interlocutors and in the non-verbal elements.

“you know what I mean...” Example: Arab countries, China


Geert Hofstede

• Power distance (high/low) - HIGHAttitudes to authority, the distance between individuals in a hierarchy

• Individualism vs. collectivism - COLLECTIVEIndependence and interdependence

• Masculinity vs. feminity - MASCULINEImportance of assertion versus cooperation

• Uncertainty avoidance (high/low) - HIGHThe degree of tolerance for uncertainty or the unknown


Fons Trompenaars

• Universalism vs. Particularism (context) – PARTICULARAdvice: Be ready for personal “meandering” or irrelevancies that do not seem to going anywhere.Do not take personal “small talk” as irrelevant

• Neutral vs. affective relationships – AFFECTIVEAdvice: Do not be put off when they create scenes and get overly theatricalTheir enthusiasm or vehement disagreement does not necessarily mean they have made up their minds

• Specific vs. diffuse relationships – DIFFUSEAdvice: Be prepared to explore fields which may seem irrelevant to the issue being discussed Take time!


Practical conclusions for Gulf customers:

• Buying is social: Collectivism, multi-active culture

• Bargaining is a part of culture: Diffuse and affective relationships

• Status symbols are important: High power distance

• Throw rational logic out the window - superstitions are real: Multu-active emotional and impulsive

• Make relations personal – customer support is key: Relationship and people oriented

• Male audience is most important: Masculinity

• Respect the religion: High context culture, multi-active idealistic


Practical examples:

• Negotiating with customers number and price of gamechips: Bargaining is a part of culture

• Allowing some users to have multiple accounts: Superstitions are real

• Changing the name of positions in customer support: Status symbols are important

GULF customers

Was it worth the hassle?

GULF customers - traffic metrics

New registrations / MAU ratio Reactivations / MAU ratio

New registrations and reactivations comparisonBenchmarked against all players average

Arab countries All countries

cohort_retention_D1

cohort_retention_D7

cohort_retention_D28

D1 / 7 /28 cohort retention comparisonBenchmarked against all players average

All countries Arab countries

Conversion, paying players structure

High-paying Medium-paying Low-paying

Paying players structure comparison

Arab countries All countries Arab countries All countries

Conversion rate comparisonBenchmarked against all players average

ARPU, ARPPU


ARPU comparisonBenchmarked against all players average


ARPPU comparisonBenchmarked against all players average

x 4,5x 6,5

Transaction metrics


Average transactions made by a single playerBenchmarked against all players average


Average single transaction valueBenchmarked against all players average

x 2 x 3,5

Payments and LTV metrics


Percentage of paying users who made more than one payment


Time before making the first payment

LTV realisation curveArab top-paying users vs typical user

Typical users LTV curve

Data commentary

• The traffic from Arab countries is very similar to the regular one in terms of new registrations and D1/ 7 / 28 retention

• There are slightly less reactivations among Arab players, conversion rate is similar – they are as likely to convert to paying users as any other player

• When they convert, however, they tend to pay a lot more and a lot more often. When they pay the are much more likely to become high-paying users

• They tend to make transactions for bigger amounts of money, and make them more often than the typical player. Arab players tend to pay more quickly and are typically more impulsive payers than an average user

• The 4 countries generate 8.2% of total Gamedesire.com revenue, and 0.7% of total Gamedesire.com traffic. This means that an average player from these countries is worth 8-12 times as much as a typical user.

• Players from Gulf countries are scarce but very valuable, 5 out of 25 top-paying users are of Gulf origin

• Gulf players typically monetise (81.5%) in the Poker games. They pay proportionally more than a typical player in Poker Omaha, Poker 5Cards, and Pool and proportionally less in Slots and Bingo

Conclusions

• In order to be succesful in different culture market you need to develop inter-cultural intelligence and use it practically

• The bigger difference between culture the more important inter-cultural intelligence is• Gulf countries should be treated as a separate, important income source for web game

portals• Gulf countries were found to have an extraordinary whale occurrence rate• Investing in acquiring users from Gulf countries and proper „cultural” treatment pays off

Summary

Thank you!

Technology

10 Years of Social Gaming Without any Marketing Spending | Stan Iwan